How I spend Tuesday mornings

Every Tuesday morning I head over to the recording studio now known as Learning Ally.  (Today during my 2-hour session I read a medical text and now know more about the male reproductive system, the various types of prostatitis, and how to use a condom than is really necessary in my life.)


Founded in 1948 as Recording for the Blind, Learning Ally serves more than 300,000 K-12, college and graduate students, veterans and lifelong learners – all of whom cannot read standard print due to blindness, visual impairment, dyslexia, or other learning disabilities. Learning Ally’s collection of more than 65,000 digitally recorded textbooks and literature titles – downloadable and accessible on mainstream as well as specialized assistive technology devices – is the largest of its kind in the world. More than 6,000 volunteers across the U.S. help to record and process the educational materials, which students rely on to achieve academic and professional success. 

Years ago, when I was teaching Learning Disabled students, I would often tape social studies and science chapters onto cassettes for my students who were having difficulties processing the printed word.  It was a time-consuming process, and not easily navigated by them.  By contrast, the system now is very high tech;  the users can jump immediately to any page or chapter they desire.  But what is truly amazing is that they can also listen 'faster' without interfering with the integrity of the recording.  (I know that I can read silently much faster that someone can read aloud, one reason I don't make use of books on tape.)  The current technology allows for the listener to speed up the tape to the desired velocity without changing the sound/pitch in any way.  During my orientation, when this was demonstrated,  I was amazed.  It wasn't until the recording got past the 'teenager talking speed' (which I have great difficulty decoding) and was truly unintelligible to me that the blind woman helping with the demo started nodding her head as if to say, "Now this is my listening speed."