Gary: combining speech synthesis and eye tracking to support struggling readers

Children with reading difficulties face several obstacles in learning to fluently read written material. Multimedia applications integrating text-to-speech (TTS) synthesisers are valuable tools for supporting reading activities. The paper presents GARY, an application that combines TTS synthesis with eye tracking. GARY is meant to be used on a tablet device coupled with an eye tracker. Making use of the information from reader's eye movement, the system allows users to adapt the speed rate of the synthesised voice to their pace of reading. The paper describes the system, its functioning and future steps in designing a tool for supporting readers' ability in making the connection between the sounds heard and the letters read.