Mountbatten Visual Guide...+ Page+1+of+26! July2017!! MountbattenWhispererVisualGuide) Introduction)) TheMountbattenelectricbraillerIsaportabledevicethathasabuilt 8in)embossing

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Mountbatten Whisperer Visual Guide Introduction The Mountbatten electric brailler Is a portable device that has a built-‐in embossing head which allows users to produce hard copy braille. The Mountbatten also has speech support. The Mountbatten brailler can accommodate the use of a variety of Braille codes (e.g. UEB, Nemeth, Music, etc.) and additional features allow sighted users to use the Mimic feature to see an instant print translation of the Braille being produced on the device.

This guide assumes

• That you have a Mountbatten brailler with the latest firmware installed.

Learning Objectives

Reviewing this visual guide will give you an overview of the key functions and features of the Mountbatten Brailler.

Case Study

Jasmeen is a student who uses Braille to access her curriculum. She is in the early stages of developing Braille literacy. She knows all of her braille letters and is learning some contractions.

105 – 1750 West 75th Avenue, Vancouver, B.C., Canada V6P 6G2 Phone: 604.261.9450 Fax: 604.261.2256 www.setbc.org


Table of Contents MOUNTBATTEN WHISPERER VISUAL GUIDE ............................................................................................ 1

THIS GUIDE ASSUMES ............................................................................................................................ 1

LEARNING OBJECTIVES .......................................................................................................................... 1

CASE STUDY .......................................................................................................................................... 1

HISTORY OF THE MOUNTBATTEN BRAILLER .......................................................................................... 3

OVERVIEW OF THE MOUNTBATTEN WHISPERER .................................................................................. 4 INPUT KEYS .................................................................................................................................................. 4 PAPER ......................................................................................................................................................... 5 NOISE LEVEL ................................................................................................................................................ 5 TURNING COMMAND KEY ON AND OFF .............................................................................................................. 5

MOUNTBATTEN COMMANDS ............................................................................................................... 6 MOUNTBATTEN COMMANDS (CHORDED) ......................................................................................................... 8

SETTING UP THE MOUNTBATTEN FOR BEGINNING BRAILLE USERS ..................................................... 10

LEARN MODE AND ADVANCED MODE ................................................................................................ 11 ACTIVE IN LEARN MODE ............................................................................................................................... 11 ACTIVE IN ADVANCED MODE ........................................................................................................................ 11 SWITCH BETWEEN LEARN MODE AND ADVANCED MODE ................................................................................... 12

BASIC WRITING FEATURES AND SETTINGS .......................................................................................... 13 SELECTING A BRAILLE CODE .......................................................................................................................... 13 EMBOSSING PRESSURE ................................................................................................................................ 18 WORD WRAP ............................................................................................................................................. 19 LINE SPACING ............................................................................................................................................. 20

BASIC SPEECH OUTPUT FEATURES AND SETTINGS .............................................................................. 22 SPEECH SETTINGS ....................................................................................................................................... 22 CONTROLLING SYNTHESIZED SPEECH .............................................................................................................. 23 ADJUSTING VERBOSITY ................................................................................................................................ 24

PAPER REMOVAL ................................................................................................................................ 26 REMOVING PAPER: AUTO FEED ..................................................................................................................... 26


History of the Mountbatten Brailler Lord Mountbatten was the great-‐grandson of Queen Victoria and was born in Windsor, England. He was killed hear the coast of Ireland when a bomb, planted by the IRA terrorists, blew up his fishing boat. A large trust fund was established in this name after his death. A portion of the money raised went into developing a new braille writer, the Mountbatten. The Mountbatten was developed and manufactured by Quantum Technology, an Australian company. Students will appreciate the friendly

“Good Day!’ when the Mountbatten is switched on. In recent years, Harpo, a Polish technology company, took over the production and support of the Mountbatten and have added Bluetooth connectivity which allows for users to pair their braille writer to a mobile device to see instant braille to print translation and vice versa with the MBMimic app. mage source: http://kashmirvoice.org/wp-‐content/uploads/Lord-‐Mountbatten.jpg


Overview of the Mountbatten Whisperer Input keys The six black keys (used for creating the six dots in the braille cell) have been arranged ergonomically to fit fingers comfortably. The blue keys are used as function keys.


Paper The Mountbatten accepts almost any size or weight of paper:

• regular photocopy paper • braille paper • thermoform plastic

With the following materials, the best results are obtained using the multi strike feature

• braille label • clear plastic • metal foil

Noise level There are a number of low-‐tech ways to reduce the sound output from the Mountbatten.

• Put the Mountbatten on two computer mouse pads • Turn down the braille pressure • Place the Mountbatten in front of a solid object such as a book or facing a wall.

Turning command key on and off Deactivating the command key is useful for novice Mountbatten users, especially during classroom demonstrations. Turning the command key off prevent users from accidentally entering commands, altering settings or getting stuck. The command key is the round blue key in the center of the Mountbatten. To toggle the command key on and off press: LEFT FUNCTION + RIGHT FUNCTION + NEW LINE + SPACE (All keys together) = “command on” or “command off”.

COMMAND


Mountbatten Commands There are two types of commands – regular and chorded Mountbatten commands (Regular) IMPORTANT: All Mountbatten commands start with the COMMAND key and ends with the ENTER key.

COMMAND ENTER

For example, COMMAND FE ENTER


All QWERTY keyboard commands start with the ESC key and finish with the END key. For example: Activating Grade 2 Braille translation command using the QWERTY keyboard.

ESC FE END


Mountbatten Commands (Chorded)

Carriage return C CHORD

Indent (5 spaces at a time) I CHORD

Line feed (down 1 line) F CHORD

Reverse line (up 1 line) R CHORD

Tab (preset to move forward 5 braille cells) T CHORD


Back tab (present to move backward 5 braille cells) B CHORD

Page eject (auto page removal) P CHORD

Stops speech while speaking Z CHORD

END E CHORD

Help (Caution: using this chorded command will braille out a help summary) H CHORD


Setting up the Mountbatten for Beginning Braille Users The following are suggestions to adjust settings on the Mountbatten to support beginning braille users for optimum learning.

• Be sure that the device is set to LEARN MODE which is the default setting. • Line spacing – double spacing is preferred for the early days of learning Braille • Word Wrap – turn on this feature so that words at the end of the line are not hyphenated and

wrapped to a new line. Words are not embossed until the spacebar is pressed. • Dot pressure – reduce embossing pressure and use regular photocopy paper for classroom

situations and to reduce noise level.


Learn Mode and Advanced Mode When you receive the Mountbatten it will be in Learn Mode.

Active in Learn Mode • This is a starting point for beginning braille users • Every key is spoken – this verbal orientation is very handy for new users (when the student lifts

and lowers the paper lever it will say “paper lever up”.) • The Mountbatten is a braille writer only. • The recorded speech (digitally recorded human voice) is easy to understand (also available in

advanced mode). • The command key can be deactivated. • PC Keyboard

Active in Advanced Mode • Braille translation • PC keyboard • Recorded or synthetic speech:

o Synthetic speech (computer voice) o Pitch and rate can be adjusted o Unlimited vocabulary o Speech editor

• Use of embossers • Communication with other computers and notetakers


Switch between Learn Mode and Advanced Mode The Mountbatten has two modes: Learn Mode and Advanced Mode.

The command is a toggle between on and off. Repeat the command to change the setting.

Turn Advanced Mode on or off COMMAND, A, D, V, ENTER

The Mountbatten will say, “on” or “off”.

Repeat the command to toggle between on and off.


Basic Writing Features and Settings Selecting a Braille Code The Mountbatten supports several Braille codes.

To set the device to UEB COMMAND D,F,L,N, SPACE,O,Z,ENTER


To set the device to EBAE COMMAND,D,F,L,N,SPACE,U,S,A,ENTER


Setting Grade 1, Grade 2 and Grade 0 The Braille settings will depend on the country selected for the Braille code, (i.e. USA for EBAE and Australia (OZ) for UEB. However, you can select a universal Braille setting that will apply to both back and forward translation. Once these commands have been entered, they will remain as the default setting even after the Mountbatten has been turned off.

To set all translation to uncontracted Braille (Grade 1), press COMMAND, G, R, 1, ENTER


To set all translation to contracted Braille (Grade 2) when available, press COMMAND, G, R, 2, ENTER


To set all translation to ASCII Braille or Computer Braille (Grade 0), press COMMAND, G, R, 0, ENTER


Embossing Pressure The embossing pressure can be adjusted to produce quality dots to suit the thickness of the materials inserted into the device.

To decrease pressure, press the COMMAND KEY + RIGHT FUNCTION KEY

To increase pressure, press the COMMAND KEY + LEFT FUNCTION KEY


Word Wrap When word wrap is turned on, a word does not get hyphenated at the end of a line if the word is too long to fit, instead it will be embossed on a new line. Words will not emboss until the spacebar is pressed.

Single space COMMAND, W, W, ENTER The Mountbatten will say, “on” or “off”.

Repeat the command to toggle between on and off.


Line Spacing Set the Mountbatten to braille every other line. The use of the setting will depend on your student. We generally use the double spacing in the early years of learning Braille as regular spacing seems to hamper braille fluency. When the braille is in compact clumps it can be a tactual challenge.

Note: In the following command you may use a Nemeth number without a number sign, or number sign followed by a non Nemeth number.

Single space COMMAND, L, S, SPACE, 1, ENTER


Double space COMMAND, L, S, SPACE, 2, ENTER


Basic Speech Output Features and Settings Speech Settings The Mountbatten has two types of speech: recorded speech (human voice) and synthesized speech (computer voice).

To turn speech on/off press COMMAND, S, P, K, SPACE, N, ENTER


Controlling Synthesized Speech Synthesized speech is the default setting in Advanced Mode.

You can change the volume, pitch and rate of the speech settings to suit the user’s preferences and needs.

In order to access the Speech Settings menu the Mountbatten must be in Advanced Mode. See Page 10 to turn on Advanced Mode.

To enter the Speech Menu press S + NEW LINE + SPACEBAR

Decrease Volume – DOT 1

Increase Volume – DOT 4

Slower Speech – DOT 2

Faster Speech – DOT 5

Lower Tone – DOT 3

Raise Tone – DOT 6

To exit the Speech Menu press E CHORD


Adjusting Verbosity You can adjust the amount of speech support to have on for punctuation, number format, commands, spaces and the degree of keyboard echo.

To enter the Speech Menu press S + NEW LINE + SPACEBAR

Punctuation controls have 3 modes: Most, Some, or None.

Press P repeatedly to move through the list.

The first setting spoken is the current setting. The last spoken setting is new setting.

Number format – numbers are announced as digits or as complete numbers Press N repeatedly to toggle between the two options.



Command announcements – toggles between speaking and not speaking commands as typed. When commands are not spoken, you will hear a high tone for successful commands and a low tone for command errors.

Press C repeatedly to toggle between the on or off.


Keyboard Echo – there are 4 options – Letters, Word, Both, or No.

Press E repeatedly to move through the list.


To exit the Speech Menu press E CHORD


Paper Removal Removing Paper: Auto Feed The auto feed ejects the sheet of paper from the device.

Note: A sheet of paper can be manually removed. Simply open the paper release lever and remove the sheet.

To eject paper automatically from the device, press NEW LINE + ENTER The device will say “Page Eject” and the paper will be rolled out of the device.

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Mountbatten Visual Guide...+ Page+1+of+26! July2017!! MountbattenWhispererVisualGuide) Introduction)) TheMountbattenelectricbraillerIsaportabledevicethathasabuilt 8in)embossing