SuperNova Magnifier & Speech

Reading Features

Touchscreen Magnification

Effortless Touchscreen Access with SuperNova

Using SuperNova on tablets and touchscreen devices is incredibly simple:

• With just 1 finger, you can easily pan the magnifier across documents and apps.
• Use 2 fingers to pinch and zoom, adjusting the level of magnification in any application.
• A 3-finger tap allows you to quickly change color schemes and access more magnifier options.

SuperNova also features a high-contrast, large-print onscreen keyboard that spans the width of your screen, making it easy to type and see what you’re inputting.

Multiple Monitor Support

Maximize Productivity with Multiple Monitors

Accomplish more by using multiple monitors with SuperNova. You can magnify content on one, two, or even more displays. Each document or application can be magnified separately, allowing you to multi-task efficiently. Deliver presentations to sighted audiences in their original size while keeping your speaker notes magnified on your own screen. You can also collaborate with colleagues or trainers by cloning your display in standard size while keeping your own magnified view.

Side by Side View

SuperNova’s Side by Side feature works seamlessly with Windows Extended Desktop, allowing you to show different applications on separate screens, each magnified as needed. This is ideal for users who need to manage multiple tasks at once. You can monitor emails on one screen, work on documents on another, and have a spreadsheet or browser open on a third. Each application is tracked independently, ensuring you never lose your place while multitasking.

Connect & View (Low Cost Magnifier)

Connect to a Camera

With SuperNova Connect & View, you can turn your tablet, laptop, or desktop into a portable video magnifier by connecting a camera to your computer. Magnify anything from newspapers and magazines to bills, labels, and even physical objects, all displayed directly on your screen.

Simply activate Connect & View, and everything under the camera lens will appear on your screen. The intuitive toolbar gives you instant access to the most popular features, whether you’re using a mouse or touch controls:

Increase and Decrease Magnification:

Adjust the zoom for comfortable viewing with just a click. Touchscreen users can effortlessly control magnification with a two-finger pinch or stretch gesture to zoom in and out.

Connect & View (Interactive Whiteboard)

Magnify Teachers’ Interactive Whiteboard

With SuperNova’s Connect & View feature, students with partial sight can link their tablet or laptop directly to the teacher’s interactive whiteboard, allowing them to zoom in and adjust the view to match their specific magnification and color preferences. This powerful tool enables students to make real-time notes while simultaneously observing what’s happening on the whiteboard, thanks to its split-screen functionality.

Connect & View empowers visually impaired students to stay on pace with their classmates in mainstream educational settings. Setup is quick and simple at the start of each lesson, and it includes password-protected access to ensure privacy and security. With built-in snapshot capabilities, students can capture a magnified view of the whiteboard whenever needed, storing it for future use or review.

Scan & Read

Scan and Read Paper Documents & Letters

SuperNova Magnifier & Speech includes built-in OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology, allowing users to independently read printed documents. All you need is a scanner! Conveniently access the “Scan and Read” option from SuperNova’s Bookshelf tab to quickly get started.

SuperNova’s OCR can also handle inaccessible digital PDFs, making them readable with ease. Simply press the DocReader hotkey, CAPS+NUMPAD PLUS, while using Adobe Reader to scan and read text.

Annotate Scanned Text and PDFs

SuperNova empowers low vision users to fill out forms, worksheets, or documents independently, even if they haven’t been provided in an accessible format. Using Scan and Read, documents from scanners, cameras, or PDFs can be opened in the Doc Reader for easy annotation. Add text boxes, highlights, underlines, and more—perfect for school assignments or filling out forms at home.

Once you’ve completed your annotations, sharing your document is simple. You can export it as a PDF or copy it directly to the clipboard for collaboration with teachers or colleagues. This ensures your work remains accessible and easy to manage.

EasyReader & Launchpad

Scan and Read Paper Documents & Letters

SuperNova Magnifier & Speech comes equipped with advanced OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology, which enables users to read printed documents independently. With just a scanner, you can easily access the “Scan and Read” feature from the Bookshelf tab in SuperNova for quick and efficient reading.

Additionally, SuperNova’s OCR can convert even inaccessible digital PDFs into readable formats. Use the simple DocReader hotkey, CAPS+NUMPAD PLUS, while in Adobe Reader to scan and read these files effortlessly.

Annotate Scanned Text and PDFs

SuperNova allows users with low vision to independently complete forms, worksheets, and documents, even if they aren’t provided in an accessible format. By using the Scan and Read feature, documents from a scanner, camera, or PDF can be opened in the Doc Reader for annotation. You can add text boxes, highlights, and underlines, making it ideal for completing assignments or filling forms at home or school.

After finishing annotations, you can easily share your work. Export it as a PDF or copy it to the clipboard to send it to teachers or colleagues, ensuring all annotations and notes are preserved and accessible.

Dolphin Cursor

The Automatic Dolphin Cursor activates when needed the most—such as in Internet Explorer, Adobe Reader, or Windows Help. Mouse users can easily disable it when not required.

Using standard Windows keys like arrows and TAB, the Dolphin Cursor follows a logical path, minimizing the need for extensive learning. Quick Navigation keys make it easy to jump directly to the next control, heading, list, or table on web pages or PDFs. For a better understanding of layout, physical movement keys are also available.

Restricted Dolphin Cursor

The Restricted Dolphin Cursor helps you stay focused by locking its movement within a designated area. Use hotkeys to jump to the next or previous Window or Dialog when necessary.

Forms Mode

Forms mode deactivates the Dolphin Cursor when you need to type. As you TAB through forms on a website, Forms mode automatically manages when to enable or disable the Dolphin Cursor.

F3 Find

F3 Find locates text on your screen quickly and efficiently when you know what you’re looking for but aren’t sure where to find it. Use F2 and F4 to jump to the previous or next match, making navigation even faster.

Text Selection

With Dolphin Cursor, selecting text becomes seamless. Hold the shift key while moving over text, and then press CONTROL+C to copy it directly to the Windows Clipboard. This is perfect for quoting web pages or copying help content, allowing easy transfer of information into emails or documents.

Simulate Mouse Actions from your Keyboard

Use keystrokes to move the mouse pointer to the Dolphin Cursor and simulate mouse actions like left and right click, drag and drop, or even control the mouse wheel and middle click—all without needing to physically use a mouse.

Human Sounding Speech

Voices

SuperNova utilizes the high-quality Vocalizer Expressive text-to-speech synthesizer, delivering natural-sounding voices to read documents and applications aloud.

Customize your voice preferences to match your hearing needs. You can fine-tune the volume, speed, and even spelling speed for all voices.

Where supported by your synthesizer, SuperNova allows you to create custom voices by adjusting settings like pitch, intonation, roughness, breathiness, head size, and gender.

Choose to have one voice for everything, or use different voices to distinguish between edit areas, prompt dialogs, menus, the Dolphin Cursor, or for reading entire documents.

Speak as you Type

SuperNova can speak characters, words, or both as you type to improve your confidence in any text field, whether you’re writing a document or composing an email.

Read from Here

For reading through documents or web pages, the “Read from Here” feature lets SuperNova speak everything continuously. With one keystroke or mouse click, you can start or stop the reading. As the speech progresses, the current word and line are visually highlighted, which is helpful for sighted trainers or users with partial sight.

Quick Navigation Keys

Navigate easily with quick navigation keys in Microsoft Word, Internet Explorer, or Adobe Reader. Instantly jump to specific elements like landmarks, form controls, graphics, headings, links, lists, frames, and tables with just a keystroke.

Place Markers

Place Markers let you bookmark specific sections of your favorite web pages. Whether it’s text, headings, links, fields, or buttons, simply add a Place Marker for fast access the next time you visit.

Item Finder

Item Finder speeds up your navigation through complex documents and web pages by listing all relevant elements such as links, headings, objects, tables, revisions, comments, spelling errors, controls, ARIA landmarks, and Place Markers.

These lists can be sorted alphabetically, and you can jump directly to any item on the list for faster access.

Screen Reader

Text Style Information

SuperNova announces text style information so you can ensure your documents are formatted correctly. It reports changes in fonts, sizes, colors, bold, italic, underline, subscript, and superscript. In Microsoft Word, it even indicates spelling and grammar errors. Maximize your productivity by configuring SuperNova to announce text style information only when necessary. You can set text style announcements independently for editing, prompts, menus, document reading, or when using the Dolphin Cursor.

Four Built-in Verbosity Schemes

SuperNova’s verbosity feature provides details about over 60 types of controls and their states as you navigate through web pages, Windows, and application dialogs. It announces whether checkboxes are checked, reports the position of sliders, and tells you if links have been visited. For new users, the High Verbosity option offers keypress reminders. You can select from four built-in verbosity schemes or customize your own for a personalized experience. Braille users can set speech and Braille verbosity independently of each other.

Monitor Markers

Monitor Markers notify you of changes happening elsewhere on the screen, away from the cursor. Whether it’s a security notification in your web browser, a file download progress, or an instant message being typed by a conversation partner, SuperNova will announce it automatically. If you prefer not to hear these updates, you can toggle Monitor Markers on or off with a keystroke or via the SuperNova Control Panel.

Braille Display Support

With support for over 50 literary and computer Braille translation tables, ScreenReader offers comprehensive accessibility for Braille beginners, language learners, and programmers alike. The new Unified English Braille Code is included, along with traditional Grade I Uncontracted and Grade II Contracted Braille.

Over 60 Braille Displays Supported

ScreenReader is compatible with over 60 Braille displays. You can connect via USB, serial, or go wireless with Bluetooth. Supported manufacturers include:

• EuroBraille Esys
• Freedom Scientific Focus Blue
• Handytech Active Braille 40
• HIMS Braille Sense
• Optelec Alva BC640
• Humanware Brailliant
• Optelec Alva Comfort
• Optelec EasyLink
• Papenmeier BrailleX Duo

Routing Buttons

Routing buttons on Braille displays allow for precise cursor positioning, clicking links or controls, and reading font styles. You can also select text with the SHIFT key for copying to the clipboard.

Input Keys

Braille input keys enable users to compose emails or documents directly in Braille. ScreenReader back-translates Braille to standard text, appearing within the application. This helps streamline productivity without needing to switch between devices.

Enhanced Braille

Enhanced Braille uses dots 7 and 8 to indicate text changes like bold, italics, spelling errors, and other formatting in documents. It also helps identify headings and links with ease.

Physical Braille

Physical Braille gives a tactile representation of how text is arranged on screen, making it perfect for reading tables and spreadsheets with better context.

Braille Verbosity

Braille Verbosity reports control types and statuses, like checkbox states or slider positions. You can choose from four built-in verbosity levels or create your own. Customize verbosity separately for speech and Braille if needed.

Display Braille on Screen

On-Screen Braille lets sighted trainers and teachers follow along with what’s happening on the Braille display. You can adjust the position and size of this feature, making it visible yet unobtrusive. It’s also a great tool for visually learning Braille when a physical display isn’t available.

Control ScreenReader from the Braille Display

You can use buttons on the Braille display to control ScreenReader directly. Whether you need to adjust settings, navigate, or simulate keystrokes, Hotkey settings allow full customization of the display controls.

Braille Tracking and Hooked Areas

Keep track of what’s happening away from the cursor using Braille Tracking and Hooked Areas. These tools help the Braille display stay updated on what’s relevant in your application, even when your active cursor isn’t on it.

System Requirements (minimum)