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1. Introduction
The ability to open a printed document, such as a book or a magazine, and locate information on a specific page is not generally conceptualised as a special skill. However, for people with print disabilities, this sort of operation is not a given. For people with dyslexia, visual impairments or physical and mobility impairments, the physical act of opening a book, finding a specific entry and then reading that section of printed text may prove difficult or entirely impossible.
However, since the advent of digital talking books in 1994, when the first Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY) prototype was launched, people with print disabilities have been able to access previously elusive text features (DAISY Consortium, 2014a, b; Petri, 2012, pp. 51-53). In addition to, for example, large print, Braille books, and screen magnifiers, the digital talking book is a form of assistive technology for print-disabled readers (Petri, 2012). All talking books include a recorded version of a printed text, but compared to its analogue predecessors, the DAISY talking book offers several additional navigational features, such as flipping between pages, placing bookmarks and using the les of contents.
The first DAISY format was developed for and launched by the Swedish Library of Talking Books and Braille (TPB, today the Swedish Agency for Accessible Media, MTM), a national library responsible for the production of accessible media for print-disabled people in Sweden (DAISY Consortium, 2014b). The DAISY standard has since been further developed by the DAISY Consortium, formed in 1996 by governmental and non-profit talking book agencies from several countries (DAISY Consortium, 2014a). During its first 20 years, digital talking book technology has developed rapidly. For example, some talking books now include full text which allows sighted users - if their players support this functionality - to use the audio version and the print version of a text concurrently (Petri, 2012, p. 52). In some countries, users can even download talking books directly to their own players, without having to visit a physical library (e.g. Swedish Agency for Accessible Media, 2014).
While talking books may appear to be similar to audiobooks and, indeed, the two book formats share some basic features, an important distinction exists. The production of talking books for print-disabled users by special talking...