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Thanks to highly sophisticated sound synthesizing functions, digitalized texts are increasingly available in audio format, read by robotic reader software in strikingly human tones.

At the three-day Digital Publishing Fair held in Tokyo last weekend one such facility, called the e-Book voice synthesizing solution, was introduced by Hitachi System Value Company.

The system converts texts into voice data, which can be embedded into an e-Book file. Its robotic reading sounds amazingly natural. In the case of a Chinese character, which often has multiple pronunciations, the reading is quite error-free, as the program is able to analyze the context and selects one specific pronunciation. Even emotional qualities such as joy or sorrow can be expressed through the automatically generated sounds.

The company suggests that this software be used for electric pamphlets, or to complement manuals and instructions, driving home the message via voice and sound effects.

Indeed, listening to books and magazines from mobile phones, PDA devices or PCs is already gaining in popularity, particularly among those who have to shuttle daily for hours between home and workplace.

One such service is offered by Alpha Systems in Tokyo, whose reader software, the Electronic Kataribe Player, allows users to read text or listen to it either simultaneously or separately.

“Kataribe” was an ancient professional storyteller who memorized and recited legendary tales and historical events of the royal families. The modern-day Kataribe has many more choices to select from thanks to the ever-increasing amount of digital audio books.

One such content builder, Internet Library Aozora Bunko, has accumulated nearly 5,000 novels, essays and other published items whose copyrights expired 50 years after their authors' demise.

The company’s inspiration came from the pioneering Project Gutenberg, which was initiated in 1971 by an American student, Michael Hart. The project has digitalized thousands of English classics and other books and made them available online for free.

Four volunteers started typing texts of Japanese novels one after the other in 1997. These books will soon be available in audio format, using one of the advanced voice readers, for the benefit of the elderly, the blind, and others who prefer listening to reading.

The most popular reading material in Japan, newspapers, are certainly available online, but most must be sought on Web sites or in archives. At the fair one daily newspaper, Sekai Nippo, displayed a full-page digital format of its paper, which was even available in audio format for easy listening.

Page after page, on a large LCD monitor, one can view the day's news online with exactly the same appearance as the paper version. Sekai Nippo made the audio feature available five years ago, and is believed to be the pioneer of such a service in Japan. By clicking an icon on a story, you can listen to it while watching other sections or doing something else.

The newspaper, established in 1975, has undergone hard times to keep its print mills rolling in a market dominated by established mega-paper companies, one of which, the Yomiuri Shimbun, is arguably the largest circulation newspaper in the world.

But ill luck may turn to good in this case. The company has poured its resources into the electronic newspaper format. Now it is one of the few Japanese newspapers delivered around the world via Newstand.com, which distributes more than 200 newspapers and magazines worldwide via the Internet.

Many companies are struggling to identify future models for digital publication, whether the format is text, voice or animation. Many people interviewed at the fair admitted there is uncertainty in the air and heavy cost burdens on the way. Still, there is no turning back, and digital sounds are likely to increasingly invade homes and workplaces around the world.