talking book

a recorded book distributed in a variety of formats (e.g., CD/DVD, memory card, Internet download) for use by individuals with visual impairment or certain learning disabilities (e.g., dyslexia). Requiring the use of specially designed playback equipment, talking books differ from commercial audiobooks in their use of the Digital Accessible Information SYstem (DAISY), a technical standard with advanced navigation that allows listeners line-by-line access to complex material, such as a textbook, encyclopedia, or periodical. Talking books provide synchronized multimedia files that include audio and text, and they also support braille output.

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Psychology term of the day

November 21st 2024

paraphilia

n. in DSM–IV–TR, any of a group of disorders in which unusual or bizarre fantasies or behavior are necessary for sexual excitement. The fantasies or acts persist over a period of at least 6 months and may take several forms: preference for a nonhuman object, such as animals or clothes of the opposite sex; repetitive sexual activity involving real or simulated suffering or humiliation, as in whipping or bondage; or repetitive sexual activity with nonconsenting partners. Paraphilias include such specific types as fetishism, frotteurism, pedophilia, exhibitionism, voyeurism, sexual masochism, sexual sadism, and necrophilia. In DSM–5, a paraphilia is considered a paraphilic disorder only if it causes distress or impairment to the individual or if its practice has harmed or risked harming others. —paraphiliac adj.