CHM Revolution

Date Introduced

1978

Photographer

Richards, Mark

Dimensions

1 1/8 x 7 x 10 in.

Manufacturer

Texas Instruments Incorporated

Credit Line

Gift of Gene Frantz and W.R. Hawkins

Copyright Owner

© Mark Richards

Location

United States

Keywords

Education; Games; Speech

Object ID

X122.82B

This educational toy, based on TI’s research in synthetic speech, was designed to help children learn to spell and pronounce 200 commonly misspelled words. The first Speak & Spell used a TMS1000 4-bit microprocessor with a custom Digital Signal Processor (DSP) for voice synthesis. Some hobbyists, eager to use the synthesizer for other projects, purchased the $50 machines just to extract the DSP, which was unavailable as a separate component.