SDI (Sound Device Interface)--A library for Auditory Display

SDI 1.0
Copyright 2004 Dong Lin
             joanthan1983@126.com

Leagal Information
    SDI is based on the following products ��A3D, ViaVoice TTS, DirectX, MIDI
    A3D is owned by Creative Technology Ltd. (previously by Aureal), but is royalty-free
    ViaVoice TTS is registered trademark of IBM
    DirectX is registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation
    MIDI is owned by MMA(MIDI Manufacturers Association)

Acknowledgement
    Special thanks to Professor Fang Zhigang for his invaluable spiritual support and innovative suggestions, as well 
as his life philosophy which will probably have fundamental impact on my life (including some principles that I don't
agree, at least at the moment).

(1)Introduction
    SDI(Sound Device Interface) is designed for Auditory Display, or AUI(Audio User Interface), which has
    proved to be good complement to GUI(Graphic User Interface) academically. At present, the SDI implements two
    Sound Object: Speech and Earcon.
    Speech is for positioning synthesized speech in 3D world, combining ViaVoice TTS and A3D together. 
    Academically, this kind of positioning can help user to pick out desired information out of two concurrently 
    "displaying" sound. This is so-called "cocktail party effect". Also, it can improve the memory, adding a location
    factor to each sound.
    Earcon, literally, can display earcon easily. Earcon is kind of musical modif, something like icon.(in fact, earcon
    is short for "Ear Icon". Note that there is another term "Auditory Icon", which is the actual sound about real thing.
    Earcon is more abstract than Auditory Icon.)

(2)Installation
1.Make sure you have installed Directx8 for higher. If not, download it from Microsoft Website:
  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=a2f63641-f038-43d1-94de-47a8306e4e1d&DisplayLang=zh-cn
2.Download evaluation version of ViaVoice TTS runtime engine(TTS! NOT just "ViaVoice") from IBM's partner:
  http://www.wizzardsoftware.com/voice/voicetools/download_section.asp
  You can choose from Chinese, U.S.English and UK.English
3.[Optional]You can download ViaVoice TTS SDK Evaluation Edition if you want to learn more about ViaVoice TTS
3.[Optional]Download free A3D 3.0 SDK. (I'm not sure whether I can include it in my distribution of SDI leagally, so I
  leave it to you)
4.Double-click on setup.bat to register A3D component, or you can use regsvr32.exe to do the same job.
  (If you have installed A3D 3.0 SDK, this registration process is not compulsory).
5.Done. You can check if everything is OK by running TestSDI in Release directory.

(3)Notes
0.Please use high-quality earphone or speaker. Earphone is better.
1.SDI was developed under VC6, so you'd better compile it using VC6, too.
2.Make sure eci.h, ia3dapi.h, sdi.h are in the same directory, and a3dapi.dll, ibmeci.dll, sdi32.dll in the same
  directory with your application.
3.Be sure to link with sdi32.lib
4.[Important] Because  a evaluation version of ViaVoice TTS SDK is used, it may has a 90-day trial period.
        Although A3D is Royalty-Free, it doesn't mean you(and I) can use it at your(and my) will.
        So Please read the License of ViaVoice TTS SDK and A3D3.0 SDK.


(4)Directory
    TestSDI          The sample program demonstrating what SDI can do.
    SDI1.0Document   The API Reference. 
    Others           The file necessary for using SDI.

P.S In fact, this library is fairly small. I just want to design a project, write a program, and learn to write document. 
So I'll be very grateful if you can tell me the mistake or bad design or redundant code or anything you regarded as rubbish
about this SDI.
    I'm not good at English, so you can also point out any language mistake you've found ^_^ 

Dong Lin
jonathan1983@126.com
Enjoy!