Text to Speech
Text to speech supports allow students who may not be able to read, find reading onerous, read below grade level, or who generally find themselves better at comprehension when material is read out loud to access written materially aurally. Many common programs now include an option for text to be read aloud. However, the solutions that are suggested below work outside of a single program and in some cases will even read embedded text within an image.
Windows: Unfortunately, there is no universal text reader that is built into the Windows operating system at this time.
Mac: Apple has provided reading tools into both their newer Mac computers as well as their iPads.
· Mac computers – built-in support is program specific and will only apply to those programs that support Mac’s reading protocol. Almost any native Mac program will provide this support but programs developed by companies other than Apple may not. For example, Microsoft Word does not allow speech whereas Google Chrome does. To enable this feature, simply highlight text in a supported program and left click on the mouse (or use a two finger click on a trackpad). A menu will appear and selecting speech will provide two options: “Start speaking” or “Stop speaking”. The speech can be further configured under System Preferences -> Dictation & Speech. Some of the items that can be changed include the speaking voice, the rate of speech, and the shortcut key which activates speech.
· iDevices – to turn on speech, go to “Settings”, then select “General” and then “Accessibility.” Speech is located in the top section under “Vision”. There are two options for having text read out loud. You can either select a passage of text and select “speak text” or you can swipe down with two fingers from the top of the screen to hear the content of the screen. Both of these options require activation but pressing the radio button in the Speech section. Speech can be further configured in the same section including the speaking voice, the speaking rate, having the spoken content highlighted or having auto-corrections read aloud.
Chrome: There are many ways to have text read aloud using a Google extension. Some of the apps are nothing more than a hyperlink to a website (w) which hosts the dictation function. Below are some of the more popular ones:
· Read&Write for Google (e)
· Screenshot Reader (e)
· Select & Speak (e)
· ChromeSpeak (e)
· SpeakIt! (e)
· VoiceInstead (e)
Recommendation(s):
· Mac computer: use the built-in speech tool. It be used without an internet connection (if the enhanced voice is downloaded beforehand).
· iDevice: use the built-in speech tool either by selecting text or swiping from the top down with two fingers (as long as you have speak screen enabled). This feature does not require internet access as long as you have downloaded the enhanced voice.
· Windows computer: use Read&Write for Google or one of the many speech extensions.
· ChromeBook: use Read&Write for Google or any speech extension.