Text-to-speech

Text-to-Speech (or TTS) lets you hear written text read out loud. Free versions of TTS are available on many devices, platforms and browsers.

Text to Speech Overview

Remote video URL

Text to Speech for library resources

Remote video URL

Tools and tips

Find out more about in built tools and recommended apps

Online

  • In Office 365, have Immersive Reader read text out loud (whilst also changing the background colour and adding a reading ruler).
  • Natural Reader Online - just paste text into the box or upload a Word document or PDF. Choose voice, speed and dyslexia-friendly font.
  • Selection Reader is a simple Chrome extension which reads out highlighted text in the browser.

Apps

There are many free text reading apps. Here are some good ones:

See more suggestions in the resources below.

Resources

text to speech icon

TS2 Text to speech app

Text to voice app for Android
Screenshot of Microsoft's Seeing AI page showing mobile phone pointed at a car and some icons representing what the app does

Seeing AI

A free iOS app which helps users with low vision  capture and read aloud text. Find out more about Seeing AI.

Screenshot showing text pasted in box to be read by Natural Reader Online. Controls displaying choices such as voice, speed, font size etc.

Natural Reader Online

A text-to-speech tool with natural-sounding voices. Customise speed, voice and highlighting to suit. You can also upload documents, PDFs and PowerPoints to read out loud. Watch the NRO video here.

Screenshot of Immersive Reader showing background colour and font options

Immersive Reader

Use Immersive Reader in Word, Outlook and OneNote to read text out loud, change the font, spacing and background colour and use a reading ruler. Watch the video to find out more.

 

Screenshot of Selection Reader settings window

Selection Reader

Selection Reader is a simple Chrome extension which will read aloud any text you highlight in webpages when using the Chrome browser.