Academic Technology, Accessibility

Assistive Technology (AT) Tools: Text-to-speech on desktops and laptops

This is part four of a series on Assistive Technology (AT) tools anyone can use directly on their devices—no extra download required. In case you missed it, the last post was Assistive Technology (AT) Tools: Live Captions in Presentations.

Many platforms offer some version of text-to-speech (TTS) to enhance accessibility, productivity, and inclusion. When people can engage with information in ways that work best for them, everyone benefits. Imagine…

  • You’ve been reading from a screen much of the day. You are feeling some eye fatigue and having trouble concentrating, even noticing that common words look odd or are difficult to read.
  • You’re preparing dinner, but tapping on your screen and reading the recipe is disruptive while you’re cleaning veggies, going to the fridge, and slicing and dicing.
  • You’ve written an email that is potentially contentious and want a bit of a temperature check and tone check.
  • You’ve written a paper and want proofreading help.
  • You’re finding it difficult to concentrate on large blocks of text presented to you.

Text-to-speech tools can help you if you’re experiencing disability or want to increase productivity.

Very important note: Text-to-speech tools are not screen readers. Screen readers are specifically designed for blind folks and allow you to take over your device with specific keystrokes while having all content read to you.

Follow the instructions below based on your device and the software you’re trying to have read to you.

“Read Aloud” across desktop devices

Adobe Acrobat: Read Out Loud

  1. Select the View menu,
  2. Select Read Out Loud
  3. Then select Activate Read Out Loud.

Keyboard shortcuts:

  • Mac: Shift + Command + Y
  • Windows: Shift + Control + Y

Google Chrome: Reading Mode

  1. Open Chrome.
  2. Go to a website with text that you’d like to read.
  3. At the top right, select More, often indicated with three vertical dots.
  4. Scroll down to More tools
  5. and select Reading mode.

You’ll see a number of options, including a play button to allow for the page to be read out loud to you.

See: Use Reading mode in the side panel | Google Support

Mac Desktop OS: Speak Screen (in some apps)

  1. Select the Edit menu,
  2. Select Speech (when available),
  3. Then select Start Speaking.

Mac Desktop OS: Speak selection OR Speak item under the pointer

  1. Open System Preferences.
  2. Select Accessibility.
  3. Select Spoken Content,
  4. Then select Speak selection or Speak item under the pointer.

Microsoft Office and Edge

Read Aloud

  1. Go to Review menu,
  2. Select Read Aloud (not available in Microsoft 365).

Immersive Reader

  1. Go to View menu, 
  2. Select Immersive Reader.

Mozilla Firefox: Reader View

  1. Select the View menu, 
  2. Then select Enter Reader View.

Keyboard shortcuts:

  • Mac: Command + Option + r.
  • Windows: F9.

See: Firefox Reader View for clutter-free web pages

Acknowledgements

This series has been inspired by previous blog posts by Corrine Schoeb, including:

and by Swarthmore’s ITS Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee’s presentation on disability inclusion and accessibility. Thanks to Mark Davis, Sean O’Donnell, Ashley Turner, and Doug Willen for the thought and collaboration you put into your presentations, which has inspired this post!