Listen Up: Overview of Text to Speech SoftwareDan ComdenUniversity of Washington
Whenver you get to thinkin’ you’re a person of influence, try ordering someone else’s dog around.
- Unknown
outline Why Platforms Apps What UW uses What I missed
(What you use)
why TTS?
Academic texts
Ancillary/Adjunct reading
Recreational reading
ESL
Other?
platforms
Handheld iOS Everything else
Mac
Windows
apps – everything else Zip, zilch, nada (not really)
Android – TalkBack Mantano, Book Place, blio, Moon+ FB Reader, MultiReader
Blackberry Text ‘nDrive (what?)
Others?
apps -iOS Google Books – only ePUB format will work with VoiceOver iBooks – VoiceOver, other tools?
Others?
mac OSBuilt-in TextEdit
Add-on Read:OutLoud Snap&Read floating toolbar Read&Write toolbar NaturalReader
windows K-3000, WYNN Read:OutLoud Read&Write ClaroRead UltraHal NaturalReader (free and paid) Balabolka TextAloud Narrator…
too big to fail? (no) K-3000
WYNN
Great for K-12, not so much for higher ed
mid range ClaroRead
Read&Write
low cost Text Aloud
NaturalReader Personal/Professional/Ultimate
free Balabolka
NaturalReader (free version)
UltraHal
(ReadPlease discontinued)
UltraHal (free) zabaware.com
Unique highlighting @ bottom of window
Converts into .WAV only
Auto-reads dialogs
Mouse only – no keyboard shortcuts
Beware of Adware/Malware w CNET download
Balabolka The Chatterer is free!
Supports spell checking, skins,
Uses any unlocked SAPI voice
Focus indication by color
MP3 creation
Sketchy keyboard and OS integration (shortcuts, cut and paste)
TextAloud Reasonable price
Group/site licenses available
Custom audio processing, different voices
Creates MP3, other formats
Batch Processing
Firefox plugin
NaturalReader Lots of options
Save to mp3 feature (paid)
Free version works for many
Easy to distribute, uses installed SAPI
outside the box ZoomText MAGic
Other tools?
what UW uses ClaroRead
NaturalReader (Free)
ZoomText
JAWS/VoiceOver
On deck: Read&Write and NVDA
*All supported by local OCR & DRS
what you use (what did I miss?) (+3) Ginger - spell and grammar checker – Clockwork booth NaturallySpeaking Read That Back feature
ClaroSpeak – iOS available now VoiceDreamReader masking reader (sounds cool!)
Demos ClaroRead
NaturalReader
TextAloud
Top Related