Mac Computer - A. 1. press the command and option key and the asterisk (key 8) (to enable the feature) 2. hold command and option and press +, or - to zoom in and out. B. If you have a scroll mouse = control and scroll wheel
MAC Features for vision Every Mac is built with assistive technologies to support people who are blind or have low vision. The VoiceOver screen reader describes exactly what’s happening on your screen and lets you navigate using gestures or a braille display. Zoom gives you a powerful built-in magnifier. You can also make adjustments to cursor size, motion, and contrast to meet your specific vision needs.
Accessibility Features built into iPad "Powerful assistive features are built into iPad to complement your vision, hearing, motor skills, learning, and literacy. So you can create, learn, work, play, and do pretty much anything you want to do, wherever you want to do it, more easily than ever.
Accessibility Features built into iPhone "The world’s most personal device was designed for every person. So a person who’s blind can take group selfies. A person who’s deaf can call Mom from overseas. And a person who can’t move from the neck down can send text messages to friends.
iBrailler remarkable App. If a student is blind, they can physically place their hands on the iPad and the Braille keyboard comes to them. It is literally placed over top of their fingertips. If the student needs to move their hands because of discomfort, the keyboard moves with them. According to the App's description, iBrailler Notes supports English Braille Grade 1 (uncontracted), English Braille Grade 2 (contracted), and Six-Dot Computer Braille. There are a variety of features and functions built into the App, like copying, pasting, undo, redo, and even the ability to organize your notes. The obvious question may be, how does the person know what they wrote? iBrailler even has a Speak Selection feature. When students need to share, they can easily use BRF import/export, email and Dropbox.
.Dasher a zooming interface. You point where you want to go, and the display zooms in wherever you point. The world into which you are zooming is painted with letters, so that any point you zoom in on corresponds to a piece of text. The more you zoom in, the longer the piece of text you have written.
QuickRes Resolution Changer Quickly change resolution tolow or medium and back to normal at the click of a button.Scroll down near the bottom of site to locate.
Virtual MagnifierMagnifies from 1X to 32 X. Keyboard shortcuts and zoom factor can be controlled by mouse scroll wheel/ Adjust page color schemes For Windows/Mac/Linux
.KwikLoupe A simple screen magnifier. Magnification ranges from 2x to 64x with a quick locate option to position the viewing window. The tool magnifies the area around the mouse pointer. Scroll down page to see tool.
Zoom.it creates a display of your images in a format that allows you to zoom in, zoom out, and scroll around a large image.
iZoom Web iZoom Web is an advanced, voicing screen magnifier that loads from a web site. It will only work while you are connected to the Web. It has features that compare with popular commercial products such as ZoomText and MAGic.
Voice and Audio Tools
Speech recognition programs allow computer navigation by voice rather than entering data by keyboard or mouse. You can still use a mouse and keyboard as well as voice, to enter data, write text, and navigate applications. Students who have difficulty typing or reading text because of a learning, language, or mobility impairment can often successfully work on a computer with the use of speech recognition. Some may prefer or require a more robust speech recognition program, such as the ones below. Helperbird Whether you need speech to text, text-to-speech, Opendyslexic font, highlight tools, note-taking, clutter removal, Immersive Reader, etc., this tool has all of your favorite accessibility tools rolled into one! video tutorial
Read2Meis a free service that will convert a webpage or an uploaded document into an audio file that you can listen to on the Read2Me website.
Apple Voice Control and Keyboard Dictation Apple has two integrated features that allow you to dictate text: Voice Control and Keyboard Dictation. Please note that only one feature can work at a time. The difference between the two functionalities is that Keyboard Dictation enables you to speak your text anywhere you can type it using a keyboard and trackpad, Voice Control allows you to both dictate text and control your Mac using your voice instead of trackpad and keyboard. To turn on Keyboard Dictation on your Mac, click on Apple Menu ➜ System Preferences ➜ Keyboard ➜ Dictation ➜ click on Enable dictation To turn on Voice Control on Mac: click on Apple Menu ➜ System Preferences ➜ Accessibility ➜ Voice Control ➜ Enable voice control.
Read AloudThis extension is especially helpful for people with vision difficulties, people with dyslexia, kids learning to read, language learners, as well as for those who prefer listening to reading. With a single click the extension converts the whole text into audio. Once it starts reading you can even navigate away to other tabs and the extension will still keep on reading the article in the background. Read Aloud supports over 40 languages and is also available for Firefox. video
Microsoft Edge If you have access to Microsoft Edge (the default for Windows computers) then should familiarize yourself with Microsoft’s Immersive Reader tool. Immersive Reader in Microsoft Edge can be used to have pages read aloud, to alter the font size and spacing, and to alter the color scheme of articles read on websites. Microsoft Edge is also available to use on Android and iOS phones and tablets. A read-aloud function is available in the iOS and Android versions of Microsoft Edge.
Mac users aren’t left out of using Microsoft Edge and Immersive Reader. Microsoft Edge is currently (November, 2019) available as a beta product to install on Mac OS. It contains the Immersive Reader functions that are available in the Windows version of Edge. You can find the Mac OS version of Edge right here. www.freetech4teachers.com
Chrome The Chrome web browser can be customized to each user’s preferences regarding font size, font style, and spacing. Those setting choices can be made by typing chrome://settings/fonts into the address bar in Chrome. The choices will apply as the default wherever you go in with Chrome.
You can zoom-in or zoom-out on individual pages in Chrome by simply holding the control key then tapping the “+” key on a Windows or Chromebook keyboard or by holding the command key then tapping the “+” key on a Mac keyboard.
There are Chrome extensions that offer read-aloud capabilities. Read & Write for Chrome is one of the most popular ones for use in school settings. Other accessibility extensions can be found at https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/ext/22-accessibility. www.freetech4teachers.com
VoiceOver Every new Mac Lion and iPad IOS 5 or higher includes an advanced, full-featured screen-access technology that makes it possible for those who are blind or have low vision to control their computer. It’s called VoiceOver and it’s built into the OS X operating system, It actually tells users what is on the screen and guides them through the different menu options on the screen. It also uses advanced technologies to deliver natural-sounding speech and can be controlled through a set of gestures. VoiceOver includes an on-screen braille panel which displays both braille and a plain-text version of the descriptions spoken by VoiceOver, so sighted users can follow along. Here is how you setup your iPhone/iPad to read text to you... 1. Enabling the Speak option makes it possible for your iOS device to read aloud any selectable text. 2. Launch the Settings app, tap on General, and then choose Accessibility. 3. Scroll down to Speak Selection, and tap to turn it on. 4. Now, go into any app where you can highlight text. (Your options include Mail, Safari, Notes, PDF Readers, and many others.) 5. Select some text, and you’ll see a new option appear in the contextual menu (you may have to tap the right arrow to view more options). Tap the Speak command, and your iOS device will start reading the text aloud.
Speech to text in Google Drive Google Voice - Speech-to-Text Click here if you want to see ALL of the options available from Docs Support.
Safari Safari has a “reader view” option that you can find to the left of the URL in the address bar. The reader view menu appears as four horizontal lines. Click the menu to enter reader view. The reader view will lets users change the font style and size as well as the overall page color scheme. Safari’s reader view is in addition to all of the other accessibility options that are built into the Mac operating system. A comprehensive list of Mac accessibility options is available at https://www.apple.com/accessibility/mac/ . www.freetech4teachers.com
JAWS which stands for Job Access With Speech, is a screen reader that works on Windows. JAWS helps the visually impaired use their computers and navigate their mouse easily. It provides speech and Braille output for several application running on Windows. Other features provided by JAWS include:
Works with Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, Firefox, and much more
Supports Windows 8, including touch screens and gestures
Fast information look-up at your fingertips with Research It
Access any image on the screen that includes text with Convenient OCR
Save time with Skim Reading
The only Windows screen reader to provide contracted Braille input from your Braille keyboard
Immersive Reader is a free tool available from Microsoft. As I wrote earlier this week, Immersive Reader will read aloud the articles that students have in their OneNote notebooks. Immersive Reader does more than just read articles aloud. It will identify to students the nouns, verbs, and adjectives within an article. Students can also choose to have every syllable of word identified for them. Video tutorial(Richard Byrne)
AppleVis is a website by and for blind and vision-impaired users of Apple devices, primarily iOS device users but including some resources for Mac OS X users. The focus is on VoiceOver users but there are some resources for other blind users who use zooming to access devices too.
A community-powered website for blind and vision-impaired users of Apple devices.
Seek and share information on the accessibility of apps developed for the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and the Mac.
Directories of iOS and Mac applications with community-provided descriptions and thorough VoiceOver compatibility information for each program. Applications recommended as highly usable by blind users are also collected together in “Recommended App” lists.
A forum for discussing issues related to accessibility for Apple users.
AppleVis blog which highlights news of special interest and editor opinions.
Podcasts with walk-through style tutorials and reviews.
Online Dictation is a free site that will transcribe your speech for you. To use the site just visit it, click on the microphone icon, and start talking. If the transcription inserts the wrong word (for example it inserted "number" instead of "mumble" when I tried it) just click on that word to replace it. You can copy the transcript and paste it anywhere you like.
MicNote is a free Chrome and Android app that allows you to create voice recordings, text notes, and image-based notes on one concise notebook page. The notes that you record with your voice can be time-stamped by clicking on your Mic Note note page while you’re recording. You can also take notes without recording any audio. All notes support inclusion of images and links. The best part of Mic Note is that you can sync all of your notes to your Google Drive or Dropbox account. Watch the video below to see how you can create notes in MicNote. video tutorial
Dictanote Speech Recognizer app available for free through the Chrome Web Store. To use the Dictanote Speech Recognizer just install it from the Chrome Web Store, launch it, then click the microphone to start taking and recording your voice. The Speech Recognizer will type out your text when you finish recording. You can then copy and paste your text to the paragraph box below the Speech Recognizer or to a document you have open in Google Docs.
Dictation.io is a free site that will transcribe your speech for you. To use the site just visit it, click on the microphone icon, and start talking. If the transcription inserts the wrong word (for example it inserted "number" instead of "mumble" when I tried it) just click on that word to replace it. You can copy the transcript and paste it anywhere you like.
Dragon Dictation app voice recognition application that allows you to easily speak and instantly see your text or email messages.
Voice Text Pro: FREE app Dictating has never been easier! Voice Texting Pro doesn't need to learn your voice, no training is required. It works straight out of the box. By default, it uses the language appropriate to the settings of your device. So if you are in Spain, it recognizes Spanish, etc. You can change the language in the settings page.
iTalk Recorder a full-featured recording app with a streamlined and intuitive user interface.
Audio Note $4.99 ipad app recording and annotating notes. Can also use text and share notes with others
Online DictationThis is a great tool that lets you transcribe speech as you talk. This tool is also available as a Chrome extension. To start using Online Dictation, just head over to its home page, click on " start dictation" and start talking. You need to have a mic to do this.
DictanoteDictanote is an advanced text editor with an integrated speech recognizer which lets you transcribe your speech. The great thing about Dictanote is that it provides you with most of the authoring features you would normally find in other text editors. You can dictate your speech and customize it the way you want before you copy and share it with others.
VoiceNoteVoiceNote is a notepad that allows you to type with your voice. VoiceNote is available for download from Chrome store for free. Once downloaded, select your language and click on the "mic" button to start transcribing your speech. It also provides several tools to customize your text.
Google Voice FeaturesOne feature that may help visually impaired is that you can download voice mails as mp3 files. Also has a speech-to-text feature
Online Dictation is a free site for use with chrome that will transcribe your speech for you. To use the site just visit it, click on the microphone icon, and start talking. If the transcription inserts the wrong word (for example it inserted "number" instead of "mumble" when I tried it) just click on that word to replace it. You can copy the transcript and paste it anywhere you like.
DictaNote can be used as a Chrome extension or as a stand-alone tool in your Chrome browser. As a stand-alone service DictaNote allows you to create new documents by speaking into your computer's microphone. You can edit your DictaNote documents much like you would edit them in any other word processing program. DictaNote allows you to insert images and hyperlinks too.
Speech Recognition For Mac Mac 10.3.x - 10.6.x Mac OS X comes with built-in speech recognition software. These scripts allow the computer to type characters, control Safari and FireFox for hands free web browsing, and control the mouse using voice commands. The page also has video tutorials on how to customize the commands around the user’s needs
System Access To Go System Access To Go, made by Serotek, is a full-blown screen reader for Windows that is initiated via the web. It also works as a talking screen magnifier. Linking to the System Access To Go site will begin a process in which the user downloads a small executable and runs it. The executable stays connected to Serotek and loads a screen reader. The software is on the user’s machine until the browser is exited. System Access To Go provides speak aloud access to the Windows desktop, explorer, and menus. It also has scripts that provide full access to many Windows applications, including Office and Internet Explorer.
Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader This free eReader allows you to read with 1 or 2 page format and brings in clear graphics. eBook publishers determine if a book can be printed or read aloud. Has both PC and Mac versions.
Audio Dropbox is a virtual dropbox for audio recordings. Using this new tool, you can put a dropbox for speaking assignments on any web page.
Soundnote app, ipad, It tracks what you type and draw while recording audio, so you'll never worry about missing an important detail. While playing back your recording, just tap a word; SoundNote will jump right to that point in the audio.
Sound Cloud Create and share audio for free. Use to share , embed and document lessons and lectures
SpeakPipe is a free service for receiving voicemail messages from visitors to your blog or website. Just sign into your account at SpeakPipe.com/messages then click the "send a voice message to email" button. Clicking that button will prompt you to enter an email address and to allow SpeakPipe to access your computer's microphone. SpeakPipe will record you and send an email to anyone you specify. The recipient of your message does not have to have a SpeakPipe account to hear the message.
The Broadcasts Program allows you to record audio files and distribute them to your students for playback on the computer or on their portable media devices. It is a virtual dropbox for audio recordings. Using this new tool, you can put a dropbox for speaking assignments on any web page
SpeakPipe is a service that allows visitors to your blog to leave you voice messages without picking up a phone. With SpeakPipe installed on your blog anyone can click on the "send voicemail" button and leave a message for you. When a visitor clicks the "leave voicemail" button she will be prompted to allow access to her computer. Then the visitor can start recording a message for you. Visitors can, but don't have to, enter their names and email addresses for you. You can listen to and download the messages left for you in your SpeakPipe inbox. SpeakPipe has easy-to-install plugins for Blogger, WordPress, and Tumblr. It took me about two minutes to install SpeakPipe on a Blogger blog. For use on other blogging platforms SpeakPipe has a script that you can install manually.
RecordMP3 is a site that lets users record their voice using the microphone built-in to their computer. You can then share the link – or turn it into a QR code – so that anyone who opens the page can press play and hear a recording of your voice. Great for adding verbal instructions to a activity sheet or definitions to new vocabulary words for English Language Learners.
Create Podcasts for Students with Audacity or Garageband
Speak It is a Google Chrome extension that enables you to have the text on most webpages read to you. With Speak It installed just highlight the text on a the page you're viewing then right-click to activate Speak It. Then click the play button to have the text read to you.
Broadcast WebsiteBroadcast allows you to broadcast audio to websites, social networks, desktops apps and mobile devices via a Flash Player. Features include scheduled events, live DJ mixing, interactive messaging and more. Works with Chrome and Firefox.
BlogRadio Website BlogRadio lets you listen to your favorite blogs! Subscribe to your favorite blogs using the BlogRadio Desktop Manager Tool. The text of the blog is converted to an audio file (with a natural voice). Sit back and listen.
SamiSays a great alternative to sharing stories for children with visual challenges. SamiSays allows the student to add fun sounds to the story, for dramatic effect. Many times, telling the story, recording it using their own voice, can assist the student as he/she goes back to WRITE the story. Check it out: http://code.google.com/p/samisays/
Orca Orca is a free, open source, flexible, and extensible screen reader that provides access to the graphical desktop via user-customizable combinations of speech, braille, and/or magnification..
Speech Dasher an interface for the input of text using a combination of speech and gestures. A speech recognizer provides the initial guess of theAudioPal add audio to a Webpage
AudioBoo add audio from mobile phone or computer to a Website, Facebook and more
Vocarro create audio files to send as emails or post on a Website
ChromeVoxThe ChromeVox screen reader is an extension to Chrome that brings the speed, versatility, and security of Chrome to visually impaired users…ChromeVox was designed from the start to enable unprecedented access to modern web apps, including those that utilize W3C ARIA (Access to Rich Internet Applications) to provide a rich, desktop-like experience. This enables visually impaired users to experience the power of web applications while also giving developers a way to verify the accessibility of their web applications.’
Vu-Bar Onscreen "slotted ruler" that covers all but one line of text Adjusts to font size and width of line Windows only [Several other helpful programs available from the same website.
Helperbird Whether you need speech to text, text-to-speech, Opendyslexic font, highlight tools, note-taking, clutter removal, Immersive Reader, etc., this tool has all of your favorite accessibility tools rolled into one! video tutorial
Read Aloud extension for Chrome. The Read Aloud extension does exactly what its name implies, it reads pages aloud. The Read Aloud extension doesn't offer nearly as many options as Immersive Reader in Edge offers, but there are a few customizations that you can make to it. You can adjust the speed at which pages are read, the size of the text as it's displayed when being read aloud, and you can change the size of the text box that is displayed when a page is read aloud. Watch this one-minute video www.freetech4teachers.com
MyStudyBar Toolbar with set of applications to support reading, writing, planning and vision. Install on computer, or run from USB drive Click HERE for demonstration of using MyStudyBar with Windows 7 Speech Recognition Video tutorials HERE for tools on MyStudyBar Windows only Click HERE for more information
Image Resizer is a handy Firefox add-on that enables you to click on just about any image on a website and resize it. It could be very helpful for students who need to see images in more detail or just need the images enlarged for better viewing.Video overview
ChromeVis is a Google Chrome extension designed to make it easier for people with vision impairments to read the content of webpages. When installed ChromeVis allows you to highlight the text on any webpage and have it enlarged and placed on an easy-to-read background. Your highlighted text appears in a pop-up box over the original page so that you can quickly go back to the original source if you want to.
BrailleSurf 4 is an Internet browser for visually impaired users, which allows a simplified reading of the information available on the Web. BrailleSurf 4 shows this information in a text form. This information can then be displayed on a braille bar, or it can be spoken out by a speech synthesiser thanks to appropriate drivers. The text can also be presented on the screen according to the needs of partially sighted people.
Apps
ViA- By Braille Institute Braille Institute is proud to introduce ViA (Visually Impaired Apps), a fully accessible app for iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad. ViA has been designed to help identify apps that are useful for adults and children who are blind or have low vision, including those with additional disabilities. Users can easily sort through the 500,000+ apps in the App Store and locate those that were built specifically for, or provide functionality to, the user with a visual impairment.
TapTapSee ( IOS and Android) is a mobile camera application designed specifically for blind and visually impaired users, TapTapSee utilizes your device’s camera and VoiceOver functions to take a picture or video of anything and identify it out loud for you.
MBraille IOS Amobile braille keyboard.With the free features you can type, edit and send tweets and text messages using contracted or uncontracted English braille.*With the full version you can also use braille to- call contacts or telephone numbers- send email- do facebook status updates- add calendar entries
Seeing AI is a free app that narrates the world around you. Designed for the blind and low vision community, this ongoing research project harnesses the power of AI to open up the visual world and describe nearby people, text, and objects.
TapTapSee - Blind & Visually Impaired Camera TapTapSee is designed to help the blind and visually impaired identify objects they encounter in their daily lives.Simply double tap the screen to take a photo of anything, at any angle, and hear the app speak the identification back to you (Note: Spoken identification requires VoiceOver to be turned on)
Be My Eyes – Helping blind see Be the eyes for a blind person in need of help remotely through a live video connection if you are sighted or be assisted by the network of sighted users if you are blind.
Seeing Assistant IOS . Android support blind and visually impaired people in everyday life. Seeing Assistant Home allows the users to detect the light source and partially visually impaired people to use electronic loupe. Allows the users to scan and generate barcodes and QR codes.
Exploration AppsThere are apps that provide GPS. These apps let you explore the world around you using audio messages. It tells you about nearby places, and it also will set up routes. The app lets users point the phone in your hand in any direction to hear the nearest places as virtual talking signs. When pointing straight at a virtual sign the speech is loud and clear, but as you point away from it, the speech starts to get staticky, so you have quick audio feedback about the exact location of the virtual talking sign. Here are the two popular free apps.
Lazarillo (iOS and Android) Sighted Volunteer AppThese are apps that narrate the world around you using a phone or glasses to identify what is around you out loud.
Bard Mobile IOSAndroid Access more than 100,000 books, magazines, and music scores in audio and braille formats, with new selections added daily.
Google Lookout (Pixel only) These videos show how this technology works.
Alt TextMore and more content creators realize the importance of including alternative text (alt text) with their images. This allows the person consuming the content to understand what is in a picture if they are unable to see it well. Screen readersBrowsers like Chrome have screen readers built in. Other browsers like FireFox have addons. There is also screen reading software.
Talking Calculator A comprehensively featured calculator that has become a favorite among adults and primary schools around the world. Designed for a wide range of users, this calculator has large colorful buttons, optional high contrast, full VoiceOver support, and unique to this calculator; the option to use speech for answers, button names and formulas!
SayText SayText reads out loud the text in the image. It is intended for the visually impaired users. SayText is a free spin off product from the DocScanner team
AccessNote AccessNote is the first notetaker for the iOS platform designed particularly for VoiceOver users looking for a highly efficient, feature-rich note taking experience. In addition to being a low cost alternative to traditional note takers, AccessNote will allow users to combine efficient note taking with the countless other features and functions of the iOS devices. This will allow blind and visually impaired people in classroom or business settings to use the same popular iOS devices that their sighted peers are using.’
Visual Brailler Visual Brailler is the simple braille editor. It’s a braille writer for your iPad, and it has a place in every braille transcriber’s toolbox. Use it for NLS certification exercises or to practice UEB. Show off your mastery of braille!’
MBraille brings you a mobile braille keyboard. With the free features you can type, edit and send tweets and text messages using contracted or uncontracted English braille.’
NantMobile Money Reader NantMobile Money Reader instantly recognizes currency and speaks the denomination, enabling people experiencing visual impairments or blindness to quickly and easily identify and count bills. Point the camera of your iOS device at a bill and the application will tell you the denomination in real-time.’
VisionAssist VisionAssist is a new category of handheld electronic magnifier that utilizes your smartphone. It is designed to help people who are visually impaired with with Low Vision conditions including AMD (age related macular degeneration), Glaucoma, Diabetic Retinopathy, Cataracts and color blindness. Why purchase an expensive dedicated electronic video magnifier when you can utilize your smartphone or tablet that is always with you. Digit-Eyes Lite allows you to read Digit-Eyes QR (Quick-Response) text bar code labels. It can be upgraded to read UPC / EAN labels as well. You can make and read your own labels, too! Using the Digit-Eyes website, you'll be able to create a PDF file of Digit-Eyes QR bar codes that each contain up to 250
BARD Mobile provides access to braille and talking books directly from the NLS Braille and Audio Reading Download (BARD). BARD contains nearly 80,000 books, magazines, and music scores in audio and braille formats, with new selections added daily.’
Text to Speech Tools
Read The Words - Convert text to speech, including words you type in, Web pages and upload files. Also can embed in email or Web page.
TypeIt ReadIt Windows 2000 - W 7 Mac 10.2.x - 10.6.x
Sound Geckois a free service that turns text articles into MP3 files. Using Sound Gecko you can take an article from a website, paste its URL into Sound Gecko, and then listen to a reading of that article. The conversion isn't instantaneous, but it is relatively quick. You do have to enter an email address in order to get the MP3 file. To remove the copy and paste part of the process you can install the Sound Gecko Chrome extension. Sound Gecko does offer an iPhone app that you can use to organize and listen to playlists of the articles you've converted into MP3 recordings.Compare to Vocalize below
Vocalyze is a service that reads the content of popular websites to you. You can subscribe to popular sites across twelve different categories. Vocalyze works on your computer, Android device, and iOS device. Applications for EducationVocalyze makes news and other content available to students with vision impairments that prevent them from reading online. Vocalyze could also be used to support struggling readers as you use current events stories in your classroom.
Microsoft Reader is a free e-book reader that will read any available e-book on your Windows computer and Pocket PC. After the Reader is installed, add the Text-to-Speech option to hear any eBook read aloud. In addition, you can create eBooks from any MS Word file by installing the Add-in feature; an icon on the Word toolbar will provide the means to do this. Using this feature, you can locate any e-text file (e.g. from Project Gutenberg website), copy/paste/save it as a MS Word file. Click the new toolbar button and the file is converted into the eBook format for Microsoft Reader; it is added to its library.
Read Aloud extension for Chrome. The Read Aloud extension does exactly what its name implies, it reads pages aloud. The Read Aloud extension doesn't offer nearly as many options as Immersive Reader in Edge offers, but there are a few customizations that you can make to it. You can adjust the speed at which pages are read, the size of the text as it's displayed when being read aloud, and you can change the size of the text box that is displayed when a page is read aloud. Watch this one-minute video www.freetech4teachers.com
Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader This free eReader allows you to read with 1 or 2 page format and brings in clear graphics. eBook publishers determine if a book can be printed or read aloud. Has both PC and Mac versions.
Spokenlayer is a free iOS app for an iPhone which turns any text/article into audio. This is ideal for those that like to multi-task and listen to one thing while doing another. I can also see this being used in Spec Ed classes or ELL/ESL classes for those that have trouble reading/seeing.
ItCanSay: This site has a great online text reader and can also give you some help pronouncing difficult words that aren’t said like they’re spelled.
SpeakEasy A very simple text to speech application, which sits in the taskbar. It can be configured to automaticaly read whatever is copied to the clipboard, or the clipboard can be read by pressing a hotkey combination. The software automatically defaults to using the default system voice, however this can be changed in the Settings dialog. Scroll down the site to locate.
Google Drive, Google's online file storage system, is now live. With it you can upload and access all of your files including videos, photos, PDFs, Google Docs and more, just like with Dropbox or Sugarsync.It has 5G of storage. Dropbox has 2G. Google Docs is integrated with Google Drive so you can work on all your documents, presentations and spreadsheets, as well as share content and then add and reply to comments on any file (PDF, image, video, and so on) and receive notifications when some one else comments on a shared item. It has added some social networking features to cloud file storage. Drive will also recognize text in scanned documents. One other nice feature is that you can open all these types of files (over 30 different ones) right in your browser, even if you don't have the original program the file was created in on your computer. That's a big feature. You can access your files on the web and install the Drive on your Mac or PC and your Android phone (iOS app coming soon). There is also a screen reader for blind readers.
Orato A straight forward text to speech application. All text input is carried out through the clipboard. Settings allow Orato to read either on demand or automatically when new text is added to the clipboard. Other options will display the text if required, with highlighting of the word or sentence being spoken. Orato can either be installed to the hard disk or copied onto a pen drive for portable use. Scroll down the site to locate near the bottom of window.
Create & Convert: a free and easy way to make accessible text. It brings together in one neat package a range of open source programs that can quickly and capably translate electronic documents into an accessible alternative format, such as audio or a talking book. Create & Convert works with any document that is editable form such as Microsoft word. It is a free download and works from both a portable usb key or can be downloaded to a desktop. Check it out: http://eduapps.org/?page_id=10
VoiceOver To make it easier for the blind and those with low-vision to use a computer, Apple has built a solution into every Mac. Called VoiceOver, it’s reliable, simple to learn, and enjoyable to use.
YakItToMe -Upload documents, cut and paste text or link to feeds. Text reader converts text to speech automatically. Download audio and podcasts.
iSpeech - converts any text on the Web into clear natural sounding audio free. Take your reading on the go
ReadPlease Windows-based screen text-to-speech reader. It will read text aloud.
VozMe Type in some text, click the Create MP3 button, and it will open a new window and play a male or female voice (your choice) reading the text. You can download the file as an MP3 using right-click save-as (PCs) or CTRL-click save-as (Macs).
Carryout Text - A great way to convert text to speech, good for converting blogs, emails or documents.
HearWho Convert text into an mp3 file by copying and pasting it into the main window on the right. Choose your voice and click on Start Conversion. RIGHT click / Save Target As to save the mp3.
PowerTalk PowerTalk is a free program that automatically speaks any presentation or slide show running in Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows.
Natural Readers The Free version allows you to experience listening to your emails, web pages, reports or any text on your PC.
e-Speaking An easy software solution to enable you to control your computer, dictate emails and letters, and have the computer read documents back to you.
CLiCk Speak is an open source, freely available extension for the Firefox web browser. It features a mouse driven interface, and it reads web pages.
iSpeech - converts any text on the Web into clear natural sounding audio free. Take your reading on the go
Click, speak - reads websites for the improvement of literacy
Read the Words Website Website that allows the (registered) user to upload documents in a variety of formats, including Word, Adobe PDF, websites, etc. in order to have the text read aloud. Finished readings can be accessed from the Read the Words website or as an mp3 file or podcast. The site also claims that users can embed the readings onto their own websites, wikis, and blogs. I see this as a powerful tool when dealing with struggling readers or English-language learners.
Speak It is a Google Chrome extension that enables you to have the text on most webpages read to you. With Speak It installed just highlight the text on a the page you're viewing then right-click to activate Speak It. Then click the play button to have the text read to you. The voice is very digitized, but it is clear. Installing Speak It takes just a few seconds. To install it go to Speak It's page in the Chrome Web Store and click the install button. Restarting your browser is not required in order to activate Speak It. If you decide that you don't want to use Speak It any longer you can uninstall it by right-clicking on the Speak It icon in your browser and selecting uninstall.
Announcify is a free text to speech application that is available as a Chrome browser extension and as an Android app. With Announcify installed in your browser any time you're viewing a webpage you can simply click on the Announcify icon in your browser and have that page read to you. A bonus aspect of using Announcify is that in order to make a webpage easier to read it enlarges the text of the webpage and removes all sidebar content.
Select and Speak is a simple text to speech Chrome browser extension. Select and Speak installs with just one click and does not require a browser re-start. Once Select and Speak is installed just highlight any text on a webpage, click the Select and Speak icon in your browser, and listen to the reading of the text.
ClipSpeak - a free, open source program for Windows that does not require installation (so can be run from a USB key!) Once running, just use CTRL-C to have the text read to you. Use the right CTRL key to stop. Use the right Shift+CTRL key combination to toggle on and off. Can also export the selected text as an MP3 file.
WordTalk - a free text-to-speech program for the PC that works within WORD and Outlook and highlights each word that is read. Includes a talking spell checker and a talking thesaurus. WordTalk was upgraded in January 2009 and now includes the ability to save, and you can convert your text file to a wav or MP3 file. Makes this free download even more valuable. (Seems to be trickier with Office 2010 and Vista or Windows 7)
Fox Vox - a free Firefox extension, highlight the text, right click and choose Speak Selected Text
Click,Speak - a free Firefox extension that reads the Internet and highlights phrases and sentences as it reads
SpeakingFox- a free Firefox extension for the Mac which converts text in Firefox to audio
DSpeech- scroll down for a very cool free text-to-speech AND speech-to-text tool. PC only
Balabolka- Free text-to-speech download, can also download a portable version that runs off a USB thumb drive.can save as wav or MP3 file.
PowerTalk - free text-to-speech for PowerPoint presentations
Odiogo- free text to speech for your blog (turn your blog into a podcast)
Announcify Announcify reads out loud every website you want. For example, if you're too tired but still need to study one more Wikipedia entry, Announcify can help your tired eyes relax.
Balabolka Balabolka is a Text-To-Speech (TTS) program. All computer voices installed on your system are available toBalabolka. The on-screen text can be saved as a WAV, MP3, MP4, OGG or WMA file. The program can read the clipboard content, view the text from AZW, CHM, DjVu, DOC, EPUB, FB2, HTML, LIT, MOBI, ODT, PRC, PDF and RTF files, customize font and background color control reading from the system tray or by the global hotkeys
Chrome Speak Chrome speak provides native support for speech on Windows (using SAPI 5), Mac OS X, and Chrome OS, using speech synthesis capabilities provided by the operating system. On all platforms, the user can install extensions that register themselves as alternative speech engines."
QR Voice mQR Voice allows you to easily type in text and hear it spoken to you. It does not require any software download or registration and has user friendly interface.
Select and Speak Select and Speak uses iSpeech's human-quality text-to-speech (TTS) reads selected text. It includes 43 iSpeech text to speech voices. You can configure the voice and speed option by changing the settings at options page
Text to Voice TTS gives Firefox the power of speech. Select text, click the button on the bottom right of Firefox window and this add-on speaks the selected text for you. Isn't it brilliant? Audio is downloadable.
Text 2 Speech Just enter your text, select one of the voices and download the resulting mp3 file to your computer. This service is free and you are allowed to use the speech files for any purpose, including commercial uses. "
Books for the Visually Impaired
BookshareIt provides copyrighted books for people with print disabilities. Download books, texts, and newspapers. You can listen to them with hight quality text-to-speech voices. You can also hear and see highlighted words on screen or read them with digital braille or enlarged fonts. Another alternative is to read directly from your own Internet browser. Bookshare is available for free for qualified US students. Non students and other organizations pay a small fee. Watch the video
Feedbooks:Read anywhere. Feedbooks distributes over 3,000,000 books every month to smartphones, tablets and eReaders.
LibriVox: This site provides free audiobooks for books in the public domain and has numerous titles. If you don’t find what you want, see if you can volunteer to create a recording of the book yourself.
Elleven LabsTerrific text to audio program. Also good for creating audiobooks with lifelike AI characters, emotional storytelling, and a seamless audio creation process
Assistive Mediahas recorded hundreds of articles from 50 different magazines and newspapers, including the New York Times, Discover, and MAD Magazine. A click will start them playing. A right button click will save the MP3 file to your computer.
Stories offers access to a huge collection of free audiobooks "including titles across eight different languages,
CeebiesK-3 Stories are read aloud and can be printed.
Storyline Online - Watch and listen to stories read by famous actors and actresses.
Speakaboos - Watch and listen to different stories, some which are read by famous celebrities! Choose from 6 different genres.Reading is Fundamental’s
Reading Planet for Kids.This website allows students to listen to books being read aloud, create their own books to print, review books, write stories with other kids, and play games that reinforce reading skills. StoryNory - audio files of stories
Book Zone - Watch and listen to animated stories and songs.
Lit2Go’s Audio Books: The University of South Florida provides an extensive collection of free audio books along with materials to help K-12 teachers present literature in the classroom. Find more information on our blog here.
LibriVox:Provides free audiobooks from the public domain. There are several options for listening. The first step is to get the mp3 or ogg files into your own computer. Also, volunteers can record books from the public domain.
TarHeel Reader a collection of free, easy-to-read, and accessible books on a wide range of topics. The books may be downloaded as slide shows in PowerPoint, Impress, or Flash format. Each book can be speech enabled and accessed using multiple interfaces
Goodnight Stories - These stories are fluently read with enthusiasm. The words on the screen are highlighted as each word is read.
MeeGenius - There are 6 books in the free collection. They can be read aloud by the computer and they can be personalized with your favorite names! Other books are available for purchase.
Story Time for Me - Reading can be just as fun (if not more!) than watching TV and playing video games! Starfall: K-2. Interactive phonics-based stories.
Story Time for Me - Excellent site for grade K-2 where interactive stories are read to kids by professional actors.
Silly BooksBooks, songs, comics and games animated and read aloud with accompanying text highlighted. Students can also publish their own stories. The Big Myth Experience myths from cultures throughout the world with this impressive site that provides multimedia renditions of world creation stories. Each of the nine myths includes an overview of the culture that produced it, suggested class activities, and discussion questions. You'll need headphones for this one. Great site to add to a comparative study of world cultures. Andersen Fairy Tales Animated http://www.andersenfairytales.com/ The animated Andersen Fairy Tales site is my storytelling pick of the day. It features three narrated fairy tales ("Real Princess," "Leaping Match" and "The Emperor's New Suit"), games, and a biography of Hans Christian Andersen. For more fairy tale fun, visit sister site Grimm Fairy Tales ( http://www.grimmfairytales.com/ ) which showcases "The Brementown Musicians" and "Faithful John."
Open Libraryis a collection of more than one million free ebook titles. The collection is cataloged by a community of volunteer online librarians. The ebooks in the Open Library can be read online, downloaded to your computer, read on Kindle and other ereader devices, and embedded into other sites. Some of the ebooks, like Treasure Island, can also be listened to through the Open Library.
Add Audio to Presentations
MyBrainshark: This tool allows you to add voice to PowerPoint, documents, images, speadsheets, or videos. (MyBrainshark supports nearly 100 video formats.) Polls may be inserted. Users may add narration with their phones or computer microphones or by uploading a pre-recorded MP3. Speaker notes may be displayed as a support. And visual dashboards allow creators to track viewing results.
Present.me:Upload slides and images, in either ppt or pdf formats. The program converts your files and allows you to record and present into your webcam as if you were presenting to an audience. A simple self editing function for missteps. Presentations may be shared or embedded. Your initial registration offer a month of premium service. After that a basic account is free and will allow you to record presentations up to 15-minutes long. Check out Shelly Terrell’s example.
Movenote:offers a similar arrangement of recorded side content accompanied with photos, PowerPoint slides, text documents or even videos. Movenote synchronizes the video and the side content for you when recording the presentation.
HelloSlideis a pdf-only tool that allows you to add computer-generated voice to your documents. Upload your presentation, type the speech for each slide, and the programs automatically generates audio. Presentations are searchable, editable, and available in 20 different languages. An edit feature allows you to tweak the speech without re-recording the audio. Translations are available as a paid feature. This may be useful for ESL learners. (Note: it is super easy to export PowerPoint and Keynote files as pdfs.)