Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Using a Text to Speech Reader

I had a number of conference proposals to review this morning when working on the Mac.  When planning, I reflected on the text to speech app that L.G. discussed for reviewing a paper.  It struck me that the current computers have the ability to read text to be disability compliant without the purchase of a separate app.  Sure enough, the feature is in the Set Preferences > Dictation and Speech window > Text to Speech tab.

The Mac provides the choice between voices, three female and three male. The default voice is "Alex."  His voice was my favorite, as well.  You can adjust the speaking rate from slow -> normal -> fast and play sound bytes to test the settings.  The default to turn on the feature is to click the Option+Esc keys.  To use the feature, first highlight the text and then click the Option+Esc keys.

The text to speech feature would be useful by students who find audio enhances their learning experience.  Students could listen to text, such as typed class or textbook notes, or online learning resources.  Of course, the feature would be very useful to anyone who has a temporary or permanent vision problem.  

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