Is there software that can turn text into audio (text-to-speech)?
Answer
We have several assistive software in the Library which can turn text into audio. If you would like to use AT Software from your personal device, you will need to remote on to on-campus PCs via YourDMULabs.
Text-to-Speech software will read out loud most onscreen text from PDFs, scanned documents, websites and Word documents. Most of them also have onscreen rulers, colour overlay options and other customisation features:
| Software | Installed on: |
|---|---|
| TextHelp Read & Write | All Library PCs and Loan Laptops |
MS365 Word Online
You can also use the Immersive Reader feature in Word MS365 (online). This is a built-in text-to-speech feature in Word Online.
Figure 1: Screenshot of the Immersive Reader Tab in Word Online (MS365) - click to enlarge.
To use the Immersive Reader with PDFs, convert the PDF to Word. To convert PDFs to Word, use the export option in Adobe Acrobat DC Pro (available on all Library PCs).
If you are not on campus and do not have Adobe Acrobat DC on your home computer, the Make It Accessible online service can convert PDFs to Word (link below). It can also convert text files into mp3 audio files.
The Make It Accessible service from the Library website converts uploaded files or text into accessible formats.
For example:
- PDF to Word
- Word to mp3 (audio file)
- PDF to mp3 (audio file)
- JPEG with text to Word
- PDF to E-Book
See this link for a PDF step-by-step guide with screenshots.