ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

How Free Text-to-Speech Software Can Improve Your Writing

Updated on August 30, 2014
Source

Hear The Words on the Screen

I've been using Text-to-Speech since the 80s for entertainment. Macs were talking to us long before Siri introduced the world to its delightfully retro voice that sounds like "I am your pet computer" or "I am your digital servant" as opposed to "I am Hal" or "I am some creepily disembodied human that knows more than you, bwahaha!" Yes, talking computers have their advantages, especially now that they can help you find where you parked.

Text-to-speech software has more old-fashioned advantages as well.

For one thing, voice software is incredibly handy for people with physical or visual disabilities. It allows visually-impaired users to whip off an email or write a book without needing a sighted person or special machine to transcribe Braile for them. Physically limited users don't have to scroll, click, or move their heads with a screen reader. There are hundreds of millions of people with various disabilities using text-to-speech and voice recognition software to help them surf the web, communicate, and work. I heartily recommend reviewing these Guidelines for Writing Accessible Content for Screen Readers so that you'll understand how they "see" webpages and what we can do to structure our content so that it works for this large audience.

Even if you don't have disabilities, it's handy being able to listen instead of being locked to screen and keyboard. You can copy-and-paste a half-dozen articles from your favorite magazine, or plug in a short story from an online author, and listen while exercising or doing chores.

Over the years, I've found myself using text-to-speech more and more. I'm especially fond of listening to short stories written by online friends. I discovered something interesting in this way: If I write immediately after listening to an excellent story, I find my own vocabulary and writing much improved. You've probably discovered this "chameleon" effect by writing immediately after reading a book or watching a movie, but the effect is even more pronounced when you've heard someone else's writing.

Most of all, I've discovered that text-to-speech lets me proorfread and edit my own writing much more effectively.

Built-In Speech for Mac, iPad

On Mac, go to System Preferences > Speech and look for the option "Speak selected text when this key is pressed." Set whatever key-combo you want (make sure it's nothing you use for anything else; mine is set to alt-esc).

Then you can select a chunk of text on a page -- select the first line, scroll down, and shift-click the end of the chunk -- and hit that key-combo to hear the computer read it aloud. The pronunciation is sometimes clumsy, but I've gotten used to it.

On iPad, it's a little more tricky. Go into Settings, Accessibility, Voiceover Settings, and set the triple-click to activate Voiceover. Then... here's the tricky part... when viewing a page:

  • Triple click to activate voiceover
  • Click on the paragraph you want it to start reading
  • Two-finger swipe DOWN, starting on that paragraph and moving past the bottom of it, to indicate "read from here to end of page"
  • Triple click to deactivate voiceover

A Proofreader That Reads Your Words Aloud

The biggest challenge in proofreading is to force yourself to view your writing critically. If you are familiar with a piece of writing, you will not only miss typos, omitted or repeated words, which your brain automatically corrects without your consciously realizing it. You will also miss places where your thoughts are disconnected and do not flow properly.

You understand just how one idea flows into the next, even if you haven't stated it clearly. Your reader will not. Hearing a computer read it back to you adds just enough unfamiliarity that you may hear the dropped connections, and think, "Wait, how does X lead to Y?"

You will also hear awkward phrasings. Reading aloud can help you to detect these problems as well. If you or the computer trips over a phrasing, the chances are that your readers will, too. Help them out by polishing and rewording tricky sentences, run-on sentences, or sentences that you get lost trying to follow when you hear them spoken.


Finally, of course, hearing your words aloud will help you catch spelling errors, some typos, repeated or omitted words.

What to Look for in Speech Software

So, what text-to-speech software is out there? I haven't tried screen readers, and I've been sticking to one particular piece of text-to-speech software, NaturalReader, which is a little glitchy (it sometimes gets stuck if I hit pause and then play, forcing me to stop, find my place and hit play again). Tip for Mac users: if you purchase the paid version of NaturalReader, make sure you purchase "NaturalReader for Mac." The free version is cross-platform; the paid one is not.

Most text-to-speech software will let you copy text from anywhere and paste it into the reader's window; it'll then read it back to you. Some will read webpage URLs or textfiles. Free readers tend to use your computer's built-in voices, which are rather artificial-sounding. Paid readers let you edit and add pronunciations of unfamiliar words, convert text to mp3s or other sound files that can be stored and played on various devices, or purchase better voices, which sound more human and have extensive dictionaries to help them pronounce more words correctly.

I've listed a few well-recommended Text-to-Speech programs below. You will find more if you search the web for "Text-to-Speech Software," but as usual, be cautious about downloading unfamiliar software from seedy-looking websites. Tucows and Cnet are good places to download "free" software, because they have done virus checks. I have downloaded and use NaturalReader from its website, so I can confirm it's safe!

NaturalReader Free App Review

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)