Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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does anyone know any good text-to-speech programs to help me study. (self.Blind)
submitted by ilija28
Hi everyone, I have already posted here before, but the programs I tried weren't very good. I'm entering my freshman year of college in a few days and I have visual impairment which prevents me from reading physical books (font's too small), E-books are a challenge because I read very slow and get tired quickly so I wouldn't get much work done in the time it takes me to read 5 pages. Since there are no audio textbooks does anyone know any good text-to-speech program that would let me selectively choose which paragraphs to read from a PDF (since these are college textbooks the ones I've tide mix up the paragraphs and I can't focus on micromanaging the program while studying)?
PS I use android and windows.
PS I use android and windows.
PungentMushrooms 7 points 4y ago
Have you tried NVDA? Not sure how it handles PDFs but I know it's very popular. Also it's free
dmazzoni 3 points 4y ago
NVDA is an awesome screen reader, but it's really optimized for people with no vision. If you have a lot of vision but you just have trouble reading it's really not that great.
Instead I'd recommend ZoomText, which unfortunately isn't free, but it's totally designed for this use-case - you can select whatever text you want and either zoom it or speak it or both. Your college's accessibility office might be willing to purchase it for you as an accommodation.
If you have access to a Chromebook, there's a nice built-in Select-to-speak feature that also works really well for this use case.
Instead I'd recommend ZoomText, which unfortunately isn't free, but it's totally designed for this use-case - you can select whatever text you want and either zoom it or speak it or both. Your college's accessibility office might be willing to purchase it for you as an accommodation.
If you have access to a Chromebook, there's a nice built-in Select-to-speak feature that also works really well for this use case.
ilija28 [OP] 1 points 4y ago
I'm going to check NVDA tomorrow (seems like it's very popular since everynoe here has recommended it) and yeah I have good vision its just hard to read so zoomtekst seems like a good alternative I'll try that too thanks.
ilija28 [OP] 1 points 4y ago
trade NVDA it didn't help much since it read everything on the screen and I couldn't turn it off, that's more for people with complete loss of vision.
ilija28 [OP] 2 points 4y ago
all I want is for it to show me the text in PDF instead of those bland walls of text some of them tend to do. It being free is a bonus, thanks I'll check it out soon.
Amonwilde 6 points 4y ago
If you're on Mac, use Voiceover's feature that lets you select text and read it. You can just select it in the PDF. If you're using Windows, I recommend TextAloud for your use case. It costs in the vicinity of $50, I think.
ilija28 [OP] 1 points 4y ago
I think I heard about TextAloud once I'll give it a shot, thanks/
Hellsacomin94 2 points 4y ago
I’m a fan of voice dream. I use it on iPhone, but I think it has desktop applications as well it reads .pdfs in a natural way. I use it for some reading-intensive applications at work. It does well, reads in a natural-ish way. You can creat custom pronunciations if your courses have jargon and acronyms. It will also create notes of quoted sections with page numbers for citing sources.
ilija28 [OP] 1 points 4y ago
I bought it on android, and it was horiible, it kept freezing and crashing but it is the closest thing to what i need.
blind_devotion08 3 points 4y ago
If you're going to college, you should definitely contact your college about some sort of accommodation. Most universities, big or small, have departments (called stuff like disability resources or academic success center) to see what your college can provide. Someone already suggested NVDA, which is great, but if that doesn't work, you might be able to get your college to buy a copy of a better screen reader if it's a disability-related academic need.
I have no idea if it's still available, but when I was in school, I used Kurzweil 1000 or something like that. It could read physical documents you scanned in. I'd be shocked if modern updates don't have the ability to handle PDF files today.
If Kurzweil actually proves to be useful, but you have to scan each page, there are cheap scanner wands available today. They're about as thick as a toothbrush case and long as a ruler, and you can just roll it down the page to have it scan. Then you upload the scanned images from the device to your computer. I've done that before, and it worked well enough.
Best of luck in your academic endeavors!
I have no idea if it's still available, but when I was in school, I used Kurzweil 1000 or something like that. It could read physical documents you scanned in. I'd be shocked if modern updates don't have the ability to handle PDF files today.
If Kurzweil actually proves to be useful, but you have to scan each page, there are cheap scanner wands available today. They're about as thick as a toothbrush case and long as a ruler, and you can just roll it down the page to have it scan. Then you upload the scanned images from the device to your computer. I've done that before, and it worked well enough.
Best of luck in your academic endeavors!
ilija28 [OP] 1 points 4y ago
Me and my mom talked to the dean they said they could provide e-books and that's it, they also told me they had students with dyslexia but that's as close as they've come to having someone with reading difficulties (i think I'm the first one there with visual impairment)
as for many, it's not the issue I just need a good one or something like learning ally (which is US only and I'm in a 3rd world europian country).
as for many, it's not the issue I just need a good one or something like learning ally (which is US only and I'm in a 3rd world europian country).
Hellsacomin94 2 points 4y ago
It’s worked well on iOS, iPhone 7.
ilija28 [OP] 1 points 4y ago
it works horrible on android, but maybe I can get a windows desktop version.
ilivetofly 2 points 4y ago
I would have a look at the readers for dyslexic people. I don't know of any outside the native ones to the iPhone but they sound pretty close to what you need. If it's a native app like a siri you can really mess with voice, accent and speed so you can get something that doesn't sound awful.
I personally use the male Australian siri on one mark slower then the average.
I personally use the male Australian siri on one mark slower then the average.
ilija28 [OP] 1 points 4y ago
I'm starting to think I should have bought an ipad.
jrs12 2 points 4y ago
It sounds like you do want audio books. Check out Learning Ally. They do exactly what you are asking for... college textbooks read by people knowledgeable in the field. You can read with visuals or without... Bookshare with a program like EasyReader or Read2Go is also an option... but the voices are computerized. For handouts and non electronic text less than a page long, try KNFB reader... that wouldn't be for a lot of text though.
ilija28 [OP] 1 points 4y ago
I found out about learning ally tow months ago, unfortunately, it's only for people in the US.
jrs12 2 points 4y ago
Adobe reader (the paid version) can convert the document to something you can read. But you won't be able to select what you want to read unless you can do it visually then listen.
ilija28 [OP] 1 points 4y ago
thanks but it would just be a mess, maybe if I could edit it, but I'll see what else I can find.
jrs12 2 points 4y ago
I'm not sure of the exact specifications you are looking for, but screen reading and OCR programs are very complicated. You will only be able to read a PDF if it is accessible otherwise you need OCR to make it accessible. OCR programs by their very nature create a wall of text that can be a mess. If it's a nice neat document you might be able to search by headings, but if it's not, your only option is to basically listen at a very fast speed then show down to hear details. That's just where our technology is at this point for this task. Your other option is basically having a life person read the text to you.
SnoobertDoobertDoo 1 points 4y ago
As someone who got their diagnosis the year they started university I have to say I had horrible experiences with my samsung Galaxy s4. Answering texts and whatnot got so hard that I switched to an iPhone that December because several of my visually impaired friends highly recommended voiceover. As for reading textbooks, your college should have a whole department dedicated to accessible technology and whatnot. I'd recommend asking them first to see what kind of assistance they can offer.
ilija28 [OP] 1 points 4y ago
I'v alredy saud this in a reply above, but they don't have that department. We alredy asked and all they could offer us where e-books. Infact i am tge first visualy impared studant there. (I'm studying in the US).
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