Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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My mother has macular degeneration and now cannot see well, and very difficult to read computer screen. What are screen readers for both iphone and desktop PC? (self.Blind)
submitted by [deleted]
Are there many screen readers to read the text out loud on both her desktop windows 10 PC and iphone? If there are more than one, I'd love to know what the best are, so that she can try different ones and see which one works best for her. Easiest is always best as she is in her 80s.
I did do a search on google and in here but didn't find anything, so if someone could recommend screen readers to me, that would be much appreciated. A link to the website would be awesome. Thanks!
I did do a search on google and in here but didn't find anything, so if someone could recommend screen readers to me, that would be much appreciated. A link to the website would be awesome. Thanks!
likeadollseyes 3 points 1y ago
With her iPhone she will use voiceover, which is built into her phone already. It is not intuitive to use, so she will need guidance or a class. Hadley school for the blind offers some basic, online, free, streaming courses that she can take watch anytime. For her Desktop PC she could use JAWS, which she would need to buy. Again, there is a (steep) learning curve for JAWS and she will need training. She might be better off to get an iPad to use instead of her desktop PC- That way she can use voiceover for both. She will want to contact her state’s office of services for the blind to get more support and services.
Remember she can do a lot of things on her phone just using Siri. “Siri, call my son.” “Siri, set an alarm for 8:00 am” “Siri, send a text message to Mike” etc.
Remember she can do a lot of things on her phone just using Siri. “Siri, call my son.” “Siri, set an alarm for 8:00 am” “Siri, send a text message to Mike” etc.
DHamlinMusic 5 points 1y ago
NVDA is free and most people I know use that over Jaws, there is also Windows Narrator.
Nitnonoggin 2 points 1y ago
Does that work with Android? I have the same issue.
mantolwen 3 points 1y ago
NVDA is for Windows only. Android has talkback, which is built in to your phone or tablet. Anecdotally, my blind pals tell me Android Talkback is better if you have some vision, and iOS voiceover is better if you have no vision. Your milage may vary.
As a tester, I have used NVDA, Talkback and Voiceover. They are all good but all work differently. Switching from one to the other is hard. I would recommend starting to learn before you need to know it.
As a tester, I have used NVDA, Talkback and Voiceover. They are all good but all work differently. Switching from one to the other is hard. I would recommend starting to learn before you need to know it.
Nitnonoggin 4 points 1y ago
That's right I forgot I tried TalkBack. I reads every freaking thing right?
I've never been an apple person and fear I'll have to switch and catch up.
I have macular degeneration and maybe that will leave me with some side vision.
I've never been an apple person and fear I'll have to switch and catch up.
I have macular degeneration and maybe that will leave me with some side vision.
TechnicalPragmatist 1 points 1y ago
Android uses a screen reader called talkback which is built in and made by google and it’s free and good. Dependent on what phone you may have another one like samsung has their own.
[deleted] [OP] 2 points 1y ago
Thanks.
After all this time, I thought that there would be a lot of open source stuff that is easy to use. My mom is very old and not sure she would have the patience to learn.
She still has some sight, so I thought there would be some way of her just selecting text, like in email or website, and have it read. Super simple because 90% of what she does is emails or just text from websites.
Thanks for the info, though!
After all this time, I thought that there would be a lot of open source stuff that is easy to use. My mom is very old and not sure she would have the patience to learn.
She still has some sight, so I thought there would be some way of her just selecting text, like in email or website, and have it read. Super simple because 90% of what she does is emails or just text from websites.
Thanks for the info, though!
TechnicalPragmatist 1 points 1y ago
The screen reader market is not unfortunately open sourced or very open to that type of thing. There are certainly reasons for that in terms of who does it benefit and people think they know better than others and stuff like that. It’s not really a competitive market. And getting less competitive. Though a lot of the bigger tech companies are trying to build out their own in built screen reading sofware.
Largely otherwise it’s dominated by a few giants and companies who specialize. This is unfortunately the plight. Besides jaws there is really only VDA. If she has some sight left maybe zoomtext would be good or magic. But both are quite expensive.
Largely otherwise it’s dominated by a few giants and companies who specialize. This is unfortunately the plight. Besides jaws there is really only VDA. If she has some sight left maybe zoomtext would be good or magic. But both are quite expensive.
[deleted] [OP] 1 points 1y ago
ok, thanks. I honestly thought it would be easy to get, though. I think that I even tried some on my computer 15 or 20 years ago, but I don't remember the name of the software. So it is kind of weird that I could do that 20 years ago, but not today.
Oh well, that's how it goes.
Thank you for letting me know!
Oh well, that's how it goes.
Thank you for letting me know!
TechnicalPragmatist 1 points 1y ago
15 to 20 years ago it was more open market. And more people tried it and people were coming up with things. These days it’s much less like that, unfortunately.would be cool and all to be more open but less and less is that the reality.even with tts there’s less of a competitive market for them.
And not a problem.
Wish I could give you a different answer.
And not a problem.
Wish I could give you a different answer.
B_Bussen 2 points 1y ago
I use n v d a which works well and is free. I'm just now learning how to use an ipad, and it is a challenge for me. I've never been a big fan of touch screens. I don't have a clue how to do friends and so forth on this thing, so feel free to email me, don'
t know if my email is inc;luded in this stuff or not.
t know if my email is inc;luded in this stuff or not.
ramrod5864 1 points 1y ago
Jaws on PC
I think there are a few others
IPhone has a feature "talkback" I think it's their narration
I think there are a few others
IPhone has a feature "talkback" I think it's their narration
DHamlinMusic 3 points 1y ago
Talkback is Android, you're thinking of Voiceover. On PC there’s also NVDA and Windows Narrator.
ramrod5864 2 points 1y ago
You are totally right. So sorry about that
DHamlinMusic 2 points 1y ago
Don’t worry about it, they all sound the similar, I use Android so I know what I am using at least lol.
Nitnonoggin 1 points 1y ago
Is it standard in android? Ive got to learn this stuff quick before my other eye goes bad.
DHamlinMusic 1 points 1y ago
Yeah is part of the OS. Though is going to be best on phones running straight Android without any wrapper, though I think the newer Samsung ones are good too, but not sure.
[deleted] [OP] 1 points 1y ago
thank you!
[deleted] [OP] 1 points 1y ago
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