Text to speech for android?
January 26, 2019 8:24 AM Subscribe
I am wondering if there is a text to speech app for android that would read, for instance, an open web page on a news site for me. Details inside.
What I would like to do is open a web page with text on it, convert it to simplified form (chrome) if needed, and have the text read out loud. Or even open a mefi thread and have the postings read. This seems like it would be complicated with all the extraneous stuff on a page, but does such an app exist, and if you've used it, which would you recommend?
While I'm at it, is there one that will read epub books out loud as well? They don't have to be the same app. Thanks.
What I would like to do is open a web page with text on it, convert it to simplified form (chrome) if needed, and have the text read out loud. Or even open a mefi thread and have the postings read. This seems like it would be complicated with all the extraneous stuff on a page, but does such an app exist, and if you've used it, which would you recommend?
While I'm at it, is there one that will read epub books out loud as well? They don't have to be the same app. Thanks.
There's an entire class of apps like this called screen readers; Android even has a built-in screen reading capability called TalkBack, though not all apps support it. For web browsing, mobile Firefox supports TalkBack, as does mobile Chrome.
As for epubs, here's a fairly recent list of epub apps evaluated by accessibility needs. I don't have an Android so can't confirm the specific apps, but it looks like you have several options.
posted by Pandora Kouti at 8:42 AM on January 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
As for epubs, here's a fairly recent list of epub apps evaluated by accessibility needs. I don't have an Android so can't confirm the specific apps, but it looks like you have several options.
posted by Pandora Kouti at 8:42 AM on January 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
My ebook app of choice is Moon+ Reader Pro, which has good (in my opinion) TTS support. Note that the free version of the app does not do TTS, only the pro version.
posted by mishafletch at 8:47 AM on January 26, 2019
posted by mishafletch at 8:47 AM on January 26, 2019
Yes! I use @Voice Aloud Reader and Moon+ Reader Pro, as above.
posted by lokta at 2:41 PM on January 26, 2019
posted by lokta at 2:41 PM on January 26, 2019
Not android specifically, but you can use Balbolka on a computer and export the result to your Android via Dropbox or some other means.
Alternatively, use this bookmarklet in Chrome:
javascript:(function(){ function getSelectionText() { var text = ""; if (window.getSelection) { text = window.getSelection().toString(); } else { alert('Please select some text first'); } return text; } var to_speak = new SpeechSynthesisUtterance(getSelectionText()); window.speechSynthesis.speak(to_speak);})();
Source: https://gist.github.com/wondergryphon/2e63116a003831fafb5395bc11dd9981
Any highlighted text in a webpage will be spoken when (in Chrome) that bookmarklet is selected on your bookmarks bar and the relevant text is highlighted in your browser.
posted by metasunday at 5:05 PM on January 26, 2019
Alternatively, use this bookmarklet in Chrome:
javascript:(function(){ function getSelectionText() { var text = ""; if (window.getSelection) { text = window.getSelection().toString(); } else { alert('Please select some text first'); } return text; } var to_speak = new SpeechSynthesisUtterance(getSelectionText()); window.speechSynthesis.speak(to_speak);})();
Source: https://gist.github.com/wondergryphon/2e63116a003831fafb5395bc11dd9981
Any highlighted text in a webpage will be spoken when (in Chrome) that bookmarklet is selected on your bookmarks bar and the relevant text is highlighted in your browser.
posted by metasunday at 5:05 PM on January 26, 2019
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posted by gregglind at 8:39 AM on January 26, 2019 [1 favorite]