Generally to know what is inside a file, we open the file and see. Then we read it patiently. If you are like me then probably you don’t have the patience to read it line after line. Not to worry, the ‘text to speech’ technology is meant just for us guys. It will do the reading for us. We can just close our eyes and relax in our chair while the ‘text to speech’ technology works for us.
For blind computer users, the ‘text to speech‘ technology is a great help.
While some text to speach software comes free, some you may have to buy. Just type ‘text to speech software’ in any search engine or look at the links provided in this page for downloading some free software. If you are a Windows XP user, then you can use the text to speech engine provided in XP.
The text to speech engine can read the information in the active window including information on the title bar and the status bar.
Don’t forget that you need to have a sound card, speakers and head phone in order to use the text to speech technology.
To use text to speech in XP, open control panel and double click on the ‘speech’ icon.
A new window will open. You can select the engine in this window. You will only have ‘MS Sam’ voice. If you want to hear some other voice then you have to download some other text to speech software from internet.
Check the http://www.microsoft.com/speech/evaluation/thirdparty/engines.mspx page for available third party text to speech engines.
You can use the preview facility to hear the voice before you select it.
Click on the ‘Audio button and click on ‘Volume’ to adjust the volume of the voice.
Once you specify the voice and the sound qualities, use the Narrator to convert the text to voice.
Start>All Programs>Accessories>Accessibility>Narrator will star the Narrator. You will see many check boxes. You will be surprised at the various things the narrator can read.
The narrator can read the whole file or just the selected text using mouse.
When the Narrator is reading, you can use the ‘Windows + Ctrl’ key to temporarily pause the narration.