Listening to resources on your device

This section of our Assistive Technology Guide explains how to use text-to-speech (TTS) tools to play back text on your device as spoken words. You may choose to listen to material on your devices for several reasons, including:

• Having difficulty reading the screen or looking at the screen for extended periods
• Multitasking and productivity
• Increasing your comprehension of heavy text

Desktop

It is possible to listen to text on your computer from a Word document, a website, or a PDF file.

Office 365

• Listen to your Word Documents (Built-in)
• Use Immersive Reader in Office 365 (Built-in)

Windows

• How to use Magnifier on Windows (Built-in)

Mac

• Set up and use Spoken Word on Mac (Built-in)

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC

• Read a PDF aloud with Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (Free download)

Natural Reader

• Natural Reader Online (Subscription service with free option)
• Natural Reader Desktop (Subscription service with free option)

Mobile

You can take a photo of the text you want to read aloud on your phone or ask Siri or Google Assistant to read your screen.

iPhone

• Hear iPhone speak the screen (Built-in)

Android

• Text-to-Speech Output on Android (Built-in)
• Ask Google to read a webpage (Built-in)

Office 365

• Read aloud text from an image with Microsoft Lens (iPhone, Android, free)

Using a screen reader

A screen reader uses text-to-speech to communicate the screen interface rather than only reading out text from a document. This is useful if you find yourself needing to navigate the interface of your computer in a non-visual way.

Desktop

• Learn about NVDA (Windows, free)
• VoiceOver User Guide for Mac (Mac, built-in)
• Complete guide to Narrator (Windows, built-in)

Mobile

• Turn on and practice VoiceOver on iPhone (iPhone, built-in)
• Get started on Android with TalkBack (Android, built-in)

Web

• ChromeVox: use the built-in screen reader on Chromebook (Chromebook, built-in)