Text to Speech

In the modern world of artificial appendages, organs, and behaviors, it only makes sense that a method of artificial speech is possible. Text to speech software is able to convert written and typed text into an audible voice that, in most cases, sounds almost indistinguishable from an authentic human voice. Text to speech software can be used in many different applications, the most popular being the use of text to speech software for blind computer users who can now convert what they read into an audible voice instead of braille. This article will list several text to speech programs.

Natural Readers
Natural Readers is a free text to speech software that converts written text into an audible voice. Users are able to simply type a word, phrase, or sentence and hear it as spoken words. Users are able to change the speed in which the text is read and even change the voice of the speaker by simply clicking on various buttons within the interface. When Natural Readers is reading a large amount of text, the software highlights the portion of text that is being read so users can follow along. Natural Readers has a demo of their software that can be found at their homepage, http://www.naturalreaders.com/index.htm .

TextAloud
TextAloud is a text to speech software that converts text into audible language. Documents that TextAloud can read include emails, web pages, PDFs, and Word documents. The software can save what it reads to separate .mp3 and .mp4 files so that users can listen to the audio at any time. For example, some users use TextAloud to listen to motivational or educational text while they are driving, working, exercising, or doing various other activities. TextAloud can be used on a free trial basis and can be purchased for $29.95. A new version, TextAloud 3, can also be downloaded and tried for free.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking
While most speech synthesizers are for text to speech, a few are speech to text. Dragon NaturallySpeaking software is exactly that. Dragon NaturallySpeaking software is able to convert the user’s audible speech into written text. The software can be used for an assortment of applications including emails, instant messaging, creating and editing documents, controlling a computer,  and even surfing the web. The software comes with a high performance headset and can be purchased for $99.

iSpeech
iSpeech is a free service that allows users to convert text to speech by copying and pasting text into the text box found at the company’s website. Users are also able to upload documents to the website and listen to the document in its entirety directly from the website. ISpeech does not include any software so users must keep returning to the website in order to use the service but it is entirely free and supports a number of formats including PDF, PPT (PowerPoint), HTM and HTML (webpages), RTF (Rich Text File), DOC and DOCX (Microsoft Word), XLS and XLSX (Microsoft Excel), RSS Feeds, TXT (Notepad), and blog formats.

yRead

yRead is another free text to speech software that allows the user to listen to written text. The software processes the text that the user selects and then displays it in a resizable, single-column window before it reads the text aloud. Users are able to select various voices for specific languages and use voices bought or downloaded from other text to speech programs such as Natural Voices or NeoSpeech in conjunction with yRead’s interface. YRead’s default voice sounds nothing like a human but users should not have a problem understanding it.