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Accessibility Extensions for Chrome Browser – Text-to-Speech and More

Posted: October 23, 2011 at 3:54 pm

ChromeVox is just one of the Google Accessibility extensions. Be sure to check out ChromeVis, ChromeShades, and ChromeLite as well. The text-to-speech (TTS) programs convert text or web documents to human speech. Does it sound like a human voice? Not really, it is a computer-generated voice but it is as close to human as it gets. You can adjust the speed, repeat, or change the pitch of the voice.

ChromeVox

The ChromeVox screen reader is an extension to Chrome that brings the speed, versatility, and security of Chrome to visually impaired users.

Using Google Document List with ChromeVox that provides accessibility features for vision impaired users of Google Docs.

Other text-to-speech extensions include:
Chrome Speak - select to speak with offline TTS engine.
SpeakIt! Select text you want to read and listen to it. SpeakIt converts text into speech so you no longer need to read.

SpeakIt reads selected text using Google TTS (Text-to-Speech) with language auto-detection.

Balabolka

If you are not a Chrome user, Balabolka is a free and portable Text-To-Speech (TTS) program that is browser-independent. No installation is required.

You don't have to be visually impaired to benefit from TTS programs. For example, I use Balabolka several times a week to convert long articles from medical journals or newspapers to standard MP3 files. The files are then uploaded to Google Docs and I download them when I have some time to listen to the articles.

ChromeVis

Magnify and change the color of any selected text. Use the mouse or the keyboard to move the selection around the page.

How ChromeVis works.

ChromeShades

ChromeShades is an easy tool to help you make your site more accessible to blind users.

References:

Hear Web Text with Google Chrome Speak
New Text-to-Speech API for Chrome extensions

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Recommendation and review posted by G. Smith