Listen To The Web- Get Smart!
Listen to This Website and the World Wide Web Instead of Reading Everything
Use “Text To Speech”, “Read Loud”, or “Read Aloud” Features with Most Smart Phones And Computers
Instead of you reading everything on your phone and computer, have your phone and computer read them to you with a pleasant voice. First, you need to configure the device and the platform you are using. The following information will assist and guide you in doing so. Here, I provide information for using 4 of these platforms, iPhones & iPads, Android Phones, Microsoft Windows 10 and Windows 11 PC computers, and Apple Mac computers with tools that are shipped with these devices and with web browsers. Please note that this is an evolving field and the procedures might evolve and change as time goes on. Also, the same software might use different adjustments and controls while running on different hardware.
Generally, using a “Natural Voice” or an “Enhanced Voice” on different devices will provide you a better audio and voice quality. Please experiment with different speaking voices available on your device and platform to find the best quality. Some speaking voices require an Internet connection for best quality and performance.
Apple iPhones And iPads (Ship With Safari Web Browser)
Apple devices provide speak options at the operating system level. They ship with the Safari Web Browser. You may also use the Google Chrome browser or the Microsoft Edge browser on these Apple devices.
On your device, go to “Settings”, use search to find “Speak Selection” and turn it on. When turned on, you can highlight a content on your device and use “Speak” to listen to it.
Also, on your device, go to “Settings”, use search to find “Speak Screen” and turn it on. Afterwards, you can swipe down from top with 2 fingers, on your web browsers to get the “Speech Controller” for this option to show up and read you an entire document. You can move the controller anywhere on the screen. You can use the controller to read all or part of any open document and to stop or start reading as you desire.
“Speak Selection” and “Speak Screen” and their related settings are usually found in “Settings” under “Accessibility”, “Read And Speak”, or “Speech” sections on Apple Devices. In the same section you can also adjust the reading speed, and choose a voice. “Enhanced” voices provide much better voice quality.
You can enter the reading mode as well as start listening to a document by controllers near the search bar in the web browsers as well.
Android Phones (Ship With Google Chrome Web Browser)
Android phones provide speak options at the operating system level. They ship with the Google Chrome browser. You may also use the Microsoft Edge browser, on these Phones. For a better text to speech experience, install the free “Reading Mode” App by Google from the Play Store. In “Settings”, “Accessibility”, turn on both the “Reading mode” and “Select to Speak” and choose the options for “Select to Speak”. Microsoft Edge has its own reading mode and it can also use the “Reading Mode” App. You may also use the Google Assistant on an Android phone with a voice command to read you a web page.
Open the web page or a document you want read to you in Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge. Click on “Reading Mode” and click on play. You can adjust the reading speed on the same controller.
Windows 10 And Windows 11 PC Computers (Ship With Microsoft Edge Web Browser)
Windows 10 and Windows 11 PC computers provide speak options at the operating system level. They ship with the Microsoft Edge browser.
Microsoft Edge Web Browser
Open the web page or a document you want read to you in Microsoft Edge. Navigate to and select the word at the beginning of the section you want read to you. Click on the ‘…’ menu on the top-right corner of Microsoft Edge, click on “More Tools”, click on “Read Aloud”. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+U instead of the menu. You can use the navigation buttons on the top to stop and start the audio and navigate though the document. You can click on “Voice Options” on top to select the desired voice and reading speed. Voices marked (Natural) sound better but might require an Internet connection. Adjust the volume of your device for the desired loudness.
Google Chrome Web Browser With Live Translation Caption Option
Open the web page or a document you want read to you in Google Chrome. Navigate to the section you want read to you. Click on the Google Chrome’s 3 dot menu on the top-right corner, click on “More Tools”, click on “Reading Mode”. Choose your voice and other reading and audio settings from the top section. Adjust the volume of your device for the desired loudness. To select additional settings, click on the Google Chrome’s 3 dot menu on the top-right corner, click on “Settings”, click on “Accessibility”. In this section, you can turn “Live Caption” on, then turn “Live Translate” on and select a different language under “Translate captions to”. Now as the book is read to you, you can also see a text translation in your selected language in the caption area.
Apple Mac Computers (Ship With Safari Web Browser)
Apple devices provide speak options at the operating system level. They ship with Safari Web Browser. You may also use the Google Chrome browser or the Microsoft Edge browser, on Apple devices.
On your device, in “Settings”, “Accessibility”, “Spoken Content”, turn on “Speak Selection”. In the same section you can also adjust the reading speed, and choose a voice. “Enhanced” voices provide much better voice quality. Siri voices are usually good for most applications. You can also set the speaking volume relative to the system volume.
Open your web page or document with your browser such as Safari or Chrome. On a website, you might want to enter the “Reader Mode” (“Immersive Mode” in Microsoft Edge) to remove extra text. Push Option-Esc keys together to display the text to speech controller. You might have to do this for each new page or document. Use this controller to read or stop reading the document, move around, and change the reading speed.
Microsoft Edge Web Browser
Microsoft Edge running on Apple Mac computers has its own text to speech capability in addition to the Apple’s text to speech. Open the web page or a document you want read to you in Microsoft Edge. Navigate to and select the word at the beginning of the section you want read to you. Click on the ‘…’ menu on the top-right corner of Microsoft Edge, click on “More Tools”, click on “Read Aloud”. You can use the navigation buttons on the top to stop and start the audio and navigate through the document. You can click on “Voice Options” on top to select the desired voice and reading speed. Voices marked (Natural) sound better but might require an Internet connection. Adjust the volume of your device for the desired loudness. You can also enter the reader mode (Immersive Mode) using F9 key or clicking on “Immersive Mode” on the search bar in the browser. You can also click on “Read Aloud” next to the “Immersive Mode” on the search bar.
