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How Text-To Speech Software Works

An accessible book is an book that is structured so anyone with a print disability can read it. This can include Braille Books, Audiobooks, and ebooks. As a Production Assistant you will be focused on ebooks.

Properly-made ebooks can be read by anyone on computers, mobile devices, and using various assistive technologies such as screen readers, refreshable Braille displays, or screen magnification software.

Like all readers, people with print disabilities need to be able to navigate, read, and understand a digital book’s content. For example, blind readers with the right tools and right books can navigate books like sighted readers can, by moving between pages, from one chapter or section heading to the next, and navigating to a page from the table of contents.

A file that is completely accessible to people with print disability offers the maximum flexibility for all readers. This includes:

  • Text access – Can all the text be read by screen readers via synthetic speech or Braille display? Are there image descriptions for photos and illustrations?
  • Logical reading order and navigation – Can the content be read in a logical order? Can a reader navigate to different sections of the book?

A screen reader is a form of assistive technology that renders text and image content as speech or Braille output. Screen readers are used by people who have print disabilities. Screen readers are software applications that attempt to convey what people with normal eyesight see on a display to their users via non-visual means, like text-to-speech, sound icons, or a Braille device.

Microsoft Windows operating systems have included the Microsoft Narrator screen reader since Windows 2000, though separate products such as the free and open source screen reader NVDA by NV Access and Freedom Scientific's commercially available JAWS screen reader and ZoomText screen magnifier are more popular for that operating system. Apple Inc.'s macOS, iOS, and tvOS include VoiceOver as a built-in screen reader, while Google's Android provides the Talkback screen reader and its Chrome OS can use ChromeVox. Similarly, Android-based devices from Amazon provide the VoiceView screen reader. There are also free and open source screen readers for Linux and Unix-like systems, such as Speakup and Orca.

Go here to learn more about how a screen reader reads a document.

There are different types of screen readers available. Most devices have a built in screen reader you can activate. Though these built in devices are not as advanced as other software available, we do encourage you to explore them to see how TTS works.
public/nnels/etext/tts_basics.1589304615.txt.gz · Last modified: 2020/05/12 10:30 by rachel.osolen