Screen reading software reviews

However, the program is not for free. Users have to choose between these versions:. Despite the quite high price, users are offered a 30 day period to get back their money if they did not like the program. Additionally, customers are given 90 days warranty if there were some manufacturing defects.

Thus, it helps to improve work with Windows computer by offering simple user interface. The screen reading software supports speech and braille, as well as magnification for output.

The program has three versions that offer free updates up to 4 years:. The official download website of System Access screen reader. Developers of the screen reading software, Serotek Corporation, offers an affordable program. Apart from price, the biggest advantage of the program is that it supports popular applications, including Skype, Outlook Express, Microsoft Office, Adobe Reader, and more.

Thus, it undoubtedly impacts the usage of the computer for blind or visually impaired people. The ability to just read aloud individual words, sentences or paragraphs is a particularly nice touch. You also have the option of saving narrations, and there are a number of keyboard shortcuts that allow for quick and easy access to frequently used options.

Despite its basic looks, Zabaware Text-to-Speech Reader has more to offer than you might first think. You can open numerous file formats directly in the program, or just copy and paste text.

Alternatively, as long as you have the program running and the relevant option enables, Zabaware Text-to-Speech Reader can read aloud any text you copy to the clipboard — great if you want to convert words from websites to speech — as well as dialog boxes that pop up. Unfortunately the selection of voices is limited, and the only settings you can customize are volume and speed unless you burrow deep into settings to fiddle with pronunciations.

Additional voices are available for a fee which can seem a little steep compared to others on this list. We've featured the best medical transcription services. Nicholas Fearn is a freelance technology journalist and copywriter from the Welsh valleys. He also happens to be a diehard Mariah Carey fan! North America. The best text-to-speech apps make it simple and easy to reading documents aloud, on either your desktop, tablet, or phone.

Click the links below to go to the provider's website: 1. Amazon Polly 2. Linguatec Voice Reader 3. Capti Personal 4. NaturalReader 5. Reasons to avoid - Education licenses are expensive. Natural Reader Online Reader. Panopreter Basic. Reasons to avoid - For Windows only. Reasons to avoid - A little unattractive.

Zabaware Text-to-Speech Reader. Apple VoiceOver includes options to magnify, keyboard control and verbal descriptions in English to describe what is happening on screen. This covers a wide array of keyboard commands that enable user navigation of the Mac OS X interface. ORCA is a Linux based screen reader which has also been evolving for the past number of years.

Recently it has been included with the Ubuntu installation CD, and with a couple of initial key presses it allows blind people to have audible interaction during the installation process. It drives the braille display, and provides complete screen review functionality. Some speech capability has also been incorporated. Emacspeak is a free speech interface and that allows visually impaired users to interact independently and efficiently with the computer. Its technology enables it to produce rich aural representation of electronic information.

Emacspeak offers audible interface of the different aspects of the Internet such as browsing and messaging as well as local and remote information via a consistent and well-integrated user interface.

WebAnywhere is a web-based screen reader for the web. It requires no special software to be installed on the client machine and, therefore, enables blind people to access the web from any computer they happen to have access to that has a sound card. Spoken-Web is a Web portal, managing a wide range of online data-intensive content like news updates, weather, travel and business articles for computer users who are blind or visually impaired.

The site provides a simple, easy-to-use interface for navigating between the different sections and articles. Using the keyboard to navigate, a person who is blind or who has a visual impairment can hear the full range of an article content provided in a logical, clear, and understandable manner. Google ChromeVox is a Google Chrome screen reader extension for visually impaired users.

Google ChromeVis is a Google Chrome extension that magnifies any selected text on a webpage. The American Foundation for the Blind states, depending on the program you use, commands for a screen reader program can instruct it to:. There are numerous screen readers available for the most popular operating systems such as Windows, Mac, and Linux and their prices range from free to over 1, dollars. Choosing the best screen reader for you might be overwhelming since you need to understand each programs capabilities and how they compare to your distinct needs.

Some of the best screen readers allow you to do everything on a computer that a person with vision can do such as shop, navigate social media, read e-books, and more. We also like JAWS because it allows the user to surf the web, draft emails, and read either by text-to-speech or a refreshable braille display.

The Dolphin Screen Reader is one of our other favorite screen readers because it offers a wide range of features. Moreover, you can use Dolphin on desktops and portable computers. Like most screen readers, Cobra is compatible several braille displays which allows you to draft emails, surf the web, and utilize many computer applications.