Text to speech for blind and visually impaired people
For blind and visually impaired people, text to speech usually means two different tools. A screen reader speaks everything on the screen as you move around a computer or phone, and it is the main tool for daily use. A text to speech engine turns a long document, a book or an article into an audio file you can listen to anywhere.
This guide lists the free screen readers from their makers’ own pages and shows when audio files from the free SuperClonica engine help on top of them.
Screen readers come first
NVDA is a free, open source screen reader for Windows 10 and 11, made by NV Access, a registered charity; it is translated into more than 50 languages, works with many refreshable braille displays and can even run from a USB drive. Windows also has Narrator built in, which Windows logo key + Ctrl + Enter turns on and off. Apple devices have VoiceOver in Settings, Accessibility, and TalkBack is the Google screen reader included on Android devices.
When audio files help
A screen reader reads what is in front of you now. For a long report, a book chapter, study notes or a long article, an audio file is often easier: you can listen on a walk, in the car or in bed, pause and resume on any player, and keep it for later. Because the file is made once, you can also choose a voice that is pleasant for hours.
Turn a document into an MP3
Save the text as a plain text file, install the free engine with python -m pip install superclonica-cpu, and run superclonica --text-file report.txt --voice F2 --lang en --speed 1.4 --output report.mp3. Speed goes from 0.7 to 2.0, so experienced listeners can make fast files and beginners slow ones. The engine runs offline on an ordinary processor, has no character limit and has no graphical interface: everything happens with one typed command, and the text never leaves the computer.
Choosing a voice for long listening
For hours of listening, pick a calm, clear narrator rather than a character voice, and keep the same voice for a whole book so you are not distracted by changes. You can hear voices free on their pages with a sentence of 30 to 100 characters; the ten stock voices of the engine are free.
What text to speech does not replace
An audio file cannot tell you what is on the screen, read a menu or describe an image; for that you still need a screen reader, and for printed text an app or device that recognizes text. Use text to speech files as one more tool next to them.