# Text to speech for blind and visually impaired people

Updated 2026-10-31

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.

## More guides

- [Word document to audio: turn Word and Google Docs into MP3](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/word-document-to-audio)
- [WhatsApp text to speech: have messages read aloud, or send text as voice](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/whatsapp-text-to-speech)
- [Google Docs text to speech: listen to a document or save it as MP3](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/google-docs-text-to-speech)
- [Text to MP3: save text to speech as an MP3 file](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/text-to-mp3)
- [PDF to audio: convert a PDF to MP3 with natural voices](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/pdf-to-audio)
- [Microsoft Narrator in Windows: how to turn it on or off and change its voice](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/windows-narrator-voice)
- [Adobe Express text to speech: add a voiceover to your design](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/adobe-express-text-to-speech)
- [Bulk text to speech from a spreadsheet](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/bulk-text-to-speech)
- [iPhone text to speech: Speak Selection and Speak Screen](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/iphone-text-to-speech)
- [Libby read aloud: how to listen to library ebooks](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/libby-read-aloud)
- [Text to speech for deaf and hard of hearing people](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/text-to-speech-for-deaf-people)
- [Text to speech for mute and nonverbal people](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/text-to-speech-for-nonverbal-people)

## Text to speech and comparisons

- [Text-to-speech that runs on your own computer](https://superclonica.com/en/text-to-speech)
- [Supertonic vs SuperClonica: same model, faster and cleaner](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/supertonic)
- [Fish Audio and Fish Speech vs SuperClonica](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/fish-audio)
- [OmniVoice vs SuperClonica: more languages or more speed](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/omnivoice)
- [Qwen3-TTS vs SuperClonica for local text-to-speech](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/qwen3-tts)
- [VoxCPM 2 vs SuperClonica: studio sound or CPU speed](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/voxcpm)
- [F5-TTS vs SuperClonica: zero-shot cloning or fast CPU speech](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/f5-tts)
- [An offline alternative to ElevenLabs](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/elevenlabs)
- [Kokoro TTS vs SuperClonica: two small models for local speech](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/kokoro)
- [Piper TTS vs SuperClonica: tiny devices or custom voices](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/piper)
- [Coqui XTTS-v2 vs SuperClonica: a Coqui TTS alternative](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/xtts)
- [Chatterbox TTS vs SuperClonica: instant cloning or a trained voice file](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/chatterbox)

## Frequently asked questions

### What is the best free text to speech for blind people?

For daily use, a free screen reader: NVDA on Windows, the built-in Narrator, VoiceOver on Apple devices or TalkBack on Android. For long documents as audio files, a free engine such as SuperClonica.

### Is NVDA free?

Yes. NV Access describes NVDA as a free, open source screen reader for Windows.

### Can I turn a long document into an audio file?

Yes. Save it as text and voice it with the free SuperClonica engine into an MP3, at a speed from 0.7 to 2.0.

### Does it work without internet?

Yes. The SuperClonica engine runs offline on your computer, so the text is never sent anywhere.

- [Browse narrator voices](https://superclonica.com/en/voices/announcers)
- [Install the free engine](https://superclonica.com/en/superclonica)

## Sources

- [NV Access: About NVDA](https://www.nvaccess.org/about-nvda/)
- [Google: Get started on Android with TalkBack](https://support.google.com/accessibility/android/answer/6283677)
- [Apple: Turn on and practice VoiceOver on iPhone](https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/turn-on-and-practice-voiceover-iph3e2e415f/ios)
- [SuperClonica engine on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/superclonica-cpu/)
- [SuperClonica](https://superclonica.com/en/)
- [AI voice catalog for text to speech](https://superclonica.com/en/explore)
- [Text to Speech API: free key, plans from $5](https://superclonica.com/en/speech-api)
- [Custom voice commissions for Supertonic 3](https://superclonica.com/en/requests)
- [How it works: voices, local speech, training](https://superclonica.com/en/guide)
- [Install the faster Supertonic 3 engine](https://superclonica.com/en/superclonica)
- [About us: speech synthesis enthusiasts](https://superclonica.com/en/about)
- [Contacts, support and voice complaints](https://superclonica.com/en/contacts)
- [Privacy policy: what data we keep](https://superclonica.com/en/privacy)
- [Terms of use: rules for buyers and authors](https://superclonica.com/en/terms)
- [Text to speech](https://superclonica.com/en/text-to-speech)