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Learn how to use XP's Text To Speech facility
Windows XP has the ability to read out loud certain types of text on screen. For those with limited vision or who want to do several things at once, this can be a boon. It does of course require a sound card and speakers but apart from that, Windows XP contains everything you need.
Configuration
Configuration is straightforward. Open the control panel and select the Speech option. Here you will see two tabs headed 'Speech Recognition' and 'Text to Speech'. Select the second tab.
Here you can select which voice you want to use which by default is Microsoft Sam. Many years ago there was a program for the Atari 800 called S.A.M. which stood for Software Automatic Mouth. I wonder if that's where they got the name?
You can download additional voices from www.code-it.com/tts_engines.htm including other male, female and foreign voices.
As well as selecting a voice, you can also select the speed at which it reads. The default is probably fine for most people but it's a useful option nonetheless.
What Can it Do?
The easiest way to use the facility is via Narrator, another tool that comes built in to Windows XP. To run Narrator, select Start/All Programs/Accessories/Accessibility/Narrator. If you intend using this a lot, you may want to create a desktop shortcut to c:\windows\system32\narrator.exe (assuming your PC has Windows XP installed in the windows directory).
Narrator is designed to work with Internet Explorer, Notepad, WordPad, the Control Panel and the Desktop. It may work with other programs but this isn't guaranteed.
Narrator has several options controlling how much it tells you about.
- You can have new windows, menus or shortcuts read aloud.
- You can have every typed character read aloud
- You can set the mouse pointer to follow the active item on the screen
Now, you may by now be thinking 'this sounds useful'. Unfortunately, it only seems to read editable text. If you've opened a document in WordPad, this is fine; Narrator will happily read the contents aloud. If you have opened up the text of a document or perhaps even an eBook then all is well. However, if you are using it to browse web sites, you hit a problem. Narrator will read out the menu options and any editable areas such as input fields. What it won't read is the content of any normal web page as these are by definition read-only. A slight problem!
Keyboard Shortcuts
Narrator has several keyboard shortcuts that can be useful when making it read aloud.
- To read an entire window, press ctrl+shift+spacebar
- To get information on the current item press ctrl+shift+enter
- To read the window's title bar press alt+home
- To read the status bar of a window press alt+end
- To read the contents of an editable field press ctrl+shift+enter
- To stop reading press ctrl
Is it Useful?
Whilst it's nice to have it built in, it has to be said that the functionality of Windows XP's Text To Speech engine is rather limited. Even Microsoft admits as such. It does have some merit as a basic tool to show what is possible perhaps as a precursor to investing in 3rd party tools to increase the ability.
As an example, Microsoft has a (free) eBook reading product called Microsoft Reader 2.0. This can be downloaded at www.Microsoft.com/reader and for those who don't have Windows XP, you can download the Text to Speech option from www.Microsoft.com/reader/download_tts.asp . These allow you use eBooks in the standard Microsoft Reader format on any Windows PC. Most eBooks cost money but there are also plenty of free ones such as at here.
