Have you ever gotten bored in a university class? Do you ever try to read more texts than your eyes physically can? In this article, we are going to talk about the best free text-to-speech software. Why should you try it? Read this post to know it!
College classes could be very interesting or boring. There is no middle point. But it can also take a lot of hours and our brain runs out of energy after reading without a stop. So, whether you are a professor or a student, there are some ingenious tools you can use to improve the lessons.
But technology always came to help you right? In this case, we introduce to you text-to-speech software, a powerful tool that converts any kind of text into audio. TTS options are very useful in different aspects of our daily life. But especially when we are studying because it’s proved that some people understand things better with oral explanations.
If we are listening to a manual, an article, or a complex text, for example, we can take notes at the same time. Or implement another technique that helps us retain what the professor said. So, text-to-speech technologies can be your ally at meanwhile University and continue to help you in your career.
And there are several ways to use it: write your text on a bar, upload a document, or use an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) integrated tool. The last one can be really useful for material photos, annotations, and presentations. But for multitasking, we suggest you try the second option. If you are a student, this can make your subject a little bit bearable. And if you are a teacher, playing audio-manuals in your classes will be an improvement of your students’ attention.
With many possible options, how do you know what is the most accurate?
In the next paragraphs, we made a quicker review of the ones we consider our best shots in the matter. You don’t have to pay anything for trying! All of them have a free month trial and a couple of samples to glance at you.
Woord
Woord is text-to-speech software that has more than 28 languages and more than 50 voices to choose from. It’s very easy to use, you just need an account and the tool does the rest. You will select between female, male and neutral gender. There is an option for loading documents on pdf, txt, doc(x), pages, odt, ppt(x), ods, non-DRM epub, jpeg, png. With the free plan, you will be able to convert 2,000 characters from text to speech in a month! Do you need more? Join the basic plan, it’s complete and affordable.
NaturalReader
NaturalReader is a powerful text-to-speech application that translates any written material into voice. If you sign up for free, you will have free voices indefinitely. You may also use this software in the application or online. It allows you to hear websites Google Docs, online Kindle novels, and emails right from the browser. Install the Chrome plugin without extra charging! There is a specific option for university youth: check all the information here: https://www.naturalreaders.com/edu.html.
WordTalk
This is a toolbar that you can add to Microsoft Word for obtaining a customized text-to-speech solution. It was developed by Edinburgh University for people with reading disabilities or learning issues. But it can be a great help for students that use this program all the time. It’s very simple but has 5 voices and a function that allows it to read words, sentences, or paragraphs. WordTalk also has a talking dictionary and you can modify the voice and speed of your audio.