Web User - UK (2019-05-29)

Hear the web read aloud

Discuss text-to-speech toolsatwww.facebook.com/webusermagazine 29 May - 11 June 201 9 51

Turn onaudio
descriptionfor
TVstreaming
Whetheryou’repartially sightedoryou
justwanttoget onwith something else
while streaming aTVshow, audio
description –which narrates the action
occurring on-screen andreads aloud
any text– isaninvaluablefeature.Under
the DigitalEconomy Act 20 17 (bit.ly/
digital 476 ), all UKstreaming services
must provide thisoptionfor atleast
someof their programmes –BBC iPlayer
currentlyoffersit for around 20 %of
catch-up content across all the main
BBC channels.You can turnthe feature
onandoff byclicking ortapping the
Audio Described link belowthe video
player, andviewall BBC shows for
which Audio Description isavailableat
bit.ly/iplayer476, includingEastEnders,
Holby CityandLineof Duty.

Likewise, Netflix letsyou hearaction
andon-screen textspokenaloudby
clicking ortapping the speech-bubble
iconatthe bottomof the screenand
choosing‘English- Audio Description’
fromthe Audio menu. Currently, just
under 50Netflix titlesoffer thisoption
inEnglish,includingOur Planet,Stranger
ThingsandThe Crown. See the full list
atbit.ly/netflix475.

Make your phone read

everythingaloud

AlthoughGoogleAssistant lets

you interactverballywith yourAndroid

phone ortablet, getting it toreadonline

content –ratherthanjustspeak snippets

ofinformation –ismore difficult. Tr ue,

you can ask Assistant totell you the

content ofnew(unread)textmessages

• justsay “OK Google, read out mytext
  messages”– but it won’t read out emails
  orweb pages. For this, you needtoturn
  toa less ‘smart’ but more reliabletool
  called‘Text-to-speechoutput’, which is
  builtintoevery Androiddeviceand
  reads out exactlywhat’s onyourscreen.
  Toactivateit, gotoSettings,
  Accessibilityandtap ‘Text-to-speech
  output’. Selectyourpreferredlanguage,
  speechrateandpitch,thentap backto
  Accessibility, chooseSelect-to-speak
  andturnit on. Alittle-maniconwill now
  be addedtothe navigation bar along
  the bottomofyourphone.Press this
  whenviewing an
  email orweb page,
  thentap the Play
  buttonandyour
  phone will readthe
  content aloudto you,
  oryou can tap

specificitems

tohearjust

those

elements.

Onan

iPhoneor

iPad, the

voice

assistant

isbetter

integrated

with the

accessibility

options,which

means that

Siri can readweb pagesandother

online content to you.Toenablethis

feature,gotoSettings, General,

Accessibility, Speech andturnonthe

Speak Screenoption. Whenyou’reona

page you wantSiri toread, swipe down

fromthe top of the screenusing two

fingers.ASpeak Screenbox will appear,

andSiri will start reading you the

content.You can slowdownorspeed

upthe reading pacebytapping the

tortoiseandharebuttons,andskipback

andforth.ToavoidSiri reading you ads

andotherirrelevant text, switchto

readerviewbeforebringing upthe

Speak Screenbox.

One of the best things

aboutGoogleTranslate

(translate.google.com) is

the Listen button, which

helpsyou learn how words

in otherlanguages are

pronounced. You canalso

use this feature to hear

translations of large chunks

of online text (up to 5,000

characters) spoken aloudto

you. This saves you having

to translate and read foreign-

languagecontent from theweb, and

helpsyou master foreign tongues by

creating audio translations of articl es

written in English. Simply copy and

paste the text into the box on the

LET THE WEB SPEAK ANOTHER LANGUAGE

left, select the relevant languages

and clickthe Listen speaker icon

in the bottom-left corner of the

right-hand box to hear your instant

translation in a natural, perfectly

enunciated voice.

Android’s text-to-speech

option is an easy way

to listen to mobile

web pages

Siri integrates with th e iOS accessibility options to speak the

content that ’s displayed on-screen

You can turn on audio description for dozens of popular
Netflix shows and films

BBC iPlayer provides audio description for
around 20% of its catch-upcontent