Description from extension meta
Read out loud the current web-page article with one click. Supports 40+ languages.
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Description from store
Tired of sitting, tired of reading? Click a button, jump on your bed, and have the article read aloud to you. You can choose from many available male and female voices. You can also set the pitch of the voice and the reading speed. Supports PDF. Supports EPUB (via the excellent EPUBReader extension from epubread.com).
Starting in version 1.4.6, you can use your Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Google Cloud Platform (GCP) account to enable Amazon Polly and Google Wavenet voices.
Read Aloud is a Chrome and Firefox extension that uses text-to-speech technology to convert webpage text to audio. It works on a variety of websites, including news sites, blogs, fan fiction, publications, textbooks, school and class websites, online universities and course materials.
Read Aloud is aimed at users who prefer to listen to content instead of reading, people with dyslexia or other learning disabilities, children learning to read, or simply to provide users with alternative way to consume web content.
Read Aloud allows you to select from a variety of text-to-speech voices, including those provided natively by the browser, as well as by text-to-speech cloud service providers such as Google Wavenet, Amazon Polly, IBM Watson, and Microsoft. Some of the cloud-based voices may require additional in-app purchase to enable.
Recent developments in machine learning and artificial intelligence has enabled very high-quality speech synthesis. Google Wavenet, Amazon Polly voices, for example, use bleeding edge technology to provide life-like synthetic speech that is close to that of human speech. Read Aloud allows you to use your own Google Cloud Platform and Amazon Web Services account to enable these voices.
To use Read Aloud, simply navigate to the web page you want to read, then click the Read Aloud icon on the Chrome menu. In addition, the shortcut keys ALT-P, ALT-O, ALT-Comma, and ALT-Period can be used to Play/Pause, Stop, Rewind, and Forward, respectively. You may select the text you want to read before activating the extension. Right clicking on the selected text will provide you with yet another context-menu option to activate Read Aloud.
To change the voice, reading speed, pitch, or enable text highlighting, go to the Options page either by right clicking on the Read Aloud icon and choose Options, or by clicking the Gear button on the extension popup (you'll need to stop playback to see the Gear button).
Read Aloud is an open-source project I created in my spare time to satisfy my own need. I'm surprised that it has become quite popular and glad that it's been useful to many people. If you wish to contribute bug fixes or translations, please visit the GitHub page (https://github.com/ken107/read-aloud). If you see bugs or have suggestions to make the extension better, please don't hesitate to provide feedback via the "report issue" link inside the app.
Latest reviews
- (2020-09-24) Righteous Indignation: For "Visual-Verbal" learners (IDC about who has debunked what, this is how I retain information more and longer than any other ((debunked)) learning style) this app is a serious must have.
- (2020-09-24) ch w: a helpful tool.
- (2020-09-22) PepperShakerKetchupBottle: what can i say? it does exactly what it says it does, not many reasons for me to deduct stars
- (2020-09-21) Sami Rieppo: No kyllähän se lukee, mutta kun ei osaa lopettaa. Pistän pausea ja haluan lukea itse niin se alkaa 10 sekunnin päästä höpöttämään. Aina sama juttu. Oli pakko poistaa koko softa että meni hiljaseks
- (2020-09-21) Jason Reblin: This app is perfect for the English Language Learners and Special Education students at our school!
- (2020-09-20) Patrick Butas: Reads Everything on a web page Aloud Very awesome I think we should send him some donations for all the work put into this. I got some money for the creator of this extension
- (2020-09-20) Simon Melville: Only use with the English voice to read English so can't comment on other labguages but I find this the best to read out web pages and emails - very reliable. Highly recommended.
- (2020-09-20) PEDRO HERRERA KU: Como menciono el primer comentario cuando se topa un . separa en automático , no se si es mi configuración.
- (2020-09-18) Eduardo Santana: Excelente! Permite vários ajustes como velocidade de leitura, e escolha de idiomas. O respeito as pontuações está ótimo, deixando o entendimento muito mais fácil quando o aplicativo começa a ler os textos.
- (2020-09-17) Oliva Zavaleta: !FASCINANTE! Me ahorra muchísimo tiempo leyendo por mi, además que logro entender mucho mas rápido los textos. Lo increíble es que logre facilitarle la vida a unas personas con ceguera al usar la web. !BENDICIONES! a los creadores, quizá no sepan el enorme bien humano que hacen (en especial a los discapacitados visuales)
- (2020-09-15) Aileen Beltran: This is A very good Extension! Works very well when im to lazy to read :)
- (2020-09-15) Cherry Wong: 中文時, 怎選揀廣東話?? 男女聲, 可以選擇嗎?
- (2020-09-14) Ir GR: Worked well up until a couple of days ago. Only reads the first couple of sentences even though more text is marked. Also the shading of words is out of sync with the voice.
- (2020-09-13) Cassondra Lindbom: Bug needs to be fixed . Will read 2 sentences then cut off mid word
- (2020-09-11) Betina Tsvetkova: Installed on Chrome, works like a charm with English
- (2020-09-10) dud: ITS TRASH TRASH TRASH TRASH DOESNT EVEN WORK CUZ ITS TRRRRAAASHHHH
- (2020-09-10) Tan Jin Yuan: This extension really helps with my pronunciation. As English is not my first language, I use this to read articles. Very helpful!
- (2020-09-09) Jamie De La Torre: I want to really like this because it has so many good features. I love how the text is enlarged and highlighted. My biggest complaint is when i click off the site or go to a new page it continues reading from the last thing i was on. So, if i was having it read an article, not the biggest deal scroll to the bottom to quickly end it, but on my textbooks it becomes a real hassle.
- (2020-09-09) Bradley English: I love this extension!!!! The combination of reading aloud while the highlighted text moves is so helpful for my ADHD. Highly reccommend.
- (2020-09-06) Cathrine ARTS: mantab bosque
- (2020-09-05) Григорий Школьный: Супер! Работает и несёт удовольствие 8)
- (2020-09-04) Jason Love: To the developers of this Extension, Thank you so much for creating this tool -- nice work! I've tried a few different TTS extensions and I ended up liking this one best. The voice choice is decent -- I'm partial to the British accent, but there are some other good voices as well. Of course, the ability to control pitch and speech-rate is included. My FAVORITE part of this TTS extension is that when I highlight the text I want read, I can then simply press "Alt + "x" This ability doesn't come preloaded, but it's easy enough to use the "Edit Shortcut Key" link on the setting window to customize your setup. Thanks again, -Jason
- (2020-09-04) 李托塔史莱姆: 没有新版edge的语音自然。 不能选择"优质的声音"，只能用google的捧读声音
- (2020-09-03) Angel M. Hoodye, LPC-S: I love this extension! It is the best! I am so thankful I found it.
- (2020-09-03) Риса Абросимова: при прослушивании пдф документов обрывает последние слова
Latest issues
- (2020-09-24, v:1.33.0) Righteous Indignation: Robo Voice(s)
I suggest, for nerds like me, a (or several) voice that is decidedly robotic (like Tweeky, Buck Rogers In The 25th Century; VERY low pitched; better example: original Battlestar Galactica GOLD COLORED Cylons). I tend to nod off when a human, droning voice is reading aloud. Not so with electronically modulated voices - ones that scream "Hey, that's a ROBOT voice right there!" ATM I'm using "Google UK English Male" pitched one notch above absolute bottom, speed three notches above default. The Wavenet voices (any other except the one mentioned above) sound just too human. Search Voice Sound of Gold Centurion Cylon, Original Battlestar Galactica, if you're interested in supplying something like this. I would greatly appreciate it being forever free. Thanks for your time and consideration. Cheers! - (2020-09-21, v:1.33.0) Rishav Roy: Keyboard shortcuts not working?
The shortcut for activating the extension (which I have set as Alt+O) works perfectly, but no other shortcuts (e.g. pause = Alt+P, stop = Alt+L) work. They don't work when the extension is open or closed, or working or stopped--never. Is this is an issue on my end, or something wrong with the extension? - (2020-09-21, v:1.33.0) Ann McAloon: Voice distortion
I changed the voice to UK female and there is a metallic echo which lags slightly behind the voice. This is very distracting. It did not appear to happen when using the auto-select voice. - (2020-09-20, v:1.33.0) Caroline Rentas: Stops in the middle of a reading
Wen im having read aloud read to me it stops. I have to restart my whole computer and log back in and then it will read but only that passage. If i have another reading after i have to restart the computer over..... Im not sure what im doing wrong? - (2020-09-20, v:1.33.0) Riddhima Singhal: problem
i m not able to add this extension though i want to - (2020-09-16, v:1.33.0) Rolando Punongbayan: Texts in the read aloud window
Is there a way I can copy and paste the texts in the read aloud window? - (2020-09-15, v:1.33.0) solologos: TTS Stops midwa
While listening to a paragraph or some longer article or passage, the voice suddenly stops and the app's sounds suddenly stop. After waiting for a few minutes, nothing brings back the TTS. It happens quite often. I have to reselect the potion where it stopped and the rest of the paragraph to finish listening to it. This could happen up to 2 or 3 time per paragraph. Many times, I'll just have to manually read the material. Even though I restart the TTS, there's still a high chance that the TTS will go quiet and fail. Is there there I can do? Thank you very much. P.S -- If this a common problem? I hope there's an easy fix. I've been using this app for a long time and I really don't feel like switching. - (2020-09-14, v:1.33.0) Stephen Croft: How to add permissions for Google Wavenet?
Hi, thanks for the wonderful app! I was using the Google services near the top, but wanted to start using the Wavenet or Standard voices. I signed up for Google Cloud services but still get the, "You need to grant additional permissions to enable Google Wavenet voices" message when I try to use it. When I click on the "permissions" link given in that notice, it takes me to Google's home page for text-to-speech, which I thoroughly combed through and still couldn't find anything on how to grant permission to the "Read Aloud" extension. I can see from my Google Cloud console that I can do something with an API... Do you have some sort of guide about how to use enable Google Wavenet for the extension? Again, great work, even if in the end I only end up being able to use the regular Google voice. Thank you! - (2020-09-09, v:1.33.0) Kay and E Hammer: It stops reading
It will stop reading in the middle of a sentence. I use this to read aloud my textbooks for college, and it used to read an entire page before stopping. Now it will read a sentence or two then stop mid-sentence. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the extension and restarting my computer. What else can I do for this issue? - (2020-09-07, v:1.33.0) antonio b ribeiro: Improvement suggestion: ignore symbols.
Can you include the option to ignore certain symbols or words? For example: the Read Aloud chrome extension could allow the user to configure it to ignore symbols like the "undescore" '_' when reading the text. It can improve reading and increase reading speed. - (2020-08-30, v:1.33.0) Emily Simmons: Voice
Is there a way I can change the TTS voice? - (2020-08-23, v:1.33.0) Ro Sands: Question
I am using your extension with my Edge browser. Thank you for a great extension. I have purchased several Ivona voices for my computer but they are not showing up as a option to use them in Edge but they do show up when I use the Chrome browser. Can you let me know how to use my Ivona voices I purchased with your extension on Edge? Thanks for your help. Ro - (2020-08-17, v:1.33.0) Jamal Bleik: Speed of reading
The only way to change the speed is to go to the options page. Can the speed buttons be displayed next to the pause and stop buttons for easier access? Thanks for all your efforts. - (2020-08-13, v:1.33.0) Akarsh Rastogi: Permissions from Google, not working suddenly
The extension was redirecting me to the Google Wavenet authentication page many times every day. But it was atleast working very well (great extension). Suddenly even after "successful" green strip appears, the extension has stopped working (re-asking for permission immediately). - (2020-08-10, v:1.33.0) Chelsea Cates: Selecting text
I am trying to select the specific text on a page that I want read but when I activate the extension, it reads everything on the page. I've tried highlighting the text as well as selecting the entire text box but it isn't working. Is there a way to make this happen or is reading the entire page my only option? - (2020-08-04, v:1.33.0) Dwain Goulbourne: Reading Office 365 documents (web)
I work using office 365 via a webpage. I would really like if you could get this working on Word as a start. I know the work around would be to past your document into something like Google Keep but if you could read the native Word document in the browser this would be very useful. Your implantation is far better than the Read Aloud option in the MS Word application - (2020-08-03, v:1.33.0) Lucas Mendes: More highlight colors (and/or an option to set a highlight color to none)
Can you give an option, like the drop-down menu or the ColorPicker component to change the highlight color (or set the yellow highlight to none)? I think that, for a long reading document, the yellow color highlighted above the white background makes it exhaustive for reading. Thanks for the great work with this extension! - (2020-08-03, v:1.33.0) NoodleboxPi: Can you add on Web Page Highlighter when Reading Web Page?
Can you add on Web Page Highlighter when Reading Web Page? I know Natural Reader has the ability to read and highlight on web pages. I think Read Aloud needs to be updated to current updated browser. - (2020-07-27, v:1.33.0) Shahaf Edri: Key Shortcut For Controlling Read Speed
Many times when I read there are things I would like to understand more slowly. If you can make a shortcut to the read speed of the extension. This will significantly improve the user experience of your extension. Regards, Shahaf Edri - (2020-07-22, v:1.33.0) Rugeeallgrownup Weaver: Udfhcf
Trainz was a great time for - (2020-07-22, v:1.33.0) Mike Shaunessy: Voice
Is there only one voice in English (US)? A female only? - (2020-07-19, v:1.33.0) Wild Dog: Can't pause from outside the app
When I press the pause button the keyboard or my headphones, the app continues after about 10 seconds. - (2020-07-18, v:1.33.0) zero storm: Internal_Server_Error
Hello it seems i get a Internal_Server_Error every time i try to use premium voices. I use the new Microsoft edge browser that base on chromium. I purchase the premium voices already. It work for chrome but not chromium base edge. What con I do? - (2020-07-12, v:1.33.0) Universal Veteran: Enabling premium voices after purchase
Hi i just purchased 18,000,000 words but for some reason i cannot enable the premium voices? It says Cannot access contents of the page. Extensions manifest must request permission to access the respective host. How do i fix this? - (2020-07-11, v:1.33.0) Ro Sands: Google Voice For Chrome
Does Google have any free online voices to use in the Chrome browser? I find the Female English US voice very robotic sounding. Thanks for your help.