HoverSpeak – Free Text-to-Speech Chrome Extension
Extension Actions
- Extension status: Featured
- Live on Store
Reads aloud any text you hover or select in a natural voice. 100% free, built for dyslexic readers.
HoverSpeak is a truly free text-to-speech (TTS) Chrome extension that instantly speaks the exact words under your mouse or in any selected text using natural-sounding voices. Completely free: no paywalls, no registration, no login. Built for people with dyslexia, with an emphasis on an easy point-and-read approach and support for dozens of languages.
HoverSpeak features:
⭐ Press Alt + Z to have the text under your mouse read aloud-including buttons, tooltips, chat snippets, and other accessibility items.
⭐ Prefer selecting text manually? Highlight a section you’d like read to you. Press Alt + Z to start reading.
⭐ Reading in multiple languages - HoverSpeak supports 70+ languages.
⭐ All voices are free.
⭐ Dozens of natural‑sounding voices.
⭐ HoverSpeak automatically detects the language of the page or your selection and reads it in the appropriate language.
⭐ Instantly see what’s being read with a clear red focus frame.
⭐ Press Alt + X to stop reading.
⭐ Adjust the reading speed to whatever is most comfortable for you. HoverSpeak will save your preference for that voice.
⭐ Follow‑Mouse: Keep a visible highlight that follows the cursor, pointing out text that can be read to you. Press the shortcut only when you want it spoken aloud.
⭐ No narration limitations, no registrations, no subscriptions, and no hidden costs.
Who it helps:
- Dyslexic readers – You don’t have to struggle with the constant effort of reading text. HoverSpeak reads each snippet aloud as you point, so you can focus on meaning instead of decoding.
- Low-vision & aging eyes – No more constant figuring out where the start of the text selection is and its end. Hover over the text you want to read, and you'll see exactly what's about to be read to you.
- ADHD / focus challenges – Forget getting lost in long passages or interrupting your flow to select text. Focus on one segment of text at a time, HoverSpeak delivers bite-size audio on demand, helping you stay engaged with exactly the text you choose.
- Eye-strain relief – Give your eyes a break, you don't have to constantly be reading. Sometimes it's just easier to point and read while giving your eyes the relief they need.
How to use:
1. Install HoverSpeak.
2. Hover over any on-screen text.
3. Press Alt + Z → listen while you keep browsing.
4. Press Alt + X to stop.
Want to customize and choose another voice? Go to the extension icon where you can find additional voices, adjust your speed and the language you want to be spoken.
Permissions & Privacy:
tts: to speak text locally via Chrome’s Speech Synthesis API, Or your local voices.
storage: to remember your settings.
offscreen: to perform speedy language Identification locally on your machine.
activeTab: so the extension knows from which tab you're trying to read from.
scripting: for settings changes to take effect immediately.
Limitations:
- Sites compatibility: If a site or a site technology does not expose its text to assistive technology (like the use of the canvas element), the extension might not be able to read text from that site or sections of that site.
Give your eyes a break—Hover, press, hear. Enjoy effortless text-to-speech in Chrome today!
HoverSpeak is a product by Sugar Sweet Apps (Yaron Elharar)
Latest reviews
- Row row your boat Cool
- I think this is good! But I do find it kinda annoying having to keep pressing ALT+Z. I honestly thought we’d be able to change the keybinds, or at least just click on the text and it would read out. I’m not really sure how to explain it, but that’s my only issue with this Chrome extension. Other than that, it’s a pretty solid extension :D.
- Christina Andrews
- My son just started using it and it's awesome, I've been looking for something like this for years!
- callanyonefrompc
- Extremely frustrating to use, but has a lot of promise. The highlight boxes look horrendous. I just want the selected block of text to have a custom background color, like a "highlight". But instead of doing that, this extension puts a horrible thick red and white highlight box around the section. Not only that, but the 'Always highlight text under the mouse' is completely unusable because once I select a block of text using the horribly ugly highlight box and press Alt + Z to start reading it aloud, I can't move my mouse without the extension drawing more highlight boxes around other possible blocks of text. It's just a horrible experience. I don't want it to do that. But if I disable that feature, then if I try to select text using the mouse cursor drag method, the extension won't read that area aloud, it will read some parent container instead. So instead of reading a paragraph, it might read the entire page. The extension should have other options too like adjusting volume and even pitch.