Tech Tip: Text to Voice for Chrome

There is a very nice little extension for Chrome that will read any highlight chunk of text to you out loud, and you will find similar extensions for all the web browsers. This is something you can use for the reading assignments in this class if audio helps you to focus (it really helps me to listen while I read), and you can also use this tool for proofreading your writing. The text-to-speech quality is kind of odd, admittedly... but it really does work! 

STEP ONE. You can install the extension from this Chrome page: Read Aloud: A Text to Speech Voice Reader. There are actually lots of these text-to-speech extensions, so if there is a different one you want to install, that works too! This just happens to be the one that I've used. 

STEP TWO. After you have installed the extension, you will be able to highlight any chunk of text on a page or in a text box, and then right-mouse click to access the extension in the context menu. 

You will hear the text play over your computer's sound system!

You can also go into your Chrome extensions manager to access the configurable options for this extension:

STEP THREE: BLOG POST. To finish up this Tech Tip, write a blog post with your thoughts about this tool (useful? or not?) and about your use of audio tools like this in general. Do you use voice-to-text tools already when typing? Is there some other text-to-voice tool that you prefer? Do you like to listen to audiobooks as a reading option? (I am a huge fan of audiobooks and, given a choice, I prefer to listen... it is slower, but I absorb so much more!)

To finish up, make sure to include the phrase "Tech Tip: Text to Voice" in your blog post title and also use "Tech Tip" as the label on the post; then you can do the Declaration.