The Lab-Aids Math Portal is proud to offer ReadSpeaker to provide text-to-speech, translation, and accessibility options within all Lab-Aids student books. With ReadSpeaker, users can listen to an audio version of Lab-Aids online content, translate text and audio into 29 different languages, translate text into 44 different languages, and utilize accessibility features to aid students in reading online.

ReadSpeaker is available for all Lab-Aids online books. No downloads or plugins required. ReadSpeaker is not currently offered in the Windows or iOS apps; it is only available when accessing the portal from a browser. 

Text-To-Speech with ReadSpeaker:

Accessibility Options and Settings Available with ReadSpeaker

 

ReadSpeaker Functionality

1. Languages Currently Offered:

Text and Audio Translation

ArabicGermanJapaneseRussian
Chinese (Mandarin)GreekKoreanSpanish
DanishHindiLatvianSwedish
DutchHebrewNorwegianThai
EnglishHungarianPolishTurkish
FinnishIndonesianPortuguese (Brazil & Portugal)Ukrainian
French (France)ItalianRomanianVietnamese

Text Translation Only

AmharicPersian/Farsi
BengaliPunjabi
GujaratiSomali
Haitian CreoleSwahili
HmongTagalog (Filipino)
MarathiTamil
OromoTelugu
PashtoUrdu

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2. How to Listen: 

Users can choose to listen to A) an entire page, B) just a selection of text, or C) a paragraph at a time. Words will be highlighted as they are read (unless disabled in settings). 

A. Listen to the entire page: Click the "Speak" icon at the top of the page. Then, click the "play" button at the top of each page to have ReadSpeaker read the entire page. 

A gif of a page in the student portal. User clicks "Speak", and the ReadSpeaker menu appears on the top left. User then clicks on the "Play" button, and text is highlighted as it is read.

 

B. Listen to only a selection of text: Click the "Speak" icon at the top of the page. Highlight specific text and click the "Listen" option on the popup menu that appears. 

A gif of a page in the student portal. User clicks "Speak", then highlights a paragraph of text and clicks "Listen" on the popup menu. Text is highlighted as it is read.

 

C. Use the "Click and Listen" option: This option allows user to listen to a paragraph without needing to select it first and then click the "Listen" button. See the Click and Listen section below for more information.

A gif of a page in the student portal. User clicks "Speak", then clicks on the hamburger menu icon on the ReadSpeaker menu, then clicks "Click and Listen". User then clicks on different paragraphs of text, and the text automatically starts being read and highlighted.

 

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3. How to translate:

  • Click the "Speak" icon at the top of the page.
  • Highlight a selection of text, and click the "Translate" option that appears. Select language.  
  • Languages with both text and audio translation will display a speaker icon. Text-only languages will display a speaker with a slash to indicate audio is not available. 

A paragraph of text is highlighted with the corresponding ReadSpeaker popup menu displaying. The "Translate" option and the popup list of languages are outlined in orange.

  • A popup will appear with the translated text. Click through the disclaimer screen. Read the translated text on the screen and click the "play" icon to have the text read aloud to you in the selected language. 

The popup screen that appears after clicking "translate". The disclaimer screen displays with the "I understand" button underneath outlined. The translated text is displayed, and the "play" icon at the top is outlined.

  • Customize audio and text settings by clicking the menu icons at the top of the "translate" popup:
    • Play/Pause, Stop
    • Volume, Reading Speed
    • Decrease font size, Increase font size, Text settings (customize font size, font, text colors, and text spacing)
    • Maximize screen, Close out
    • More detail on available customizations in the Text Mode section below

Arrows point to four "settings" icons at the top of the "Translate" window and text is added to identify each. The text above explains in more detail.

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Accessibility and Text Mode Settings

Settings and additional accessibility features in ReadSpeaker can be accessed by clicking on "Speak" icon at the top of the page, and then by clicking on the ReadSpeaker menu icon (the hamburger icon with three lines next to the "Listen" button at the top left of the page). Each of the six ReadSpeaker Menu options are explained below. 

A screenshot of some icons at the top of a student portal page. The "Speak" icon is outlined in orange.

The options under the ReadSpeaker menu are shown and numbered: Settings(1), Click and Listen(2), Enlarge Text(3), Text Mode(4), Page Mask(5), and Help(6).

 

 1. ReadSpeaker Menu >> Settings: Click through the available ReadSpeaker settings menus to personalize ReadSpeaker features.

  • Highlighting Settings: What to highlight (Word and Sentence, Sentence only, Word only, no highlighting)
  • Reading Tools Settings: Automatic scrolling, pop-up menu settings
  • Page Mask Settings: Change the color for focus area, color for the mask, transparency for both
  • Keyboard Shortcuts Settings: View and customize keyboard shortcuts
  • Restore Default Settings
  • *See Text Mode section below for more detail on customizing text size, text font, text color, highlight color, etc. 

A gif of a user clicking on the ReadSpeaker hamburger menu icon (with three lines) and scrolling through the five different ReadSpeaker settings menus, explained more above.

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2. ReadSpeaker Menu >> Click and Listen:

This option allows user to listen to a paragraph with one click, instead of needing to first highlight the text and then click the "Listen" button. 

First, click the "Speak" icon at the top of the page. Then, click the ReadSpeaker hamburger menu, and then activate the "Click and Listen" feature by clicking the toggle so it turns green. Then, click on a section of text, and the paragraph will automatically be read aloud with words being highlighted as they are being read.  

A gif of a user clicking the ReadSpeaker menu and clicking the toggle next to "Click and Listen" to enable it. User clicks on some paragraphs, each paragraph becomes outlined, and the text automatically starts being read aloud.

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3. ReadSpeaker Menu >> Enlarge Text: Text being read aloud will display at the bottom of the screen in large font size.

First, click the "Speak" icon at the top of the page. Then, click the ReadSpeaker hamburger menu, and then activate the "Enlarge Text" feature by clicking the toggle so it turns green. Then, any text currently being read aloud will be displayed at the bottom of the screen in large font size with each word highlighted as it is read. 

A gif of a sentence being read aloud demonstrating the "Enlarge Text" option. The sentence is displayed at the bottom of the screen in extremely large font with black text on light green background, and each word is highlighted as it is read.
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4. ReadSpeaker Menu >> Text Mode and Customizable Options: Text Mode allows users to view a clutter-free version of the web page with text in preferred font, size, and colors. This menu contains many accessibility options that are available for users to customize.  

  • First, click the "Speak" icon at the top of the page. Then, click the ReadSpeaker hamburger menu and click "Text Mode".
  • While in Text Mode, user can click the "Play" button to have all text read aloud, or user can highlight specific sections of text to have just some text read aloud.
  • While in Text Mode, users can customize many accessibility options (below). 

Two examples of Text Mode: One with black text on white background with Arial font, and another with enlarged text, increased spacing, blue text on black background with font type Open Dyslexic, and the additional settings menu displayed.

 

Customizable Accessibility Options from Text Mode screen:

A) Reading Speed

Use the icon with the timer to increase and decrease reading speed. 

A gif showing the user clicking on the "Reading Speed" icon at the top, and then adjusting the reading speed up and down.

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B) Font Size

Open ReadSpeaker text mode and use the two A- and A+ icons at the top to decrease and increase font size. 

A gif showing the user clicking on the "Smaller Font Size" and "Larger Font Size" icons at the top, while the text decreases and increases in size accordingly.
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C) Font Type

Open ReadSpeaker text mode and use the Aa settings icon at the top (third icon from the right) to choose different fonts, including the "Open Dyslexic" font.

A gif showing user opening the Aa* "Text Settings" icon at the top and then scrolling through the 5 available fonts while the font type changes accordingly (Times New Roman, Arial, Comic Sans, Courier New, and Open Dyslexic).

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D) Text & Highlight Colors / Color Contrast

Open ReadSpeaker text mode and use the Aa settings icon at the top (third icon from the right) to choose different text colors/backgrounds/contrast. 

A gif of the Aa* "Text Settings" icon open with "Text Colors" outlined in orange. The screen is scrolling through the many different text/background color options while the font/background colors change accordingly (blue on light yellow, yellow on black, etc.).

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E) Text Spacing

Open ReadSpeaker text mode and use the Aa settings icon at the top (third icon from the right) to choose different text spacing.

A gif of the Aa* "Text Settings" icon open with "Text Spacing" outlined in orange. User is slowly moving the toggle to increase text spacing while the font/text displays the increased spacing accordingly.

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5. ReadSpeaker Menu >> Page Mask

  • Page Mask allows user to view the page with an adjustable focus bar while the rest of the page is dimmed.
  • Please note: Page Mask is a purely graphic tool that can help some users focus but might not be useful to people with low vision.
  • To open/enable page mask: Click the "Speak" icon at the top of the page. Then, click on the Readspeaker hamburger menu from the top middle of the screen and choose the "Page Mask" option.

Screenshot of the ReadSpeaker menu with "Page Mask" option outlined in orange.

The screen is dimmed except for the brighter horizontal Page Mask bar slowly being moved downward over specific lines of text, mimicking text being read. User increases and then decreases the height of the brighter horizontal bar so that more lines and then less lines of text are brightened.

  • Page Mask settings available from the ReadSpeaker Settings Menu >> Page Mask Settings mentioned above
  • Page Mask Keyboard access: Shift + Ctrl + Alt + M (works only after the menu has been opened once)
  • Click "Page Mask" to see the page with a focus bar. The rest of the page is dimmed. The focus bar follows the mouse cursor, or the finger on touch devices, to make it easier to focus on smaller portions of text at a time. Hit the escape key or click the cross on the right edge of the focus bar to turn the page mask off. Click on the + or - to make the focus area larger or smaller.
  • To enter (or exit) keyboard navigation mode when page mask is showing, hit the space key. A small keyboard icon will show just above the focus area when keyboard navigation mode is active. When active, arrow keys can be used to move the focus area (or shift key + arrow key for faster movement). Plus and minus keys will change the size of the focus area.

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6. ReadSpeaker Menu >> Help

Additional help and information for ReadSpeaker features can be found by clicking on the "Help" menu under the ReadSpeaker menu icon (icon with three lines at the top of the page). Click the "Table of Contents" icon to view specific topics. 

ReadSpeaker menu displays with the "Help" option outlined in orange. To the right, the "Help" screen displays with the Table of Contents outlined in orange.

 

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7. Keyboard Shortcuts

You can use keyboard combinations (keyboard shortcuts) to activate most features. Each feature has its own shortcut. There are a few ways to access ReadSpeaker Keyboard Shortcuts.

A) From the ReadSpeaker menu icon at the top, click the "Help" menu, and then click "Keyboard Navigation". This menu contains general information on Keyboard navigation and keyboard shortcuts. 

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B) The "Help" menu also contains keyboard shortcuts in italics below the heading for each topic clicked on from the Table of Contents:

The screen displays the "Help" sections for the "Text Mode" and "Page Mask" topics. Just below each topic title, each topic's "Keyboard access" section is outlined in orange.

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C) From the ReadSpeaker Settings >> Keyboard Shortcuts menu, users can disable, enable, view, and customize keyboard shortcuts:

  • Click "Speak", and then click the ReadSpeaker menu icon. Then, click "Settings".  Then, click on the black keyboard icon to access the "Keyboard Shortcut" screen.
  • Enable/disable keyboard shortcuts and customize keyboard combinations here.  Click the information bubbles next to each option for more information.
    • To change a shortcut for a specific action, click on the button showing the current shortcut and then define the new key combination by holding the keys down at the same time on your keyboard. The button will now show the new shortcut.
  • If you make a mistake on keyboard shortcuts, you can restore keyboard settings and other settings via the instructions in part D, below. 

ReadSpeaker menu displays with the "Settings" menu outlined in orange. To the right, the "Settings" menu is open with an arrow pointing to the "Keyboard Settings" keyboard icon, and the Keyboard Settings menu displays.

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D) If needed: Restore keyboard shortcuts from ReadSpeaker Menu >> Settings >> Restore menu

  • Settings >> Restore allows users to restore various ReadSpeaker settings back to the standard ReadSpeaker system default settings.
  • To restore just the keyboard shortcut settings, deselect all options except for "Shortcuts", and then click "Restore". 

A screenshot of the Settings >> Restore menu displays with "Restore Default Settings" at the top. There are 5 options/categories available. All settings are deselected except for "Shortcuts" and there is a blue "restore" button at the bottom.

 

^back to Keyboard Shortcuts

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Questions? portals@lab-aids.com

Lab-Aids Portal FAQ Page