Lab-Aids is proud to offer the ReadSpeaker text-to-speech capability. 

  • ReadSpeaker includes Text-to-speech functionality: Students can choose to listen to an audio version of Lab-Aids content. Text will be highlighted as it is read.  
  • No downloads or plugins required.
  • Choose to read an entire page or just a selection of text.
  • Text is read aloud in English. We do not currently support ReadSpeaker in Spanish, but we are aiming to provide this in the next year. 
  • Any device will work. 
  • ReadSpeaker is not currently offered in the Windows or iOS apps. It is only offered when accessing the portal from a browser.  

 

How to use ReadSpeaker

How to Navigate

Keyboard Shortcuts

Notes

 

How do students use ReadSpeaker? 

Students can use ReadSpeaker in two ways: 

1) Read the entire page: Click the "play" button at the top of each page to have ReadSpeaker read the entire page. Words will be highlighted as they are read so students can follow along.

Click the readspeaker icon at the top of the page to have the whole page read to you

2) Read only a selection of text: Highlight specific text and click the button that appears to listen to just that selection.  

To have a selection of text read to you, highlight text and click the icon that appears

 

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How to Navigate: 

  • After clicking "play", a tray of icons will appear. Here is a description of each icon:

Pause, Play, Stop, Settings, Skip forward/backward, Download

  • You can also click the "Settings" button to change the settings: 
    • Toggle text highlighting on/off
    • Change the color of the words, highlights, and sentences. 
    • Change the reading speed (slow, medium, fast)
    • Toggle automatic scrolling on/off
    • Toggle popup button on/off
    • Restore to default settings

Settings

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ReadSpeaker Keyboard Shortcuts:

  • Start reading from beginning of page: Modifier + L 
    • Modifiers vary based on browser and operating system: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Access_key
      • PC & Chrome = ALT
      • PC & Firefox = ALT + SHIFT (may need to click somewhere on page before shortcut will work)
      • Mac & Chrome = CTRL + OPTION
  • Once focus is on the player:
    • Use ENTER to pause/start reading
    • Use TAB and SHIFT + TAB to move forward and backwards through each icon on the menu. 
    • ENTER will open/activate the selected icon.
    • Navigate through the additional menus that pop up (Settings, Download MP3) by using TAB, up/down/left/right arrows, ENTER, SHIFT, and SHIFT+TAB. 
    • ESC will close the popup windows for the "Settings" menu and the "Download MP3" menu. 

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Notes: 

1) ReadSpeaker is not 100% accurate, and it will occasionally mispronounce words. We will work to improve its pronunciation over time. 

2) To make the ReadSpeaker icons larger, zoom in. Once zoomed, you'll need to click the "select" arrow on the bottom right of the page to be able to click ReadSpeaker icons while zoomed in.  

While zoomed, click the single arrow to select text and ReadSpeaker icons. Click the four way directional arrow to move the page around.

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Questions? portals@lab-aids.com