"Screen readers are software programs that allow blind or visually impaired users to read the text that is displayed on the computer screen with a speech synthesizer or braille display. A screen reader is the interface between the computer's operating system, its applications, and the user." - afb.org
Screen readers include text-to-speech technology, which can be helpful for people who have any kind of difficulty reading text (not just visual).
Here are some screen reader options:
Screen Readers:
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Kurzweil - provided free through RISD Disability Support Services (DSS)
Text to Speech Readers:
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Speak It Chrome Extension (log out of your RISD Google account or use a different browser to install this)
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Read Aloud Chrome Extension (log out of your RISD Google account or use a different browser to install this)
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Read&Write Chrome Extension (log out of your RISD Google account or use a different browser to install this)
Text to Speech in Databases
Fleet Search and individual EBSCO databases now offer text-to-speech capabilities for full-text articles. For the full list of databases we subscribe to, please visit our Databases A-Z page, also available on the Fleet Library home page.
To access text-to-speech technology in Fleet Search or an EBSCO database, look for the headphones icon in the top right corner of the PDF or HTML full text article:
Note that you can listen to the article in your browser or download an MP3 file to listen to the article later.