ChromeOS Text To Speech Accessibility Features

ChromeOS has a powerful Text To Speech system that is helpful for those with poor eyesight or those that struggle with reading text. This section will focus on the Text To Speech features offered by ChromeOS.

Enable ChromeVox

ChromeVox is Google's text to speech system that is built into ChromeOS to assist those who have difficulty reading text on your screen. ChromeVox works in the same way that other commercial screen readers such as JAWS works. When ChromeVox is enabled, it will automatically read the contents of any text displayed on the screen, specifically from the active window or application that is in focus.

Like other similar tools, ChromeVox will read all the contents out loud, which may contain sensitive information. It is important to wear headphones if you are working on materials that contain sensitive information to ensure personal privacy.

Enable select-to-speak

Select works much in the same way as ChromeVox. However, it will only read text that has been highlighted by your mouse.

Text to speech voice settings

There are several options to customize the voice used by ChromeVox that can be changed in the Text to Speech Voice Settings.

Speech Properties

• Rate - This will allow you to control the rate or speed of the voice.
• Pitch - This will allow you to increase the pitch of the voice.
• Volume - This will allow you to control the volume of the Text To Speech Voice in relation to the overall volume of your device.

Preview

• Voice to preview - This will read out the content in the "Text to Preview" dialog box.
• Text to preview - This text will be read out loud by the "Voice To Preview" option.

Preferred Voices

• Default Language (English) - This will display the primary language that was used to set up your ChromeOS Device. You can change the language used by the text to speech engine, as well as the gender of the voice.
• More Languages - This will allow you to assign voices to additional languages that ChromeOS supports.