Converting text to
speech
Texthelp Read and Write Gold supports students with difficulties in reading,
spelling and written expression.
It is available on all public access computers in College, and in the Disability
Service ATIC resource room in the Usher Library.
Finding Texthelp on a computer
Click on Start, then All Programs, find Texthelp Systems and click on Read &
Write Gold
When the program has finished loading this tool bar will appear at the top of
the screen.
At this point you should attach a pair of head or ear phones to the computer.
By clicking on any of the black triangles you can watch a video tour of each
button. Video training sessions are also available from the Texthelp website
http://www.texthelp.com/page.asp?pg_id=1261
Text to speech by email: Robobraille
If you want to access a text to speech tool from home, an internet service is
available by email. Type Robobraille into a search engine or go to
http://www.robobraille.org/rb/frontpage1.aspx
The home page is in Danish. You need to click on the small Union Jack Icon
at the top right hand side of the page, this will bring you to the English
language version.
The red button allows you to choose whether your document is translated into
Braille or into speech.
Full instructions are provided on how to use this service and how to enhance
the quality of your recording.
Ideally you should provide a document that is in plain, unformatted text. You
can do this by saving your document as follows. In Microsoft Word select
Save As, and from the drop down box select Plain Text.
If you cannot find this option under ‘Save As’, copy and paste your document
into Notepad. Go to Start / All Programs / Accessories / Notepad.
Open a new email and address it to britspeech@robobraille.org
In the subject line type the name of your document.
In 3 – 4 minutes you will receive an email confirming that your document has
been converted from text to speech.
You need to click on the hyperlink to collect your mp3.
You can save the mp3 to a computer folder or to an mp3 player.
There are also a number of free programmes available on the web, details
from http://www.adystrain.org/pdfs/speech_en.pdf
For further information please contact:
Andrew Costello
Assistive Technology Officer
Room 2054, The Arts Building
Email: atic@tcd.ie
Email: acostel@tcd.ie
Tel: (01) 896 2903