How ReadSpeaker Compares to Screen Readers For Students

Bringing written lessons and homework to life with text-to-speech (TTS) platforms sounds pretty straightforward. That is, it’s straightforward until you try to figure out which solution your students may need and how all the various options compare to one another. As it turns out, there are dozens of different TTS solutions that all sound similar, but in practice can offer very different user experiences.

We’re putting together a series on how ReadSpeaker compares to other TTS assistive technologies. So, stay tuned if you’re in the market for assistive tech and you’re feeling overwhelmed by all the choices.

Let’s explore the difference between ReadSpeaker and the standard screen readers you may have encountered before.

ReadSpeaker Vs. Screen Readers For Students

What is a screen reader?

Screen readers convert text or Braille on a computer screen into spoken words that the student can listen to as they work. Screen readers—as the name implies—typically read everything on the screen, including browser tabs, button text, and other elements on the page. This level of assistance can be invaluable to blind or visually impaired students, as it allows them to independently navigate computer interfaces and make use of the full functionality of their devices without needing help from anyone else.

Two of the most popular screen readers are JAWS and NVDA, which both provide a voiceover of everything you might encounter in Microsoft Windows or Apple’s Mac OS environment. They also read Braille display elements, Chrome and Firefox browser tabs (check for compatibility if you use a different browser), document headings, and alt text of images within documents.

What is ReadSpeaker?

Whereas a blind learner may need every single element on the screen read aloud, a student with a hint of visual impairment, dyslexia, or ADHD likely does not. They are able to see the screen, but for one reason or another—whether it’s due to dyslexia, ADHD, another learning challenge, or a preference for a different learning style—they enjoy having audio assistance when digesting digital content.

ReadSpeaker addresses this middle ground by providing learners with a way to receive audio assistance and reading support tools where and when they need it. With a simple click on the selected text, students can hear high quality voices read text aloud within a web browser, a document, a learning management system (LMS), on their phones or wearables.

Your choice of tool depends on your users.

ReadSpeaker’s end users range from students who want support understanding the content in their documents and web browsers to classrooms, schools, and entire districts that need to make sure all their online content is accessible for learners, parents, and employees who may have visual impairments, dyslexia, or other problems deciphering text on screens.

In comparison, screen reader users usually have blindness or severe visual impairments.

If your use cases vary, you can opt for both.

ReadSpeaker’s TTS program can be used as a standalone solution or as a complement to a screen reader. Though it may seem redundant on the surface to offer both simultaneously, doing so can help you ensure a wide variety of users can understand and get value from your lessons.

Let’s say you run a school district and you’re trying to make sure all your educational content is TTS-accessible within your school’s LMS. You may have students who fall anywhere on the sight spectrum and perhaps some students who have multiple disabilities.

In that case, you might want to make both forms of assistive technology available to your students to make sure every base is covered.

On the other hand, perhaps you run a school and you don’t have any visually impaired teachers or students—or if you do, they already receive special services or they have their own TTS solution they prefer. In that case, your goal may be to provide all users with a seamless working and learning experience, regardless of their capabilities.

In fact, the DoJ recently ruled that United States government websites and apps (including government school resources) must be compliant with current Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Other countries have similar requirements, as WCAG is a global standard. Using ReadSpeaker is a huge step toward achieving compliance; our webReader version 3.6 is compliant with both the level A and level AA criteria under WCAG guidelines.

Even if compliance with accessibility standards isn’t your main objective, ReadSpeaker is still an excellent tool to give your students, teachers, and other employees a way to use voice assistance when reading web pages and documents.

ReadSpeaker excels at converting STEM content to voice.

Screen readers often struggle with STEM content—especially with math symbols and formatting. In contrast, ReadSpeaker is capable of handling advanced math concepts. Additionally, you can change the way ReadSpeaker’s voices sound and how they pronounce certain terms within our customizable pronunciation library.

Both can be used online or offline.

There are some screen readers that operate online in the cloud, but for the most part, you’ll probably come across screen readers that are already built into your operating system, or screen reader services you can purchase, download, and install.

Once you have the software set up, screen readers by their very definition will read anything that’s on your screen. This means you could be surfing the web, skimming through your downloaded files, working in an offline document, or using a proprietary LMS within a school system, and your screen reader will make sure you hear the text on each page, button, and file you open.

ReadSpeaker can also function on- or offline, provided you choose the correct integrations for the situation. That’s because some people don’t want to hear everything spoken aloud. In fact, that kind of distraction can make ADHD and similar disorders even more difficult to work with.

Instead, we provide a number of tools that will work when and where you want them—and nowhere you don’t. ReadSpeaker for Education will integrate seamlessly into your LMS of choice, and also offer full TTS capabilities on the web, within PDFs and most text document formats, in locked browsers, and even on your phone!