Converting text to audio
Converting text to audio is great for accessibility, for listening to readings while doing other things or just for a different mode of learning.
There are many benefits to listening to text documents.
If it’s someone else’s work, listening to it can help you:
- take in information in a different way
- access a resource you might be unable to view
- study while you do other things: clean, exercise, stretch, travel
- rest your eyes and take a break from the screen
- improve memorisation and comprehension of the content.
If it’s your own work, listening to it can help you:
- check for grammar or typographical errors
- improve the flow of sentences
- further embed your learning
- ensure your writing is clear and concise.
Deakin provides both advice and a range of tools to help you convert text to audio.
Library resources
Some platforms the Library subscribes to have built-in tools to convert text to audio, including:
- EBSCOhost – you can listen using the Text-to-Speech function. Open the link to an article and choose the Online full text (HTML) format, then click on the ‘listen’ button.
- Taylor & Francis - uses Readspeaker to provide text-to-audio for all journal content. Select an article and listen to it by highlighting specific sections, or by pressing the ‘listen’ button to hear the entire article from start to finish.
CloudDeakin
Blackboard Ally allows documents within CloudDeakin to be converted from text to audio. This can be used to listen to your unit’s study guides, assessment outlines and other Deakin-created content.
Default software
Many computers have built-in functions for converting text to audio. Microsoft Word has a ‘Read Aloud’ function, Adobe software has a ‘Read Out Loud’ function and there are also a range of browser extensions which offer text to audio functionality.
For more information, read how to make your computer read documents.
Deakin software
The Deakin Software Library recommends three options that assist with converting text to audio:
Contact us
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