Tech Thursday: VoiceDream Reader
App Review
What is this about
This is a post in part of an extended series on speech-assisted reading on mobile
devices (I call it STAR for speech-and-tablet-assisted reading).
In this post, we will review VoiceDream Reader, the most complete dyslexia-friendly
reader app for iPads, iPhones and Android tablets.
Overview
VoiceDream Reader is the most feature complete reader app aimed at readers with
dyslexia or anybody who likes to use text-to-speech to read their books and other
texts.
Its creators have thought of almost every possible feature somebody reading a book
with the assistance of speech might want. What’s more, the interface is really clean
and easy to use.
By the pricing standards of apps, Voice dream reader is relatively expensive, but it
still only costs £8.
Voice dream reader was first created for the iPad but is now also available on
Android. But the iPad and iPhone version received new features and updates first.
The Android version is still very good but in this review we will focus on the iPad. I
will note if there is an important difference between Android and iPad when
necessary.
Key features
The key features of voice dream reader are:
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Reading with speech options
Reading websites and e-books in many formats
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PDF handling
Downloading books directly from Bookshare and other e-book repositories
Integration with GoogleDocs, Dropbox, or even Evernote and Instapaper
Speech-assisted reading
Reading with text-to-speech is the key function of VoiceDream Reader. And it
performs it really well.
At the bottom of the screen, you can use the play button and the skip buttons. But
you can also use your fingers.
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Double tapping anywhere in the text will start reading from that position
Swiping down with 2 fingers will pause or start play
Swiping left or right with 2 fingers will jump back or forward in the playback
You can set the skip buttons do to move you back by a set time, the word, or a
sentence.
You can also choose what is being highlighted. You can highlight the line, or the
word that is being read, or both.
And you can choose how much text you see at once. This could be one, 3, or 5
lines. This is a great feature for people with dyslexia or people with attention
difficulties.
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Another way to make following the text easier while it’s being read out is to set
VoiceDream Reader to always keep the highlighted line in the middle of the
screen. This means that your eyes don’t have to hunt for the cursor.
Another great feature that has only just been added is called Finger Reading.
Simply tap and hold a word and it will be read out. If you keep your finger on the
word and slide it to the next word and then the next, you can have the text read out
word by word at your own pace.
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Reading websites and other documents
One of the great things about VoiceDream Reader is that it supports more than just
e-books. It can open documents in almost any formats including audiobooks.
Many people might want to use it to read websites. The best way to do that is to use
the share button in the browser and share the page the VoiceDream Reader. But
there is a built in legacy browser from previous versions that people could use.
Handling PDFs
PDFs are always a problem if you want to read them with speech. This is because
their formatting does not make it clear which bits should be read out. This is
especially difficult with academic articles that have long headers and footers. And a
speech reader will read them out right after the last word on the previous page.
VoiceDream Reader has a feature to help with that that will allow you to cut off the
header and the footer. This is similar to @Voice Aloud reader that we looked at last
week.
Another problem with PDFs is that they are often formatted in such a way that
viewing the full page on the phone or even an 8 inch tablet makes the letters to
small. For that, and app needs to implement a Reflow feature. VoiceDream Reader
does this really well with its plain text mode.
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Downloading books directly from Bookshare and other
repositories
VoiceDream lets you download books directly from online repositories. The most
important ones are:
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Project Gutenberg with free out of copyright e-books
Bookshare with books in accessible formats aimed at users with dyslexia and
visual impairments
Integration with Dropbox and others
Another way to get books into VoiceDream Reader is through cloud file sharing
services such as Dropbox or Google Drive. But you can also connect it to Evernote
or Instapaper.
If you use Google Drive, VoiceDream Reader will even open GoogleDocs by
converting them to PDF.
Other features
Playlists and folders
If you have a lot of short texts you can put them in a folder which will then work as
a playlist. Under the mode button in the top left corner, you can choose what
happens when you come to the end of the document.
Pac-Man mode for reading
Under the formatting settings menu, you can enable a so-called Pac-Man mode.
That will delete the text as it is being read out. This both reduces distractions and,
at least according to VoiceDream Reader, can increase your reading fluency over
time.
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Chapter navigation with automatic speech
Any e-reader will let you jump from chapter to chapter or section to section. But
VoiceDream Reader will start reading as soon as you hit the chapter button. This
may not seem like much but if you jump around the text aloud, it will make things a
lot easier.
What’s missing
There were only 2 features that I found missing from voice dream reader:
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Support for DRM in e-books: this would make it possible to read books from
public libraries or both purchased in some bookstores.
Page turning: the only way to read a book in VoiceDream Reader is to scroll
down as in a webpage. This is fine but many people prefer to be able to turn
pages as if they were reading a book. Most reader apps have these settings.
VoiceDream Reader also currently does not support RNIB Bookshare but hopefully
will soon.
Conclusion
VoiceDream Reader is simply the best example of how to do text-to-speech in an
app for reading. In this review, I focused only on the most important features and
scan things such as font formatting or highlighting that can be found in any standard
reader. But even these are implemented well with a focus on people with literacy
difficulties.
Next: Reading news with speech
Next time, we will look at some apps that can be used to read news with the
assistance of speech.
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