In my day job, I work with folks with disabilities. Some of them have lost the ability to speak through an accident or stroke, and come to us looking for technology and devices to help them reclaim their ability to communicate with others. One of the apps I find myself frequently recommending is today’s tip.
Speak It! is a Text To Speech (TTS) app that will read back any entered text. One of the great things it also does is save those text phrases and sentences for easy access later. Let’s walk through it together.
First up, download Speak It from the App Store for $1.99. Once it loads onto your iOS device (I’m using an iPhone, but it’s Universal), tap the app to launch it. Once past the loading screen, you’ll have the option to visit the support site to download more languages and read some instructions. Tap Later to move on.
You should now see the main Speak It! screen. Simply tap in the whitespace at the top of the screen, type in what you want to say, and then choose a voice from the list spinner down below. There are options for male and female voice, as well as American and British pronunciation. I prefer Heather, the American female voice and Graham, the British male voice, but you may like the other ones. Once you type what you want to say, tap Speak It! and the app will read what you’ve written.
If you tap on the standard sharing button at the bottom, right near the Speak It! button, you’ll be able to save the phrase for later use, or save the spoken phrase as an audio file. Consider an individual who can’t speak easily or well, but has some ability to type. This could be the communication device they need, at a very bargain price compared to many stand alone systems on the market.
Got an iOS tip of your own? Need help troubleshooting your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad? Drop me a line or leave a comment below.
