Our ebooks have a Text to Speech (TTS) read-aloud feature that is automatically enabled when you open your title in the RedShelf eReader in either a web browser or mobile app.
You can access this feature by clicking on the "ear" icon at the bottom right-hand corner of the reader:
The TTS controls will appear at the bottom of the screen. Just like most audio players, you can use the "play" icon (a right-pointing triangle arrow inside a circle) to start the text-to-speech feature. And while playing, a "pause" icon (two vertical bars inside a circle) will replace the play image.
You can also open the TTS tool to start it from a specific part of the page by double-clicking or highlighting a specific part of the text, and then selecting "Read Aloud from Here" from the highlights, notes, flashcards, citation, and TTS dialogue box.
Additionally, you can adjust volume via the segmented volume bar to the left of the play/pause button, jump backwards or forwards by 10 words using the smaller circular arrows on either side of the play/pause bottom, or click the "gear" icon for speed and automated voice settings.
What if the Text-to-Speech Tool is on and underlining the text, but I cannot hear the sound?
Try the following if you cannot hear the text being read aloud:
- Double-check your volume - is it turned up?
- Make sure your device is not in "Silent Mode".
- Make sure the sound is not playing in a Bluetooth connected device like wireless headphones (or use the headphones to listen, if they are)
- Check the voice selection in the settings on your device and reset to the default voice. Some custom voice options are not compatible with all devices and apps.
- If you are accessing the eReader via an LMS (like Canvas or Blackboard), try logging into your account via redshelf.com/login and open the book from your My Shelf page. Some learning management systems can block the text-to-speech voice.
- If you have accessibility plug-ins or tools running on your device, temporarily disable them and relaunch the book to try again.
- In the Main Menu of the eReader, there is a submenu for Text to Speech. Open that submenu and make sure the volume is turned up there.
- Open your book with a different web browser or with our iOS app and try again.
- If you are still having issues, submit a Solve ticket at solve.redshelf.com
What if the Text-to-Speech Tool is not visible on the screen?
If text-to-speech is unavailable in your book using a web browser, you will not see the option to turn it on. In this case, we recommend submitting a Solve ticket to our Accessibility Team using the accessibility request form and we will reprocess your book to the text-to-speech feature in the browser.
What if Text-to-Speech stops reading after a few sentences or won't play?
More than likely the issue is due to the Voice being used with Text-to-Speech. Try out these steps of changing the voice to attempt a resolution.
On Windows:
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Under the main menu, select "Text To Speech", you'll see an option for voice. Generally, "Microsoft David Desktop- English (United States)" is going to be the best voice, but if you're using that and it doesn't work, you can try other voices to see if they work better.
On iOS:
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Under the main menu, select "Text To Speech", you'll see an option for voice. Generally, "Samantha", "Alex" or "Victoria" are going to be the best voices, but if you're using that and it doesn't work, you can try other voices to see if they work better.
How do I make TTS read aloud from a specific place in the text? / Can I select the text to activate TTS?
While we do not currently offer a "select to read" option (however, that is coming soon!) In the meantime, the following instructions should help:
- To start from a specific point in the text, scroll the page up so that the text you want to start reading aloud is at the top of the eReader window. Then hit PLAY.
- If you need to stop the text and scroll to another section, use STOP instead of PAUSE and then scroll to the new position in the text to begin reading aloud again.
- If you use PAUSE, it will return you to the point where the speaking was paused.