Text to speech is a specific type of technology that enables you to turn any piece of text into spoken audio. Using text to speech, you will be to have your PDFs, books, articles, web pages, or any other source material read to you using natural AI voices. Text to speech offers accessible and inclusive ways of communication for several individuals.
For us in education, this tool not only supports auditory learners by aligning with their learning preferences but also fosters inclusivity by making content accessible to individuals with visual impairments, learning disabilities (like dyslexia), or language barriers.Text to speech technology also boosts retention, encourages multitasking, and facilitates language learning.
AI Text to Speech Tools
Below are some of the best AI text to speech tools out there.
1. ElevenLabs
ElevenLabs is one of my favourite AI voice generator out there. It offers a wide collection of human-like voices in over 30 languages. From the popular Adam voice found everywhere on social media reels to the calming and soothing narration voice of Matilda, you have a huge collection of voices to choose from.
These voices are arranged into multiple categories including: narrative and story, social media, character and animation, conversational, and many more. You can further browse voices by accent, gender, age, and popularity.
Other interesting features provided by ElevenLabs include: a voice changer which allows you to upload or record your voice and and have it delivered in another voice of your choice, sound effects (describe your sound and let AI generate it for you instantly), voice isolator, AI dubbing, and many more. ElevanLabs offers a free plan with limited credits to try out the service.
2. Speechify
Speechify is another powerful AI text to speech tool. Like ElevenLabs, it offers a huge collection of human-like voices and is available in numerous languages. Speechify includes the voices of numerous celebrities from actress Gwyneth to the famous YouTuber MrBeast. Simply type in your text and have it read to you by the voice of your choice.
Speechify is available as an online tool and as an app for Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android. It is also available as a Chrome extension allowing you to have the text content of any source (e.g., web page, PDF, books, articles, emails, etc) read to you on the go.
The AI summarizer is another powerful feature Speechify provides, It generates concise AI summaries to any reading. And if you use Speechify on your mobile device, you also have the option to snap a picture of any page and have it read to you quickly. Speechify offers a trial period to test the app.
3. NaturalReader
NaturalReader is an AI-powered text to speech tool that supports over 90 languages and is available as for the web and as an app for Mac, iOs and Android. The way it works is simple: open NaturalRead and drag and drop your file or paste/type your text in its editor and let AI read it for you. If you use Chrome, you can install NaturalReader extension and you will be able to listen to webpages, Google Docs, online Kindle books, and emails directly from your the browser.
Other interesting features provided by NaturalReader is voice cloning. You can cline your own voice and make it speak over 100 languages. As of its pricing, ‘free users can sample the Premium Voices for 20 minutes per day and the Plus Voices for 5 minutes per day. Or use any available Free Voices unlimitedly’.
4.Genny by Lovo
Lovo has this excellent AI text to speech feature which allows you to turn text into audio within seconds. It offers a wide collection of customizable voices and accents and works across different devices. Simply type in or copy and paste your text and Lovo’s Genny’s takes care of the rest.
Genny is especially helpful of you want to create voiceovers for your videos. There are numerous professional sounding voices to choose from and you can generate voiceovers in over 100 languages and accents. Once your output is ready you can export and download your audio or video file in either WAV, MPS, or MP4 format.
Related: 12 Best AI Voice Generators
Watch this YouTube video I created showing how to use these AI text to speech tools:
Final thoughts
The AI text to speech market is beaming with all kinds of tools but the ones I shared with you above are among the top. They enable you to easily turn any text into audio format using natural and human-like voices. Some of them offer extensions to use on your browser allowing to have any online source read to you instantly. These tools are also great for creating voice-overs for narration and tutorials. Almost all of them offer trial period to try them out and see which one you like. Enjoy!
