BrowseAloud is assistive technology that adds text-to-speech functionality to websites. It is designed by Texthelp Systems, a Northern-Ireland based company that specialises in the design of assistive technology. By reading parts of web pages aloud, BrowseAloud assists people who find it difficult to read text online, including those with literacy difficulties, dyslexia, mild visual impairments and non-native speakers
BrowseAloud is free to download and will work on any website that has implemented BrowseAloud.
Richard Walters of Erewash Borough Council said that it fills their equalities commitments because Browsealoud reads web content in extremely high quality streaming voices and has the ability to simultaneously display scrolling text.[1] Northumberland health said that they use it for their website because it makes it easier for people with a physical or visual impairment to get information on local health services in their area.[2] The software won a New Media Award.[3]
Technical comment on BrowseAloud has been less favourable.[4] Criticism focussed on the need to use a mouse to select text before BrowseAloud would read it. This required vision and motor skills to use, making BrowseAloud inaccessible to groups that could use other screen readers, such as JAWS. However the developer states that it is not designed to replace traditional screenreaders, instead it is designed to help those with language, learning and cognitive disabilities.[5]
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||