Using audio to enhance learning trifold

Text to Speech Audio Resources Audio resources can assist with concentration, focus, and information retention. These audio resources can allow you to listen to your writing which can help you edit your papers, or allow you to study on your commute.

Audiobooks

The following resources have a good public library of popular novels, plays, and classic books. These resources are either free or inexpensive audiobooks, and are read in real time, mostly by professional voice actors.

Text to Speech resources use technology to read any PDFs or documents you upload to the sites and apps below. Some of the apps have a “tracking” feature which highlight the words being spoken to help you follow along. iOS

Android

Computer

Free

Paid Versions

Tracking

OCR

Capti Voice* Natural Reader Balabolka Clarospeak Voxdox Voice Dream PDF to Speech Pro

Audible.com u

Huge library of Audiobooks

YouTube

vBooksz PDF Voice Reader Microsoft Text to Speech

Believe it or not, YouTube has a good collection of audiobooks available for free!

MacText to Speech Google Read and Write**

Massanutten Library and other libraries

*Can change the size and background of the text. Syncs to google drive, bookshare, Project Gutenberg and more ** Works very well in google docs

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JMU students can get a library card for free! It’s just a short walk from campus. u

Can even download audio books and eBooks for free online! u

Computers & Smar t Phones

OCR

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OCR is a technology that uses Optical Character Recognition to recognize the words on a PDF and convert them to an audio resource. This is helpful because PDFs can be scanned as pictures where the text is not recognized by an app.

Spotify

Running these PDFs through an OCR app allows the technology to read the words!

Loyal Books and Librivox

Free Public Domain Audiobooks & eBook Downloads

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iOS Text Fairy CamScanner Google Docs

Android

Computer

Free

Many computers, smart phones, tablets, and software already have text to speech software in their programs. Here are some of our favorites! u

Microsoft Text to Speech - an add-on for all Microsoft

products, that will read in the program. u

MacText to Speech

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VoiceOver - reads whatever is on the screen of your

computer or mobile device u

Text to Speech - reads text in books,

articles, news stories, etc. u

(Under Settings > Accessibility)

Hear it from the source!

Using Audio to Enhance Learning

Audiobooks and audio resources are great ways to study and learn. Here are some student testimonials!

“W hen l edit a paper for class, l’ll put it in Nat ural Reader and play it back.

Li s tening helps me catch er ror.”

“At the beg inning of the semester, l spend a couple of hours trying to f ig ure out where to f ind all of my class reading in audio. lt takes sometime, but it is so worthwhile!”

A resource for students and faculty

“l clean my room while listening to an audio novel or play. l focus bet ter when listening and doing some other task at the same time.” “l use capti so l can read with the tracking at a very fast speed. lt helps me keep focused!” “l use Natural Reader to listen to PDF’s and PowerPoints all the time!” “lf l read a page, l cannot tell you what it said, but if l listen to it, l can tell you all about it.” “l have concentration issues and having the extra stimulus from listening really helps!”

MSC 1009 738 S. Mason St. Office of Student Success Center DISABILITY SERVICES Harrisonburg, VA 22807 (540) 568-6705 Phone alt-media@jmu.edu Email www.jmu.edu/ods JMU 2016

OFFICE OF DISABILITY SERVICES