Member Avatar for JasonPS

Hi all, I'd like your thoughts and recommendation.

I'm currently thinking of switching from Windows 7 to Ubuntu, I'm new to UB/linux and have a series of package that I use all the time. I know that I can get libreoffice to replace MSOffice and some like for likes; where I'm stuck though is the following:

  • I use texthelp - Read Write Gold 11 for reading my documents back to me (I'm dyslexic and so need something to read what I've written)

any advice for a good, natural text reader that reads OO text back would be appreciated.

Thank you all for any contributions
:)

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by mike_2000_17

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Short practical summary for and anyone switching to Ubuntu who needs a natural-sounding reader for LibreOffice documents.

A simple, integrated way to read selected Writer text is to install the Read Text LibreOffice/OpenOffice extension and point it at whatever speech engine you prefer (system TTS or a local neural TTS server). The extension can call the system speech manager or a local network TTS (Mimic3/Coqui) so you can start with the small, built‑in voices and later try higher-quality local models. Install via Tools → Extension Manager in LibreOffice and pick the Read Text extension. (extensions.openoffice.org)

If you want system-wide reading (not just inside LibreOffice), GNOME’s Orca screen reader speaks desktop text and uses Speech Dispatcher to drive different synthesizers; that gives you keyboard control and consistent behaviour across apps. For ad-hoc GUI playback, try Gespeaker (a GTK front‑end) to test voices, speeds and MBROLA/SVOX/Pico engines quickly. A quick terminal sanity check is possible with the Speech Dispatcher client (spd-say "testing"). (gnome.pages.gitlab.gnome.org)

Which voices sound most “natural”? Free offline options range from Pico/MBROLA (good clarity) to modern local neural engines (Mycroft Mimic3, Coqui TTS) if you’re willing to install models; Read Text already documents how to use those servers. If cloud/premium voices are acceptable, browser tools like Texthelp’s Read&Write for Chrome give very natural playback across documents and web pages. (extensions.openoffice.org)

Practical tips: start with a short selection, test with spd-say or a GUI like Gespeaker, then switch engines in the Read Text dialog. If nothing plays, confirm sound settings and that Speech Dispatcher (or the local TTS server) is running. As and pointed out, Ubuntu already has multiple TTS paths — use Read Text to connect LibreOffice to the one that sounds best for you.

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Member Avatar for Hiroshe

Using google. Good place to start.

Member Avatar for rubberman

Linux GUI's have a number of tools for assisting disabled persons (visually impaired, etc). There are definitely which will read back text as audio that you can use. I don't know offhand what they are, but as Hiroshe said, Google is your friend! :-)

Member Avatar for JasonPS

Thanks both, I did find something called festival but don't know anything about this and is it free?

Member Avatar for Hiroshe

Thanks both, I did find something called festival but don't know anything about this and is it free?

Look it up! The first link on google gave me this. It tells you how to install it right there, so why not just give it a try and find out?

You'll quickly learn how to tell free software apart from non-free.

Member Avatar for mike_2000_17

The standard utility in Ubuntu for text-to-speech is called "espeak", which comes pre-installed with it (but I think you have to install the GUI front-end if you want to use it directly, but espeak is integrated already into other applications like text editors or pdf viewers).

I have used Festival before and it works very well, except that it was a bit hard to get it properly setup, at least, as I remember it.

Under KDE (e.g., Kubuntu), the system-wide text-to-speech utility is called Jovie, which I have also tested and works quite well, and it's pre-installed, you just have to flip a few configuration switches to add the toolbar / pop-up menu buttons for it in most KDE applications. I would imagine that espeak is as easy if not easier than Jovie to use, install and/or enable.

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