There are many read-aloud apps, also known as text-to-speech apps. Not all are free. The library does not know these apps well enough to make a clear recommendation. However one free app that is worth investigating is NaturalReader.
Using NaturalReader with PDFs and Word documents
If the document you want to read is online, first download it. NaturalReader does not work so well with documents hosted on webpages.
Then go to NaturalReader.
From the Get Started drop-down menu in the top right-hand corner, choose Personal.
Go to Login / Signup at the foot of the left-hand menu. Create a free account if you have not yet done so.
Next choose Document from the left-hand menu, and then once more Document:
The play button now appears on a menu near the top of the screen. From this menu you can also change the reading voice from the icon on the left, and vary the speed:
There is a very limited range of voices available in the free version - only three, as of February 2025. These three are accessed as follows:
Using NaturalReader with webpages
The version of NaturalReader described above does not seem very reliable at reading webpages. It is probably better to install the extension for Chrome.
Once installed, you can activate NaturalReader via Chrome's extensions icon, in the top right-hand corner of the screen:
Once activated, a play button will appear on the right-hand side of the screen:
Help with NaturalReader
Go to the NaturalReader Help Center, or contact the library, for instance by emailing library@sia.edu.