How to Get a Better Voice When You Listen to a Page

Why the voice depends on your device

The Listen button uses the voice already on your device. This site does not choose a voice and does not send you a recording. When you press Listen, your browser reads the page aloud with the voice your phone, tablet or computer uses by default for the language of the page: English on the English pages, French on the French pages.

So a better voice on your device means a better voice here. Most devices start with a small, basic voice. A clearer and more natural one is usually a free download in the settings, often labelled Enhanced, Premium or Natural. It takes a few minutes and some storage space, so download it over Wi-Fi.

The menu names below are the ones used by recent versions of each system. They can differ slightly from one version, or one phone maker, to the next. If a name does not match, type "voice" or "text-to-speech" in the search box at the top of your settings.

Why this site reads with your device's voice

Your device's voice is the one you already chose. Someone who has picked a particular voice for their phone, a slower one, a Canadian one, a man's or a woman's, hears that same voice here. The page does not override that choice.

It keeps the page light and private. No audio file is downloaded and nothing is recorded. The words on the page are read by the software that is already on your device, the same software it uses for its own accessibility features.

It stays current. When the page is updated, the reading is updated with it, because the voice reads the text that is on the page today rather than a recording made on an earlier date.

Choosing between the voices on offer

Listen before you download. Most settings screens let you play a short sample of each voice. Choose the one you can listen to for twenty minutes without effort; the right voice is the one that does not tire you.

Compact, Enhanced and Premium are sizes as well as qualities. A compact voice is small and always available. An Enhanced voice is larger and clearer. A Premium voice is the largest and the most natural, and it may need several hundred megabytes of storage, so keep only the ones you use.

For the French pages, look for a French (Canada) voice. A voice from France reads French pages correctly, but a Canadian French voice will sound more familiar to a reader in Quebec, New Brunswick or elsewhere in Canada.

Comfortable listening

Pause and resume at any time. The Listen button becomes Pause while the page is being read, and Resume when it is paused. The square Stop button ends the reading, and the next press of Listen starts again from the top.

Keep the page open while it reads. Some phones and browsers pause the voice when you switch to another app or lock the screen. If the reading stops, return to the page and press Resume.

Screen readers work separately. If you use VoiceOver, TalkBack or Narrator, they read the whole page with their own settings, including the menus and buttons. The Listen button reads only the article itself, from the title down.

iPhone and iPad

1. Open Settings, then Accessibility, then Spoken Content.
2. Tap Voices, then English. For the French pages, go back and tap French as well.
3. Choose a voice marked Enhanced or Premium, and tap the download icon beside it. Premium voices sound the most natural and take the most space.
4. When the download is finished, tap that voice so that it is selected.
5. Return to Safari, reload the page and press Listen.

Mac

1. Open the Apple menu, then System Settings, then Accessibility, then Spoken Content.
2. Open the System voice menu and choose Manage Voices.
3. Select the language, English or French, and tick a voice marked Enhanced or Premium to download it.
4. Back in the System voice menu, choose the voice you downloaded.
5. Close and reopen Safari or Chrome, reload the page and press Listen.

Android phones and tablets

1. Open Settings, then Accessibility, then Text-to-speech output. On some phones, Samsung for example, it sits under General management instead.
2. Under Preferred engine, choose Speech Services by Google.
3. Tap the settings icon beside the engine, then Install voice data.
4. Choose English (Canada) or another English, and French (Canada) for the French pages. Pick a voice, download it, and press Play to hear it.
5. Return to Chrome, reload the page and press Listen.

Windows computers

1. Open Settings, then Time & language, then Speech.
2. Under Manage voices, choose Add voices and add English (Canada) or another English, and French (Canada) for the French pages.
3. Under Voices, choose the voice you want Windows to use by default.
4. Close and reopen Microsoft Edge or Chrome, reload the page and press Listen.

Microsoft Edge also has its own Read aloud feature, in the page menu or with the keys Ctrl, Shift and U pressed together. It reads any page with Microsoft's natural online voices and is a good alternative on a Windows computer.

If the voice does not change

Check that the voice matches the page. The English pages use your English voice and the French pages use your French voice. A voice downloaded for one language does not change the other.

Close the browser completely and open it again. A browser reads the list of voices when it starts, so a voice added while it was open may not appear until the next start.

Try the device's own browser. Safari on Apple devices, Chrome on Android, and Edge or Chrome on Windows read with the voices installed in the device settings. Some other browsers offer fewer voices.

Older devices and shared computers

An older device may offer fewer voices. If your phone or computer no longer receives system updates, the Enhanced and Premium voices may not appear in its settings. The compact voice still reads every page, and the reading speed buttons still work with it.

On a shared computer, the voice belongs to the account. Each person who signs in to Windows or to a Mac with their own account chooses their own voice, so a voice you download under your account does not change anyone else's.

Reading speed

Beside the Listen button there are two buttons, minus and plus. The speed between them is shown in words a minute. Normal speed is 150 words a minute in English and a little slower in French, because French sentences are longer. Each press moves one step, from half speed to double speed, and your choice is remembered on that device for the next page you listen to.