Text-to-Speech with Synchronized Highlighting

Elbro, C., Rasmussen, I., & Spelling, B. (1996). Teaching reading to disabled readers with language disorders: A controlled evaluation of synthetic speech feedback. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 37(2), 140-155.

Students in grades 2–6 with reading and language disabilities read with text-to-speech support daily for 40 days. Words were presented broken into visual and auditory segments (by syllable or letter names), and students had to attempt their own pronunciation before clicking on the word and hearing the word pronounced. The intervention had a significant remedial effect.

NOTE: This article also appears in the references for Decoding.

Hecker, L., Burns, L., & Elkind, J. (2002). Benefits of assistive reading software for students with attention disorders. Annals of Dyslexia, 52, 243-272.

Post-secondary students with attention disorders took reading rate and comprehension tests with and without the use of Kurzweil 3000, a software product that offers reading supports, including text-to-speech with dual-highlighting (sentence-, paragraph-, line-, or phrase-level highlighting in one color and synchronized word highlighting in another color). Results suggest that some students, specifically those with poor baseline reading skills, may read faster and comprehend better when using the software.

Montali, J., & Lewandowski, L. (1996). Bimodal reading: Benefits of a talking computer for average and less skilled readers. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 29(3), 271-279.

Reading comprehension of average and below average readers in grades 8 and 9 was compared under three conditions: reading with text-to-speech, reading on-screen without text-to-speech, and listening to the passage read by digitized voice. Below average readers in the bimodal condition outperformed peers reading onscreen without text-to-speech or just listening to the passage, while above average readers in the bimodal condition outperformed peers in the auditory condition.

Pisha, B., & Coyne, P. (2001). Jumping off the page: Content area curriculum for the Internet age. Reading Online, 5(4). http://www.readingonline.org/articles/pisha/.

This qualitative research study investigated students' use of a digitized, supported history text chapter with reading supports including optional synthetic text-to-speech with synchronous word, sentence-, or paragraph-level highlighting. Not all readers used the text-to-speech with highlighting, but weaker readers reported that they liked the feature. In addition, several other readers reported that they used the highlighting without the text-to-speech to self-pace or locate where they left off in the text.

NOTE: This article also appears in the references for Universal Design for Learning.