Library Services for Additional Needs

Free tools and browser support

Text-to-speech and reading support

Capti

Capti is a universally accessible literacy platform enabling and empowering students to keep up with reading, and develop active reading strategies.

• Upload or drag and drop files into your playlist.
• Plays ePub, html webpages, PDF and Word documents.
• You can adjust the background colour (includes a pale yellow).
• You can also switch to dyslexia font
• Download the app and use on your device

There is a Premium version which has more features. 

Kindle and Kindle app

Kindle app

• Use on iPhone or iPad
• eBooks (including those with narration) that you have purchased on Amazon will automatically appear in your app. 

​Readium

Chrome app: Readium is an Epub reader.

Drag and drop an ePub file into the window.

• You can adjust the background colour (includes a pale yellow).
• You can also switch to dyslexia font.
• If the file is an ePub3 (with audio media layer) there will also be a text-to-speech option.

Screen readers

NVDA

NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access) is a free screen reader enabling blind and low vision people to use computers.

Chrome Vox

Chrome extension: The ChromeVox screen reader is a screen reader extension for Chrome.  

Simple yet powerful navigation is easy to learn and quickly gets new users up to speed browsing web sites and web-based applications eyes-free.

Documentation is available at chromevox.com for the user guide, tutorial, keyboard shortcut and developer reference guides. 

​VoiceOver Apple

VoiceOver gives you auditory descriptions of each onscreen element on your Mac and provides helpful hints along the way.

Recording apps

Sonocent Audio Notetaker companion recorder

For iOS and Andoid.

Sonocent Recorder app can capture and record speech with your smartphone or tablet.

• take high-quality recordings
• highlight key moments in colour
• add images alongside your audio
• transfer your file to Sonocent Audio Notetaker

Please note files transferred from the app will be in a *.mran file format - these can be opened in Audio Notetaker which is only available in the Assistive Technology Centre on referral.

Speech-to-text

Type with your voice in Google Docs

Type with your Voice in Google Docs

• You need to also be using Google Chrome
• You can correct any mistakes and use voice commands to select text, format text and move around the document.

Voice Recognition

Chrome app:  Type with your voice turns Google Chrome into a speech recognition app to dictate documents, emails and essays without touching the keyboard.

• Uses Chrome's Local Storage to automatically save the transcriptions.
• Uses the Web Speech API of Chrome that is supported in all the newer release of Chrome browser including Google Chrome on Android.
• The app is integrated with Dropbox and Google Drive to help you easily export the transcribed text to your various online accounts.
• Alternatively, your can send the dictated text to any email address.

Dictation on Mac

Use your voice to enter text on your Mac. The Dictation feature converts your spoken words into text.

Dictate in Windows

Dictate text using Speech Recognition in Windows. You can use your voice to dictate text to your Windows PC.