If you have Siri envy or if you’re just tired of reading website text, you might want to turn your attention towards Chrome (if you haven’t already). Chrome’s text-to-speech extension option makes it possible for you to sit back and relax while Chrome reads a website to you. You can’t ask Chrome to perform tasks or schedule meetings, but you can give your eyes a break.

Chrome text-to-speech is especially useful for those who are visually impaired. The sound coming from Chrome’s extension is decent, and it’s easy to set up this option. If you need text-to-speech for whatever reason, you’ll find that this extension is a lifesaver. To begin, you’ll need to set up Chrome on your computer if you don’t already use this browser.

Finding the Extension

Head to the Google Web Store, and look for the Chrome Speak extension. By clicking on the headphones icon, you can set the speed of this program (if you don’t want to extension to speak super fast, drag the speed button to the left). Once Chrome Speak has been set up, all you have to do is find a website that you want Chrome to read to you. Chrome won’t read a whole site unless you ask it to, which might make using this extension somewhat difficult for those who are blind.

However, if you are able to, you can select a section of text for Chrome to read (you can also select a whole webpage if you are so inclined). As soon as a portion of text has been highlighted, all you have to do is right-click on that highlighted text and select “read.” Then, make sure that your volume button is turned up high enough, and sit back while Chrome reads the text to you.

Useful For Various Purposes

This extension will be of great use to people who must correct papers or edit text regularly. Instead of reading through text meticulously, it’s simple to pick out what’s right from wrong while listening to Chrome speak. As might be expected, Chrome does stumble on some words and some words may be pronounced strangely, but you can get the gist of the word by listening closely.

Chrome Speak is also a very useful writing tool. You can’t make Chrome type for you, but you can sit back and listen to a first draft of any text. This will make it simpler to discover whether what you’ve written is gold or simply fluff. If you have a blog, I suggest using this extension to go over your latest blog post. You’ll find that picking up on sentences that don’t make sense is simple to do with Chrome Speak.

Free and Clear

Chrome Speak is free to use for all. This extension is also available right now, so all you have to do to use Chrome Speak is to follow the instructions listed above. As soon as you get the hang of Chrome Speak, I’m betting that you use this extension more than you may think you will. Also, consider how much easier it will be for those elderly folks you know to use this extension when compared to reading small website text.