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Listening to your chapter with Read Aloud, natural voices and pronunciations

Read Aloud in Pendrilo Studio reads your chapter out loud, so you can hear how it sounds. It doesn't change your book. It's useful for finding clumsy rhythm, repeated words and dialogue that doesn't sound like speech.

Start reading a chapter

  • 1. Open the chapter you want to hear.
  • 2. Click Listen in the top bar, or choose View → Read Aloud….
  • 3. Put the cursor where you want to start.
  • 4. Click Read.

While the chapter is read:

  • The sentence being read is highlighted, and the page follows along.
  • Click Pause to stop, and Resume to carry on from the same sentence.
  • Click ‹ Back or Next › to step to the sentence before or after.
  • Click Stop to end reading.

Change how it reads

These settings are in the Read Aloud window:

  • Highlight each sentence: when this is ticked, the voice reads one sentence at a time, so your eye can follow along. Untick it to read whole paragraphs, which can sound smoother.
  • Speed: sets how fast the voice reads, from 0.6× to 1.6×.
  • Voice: chooses who reads. Click Hear It to play a short sample before you choose.

Use a natural voice

Besides the voices your computer already has, Studio offers 13 natural voices in American and British English. They sound more like a person reading your book. They run on your computer, so your words never leave it.

The natural voices are a one-time download:

  • 1. In Read Aloud, click Get Natural Voices.
  • 2. The window shows the exact download size and a progress bar. Click Cancel to stop the download.
  • 3. When the download finishes, choose a natural voice and click Read.

The first sentence may take a moment, while the window says "Getting the voice ready…". After that, the voice keeps ahead of you.

If a natural voice can't say a sentence, Studio skips over that sentence and tells you. If the voice stops responding, click Read to try again, or choose one of your computer's voices.

Teach the voice how to say a name

If the voice says a name wrong, you can teach it the correct pronunciation:

  • 1. In Read Aloud, click + Pronunciations to open the list.
  • 2. Click + Add a Word.
  • 3. Under As written, type the word exactly as it appears in your book, such as Siobhan.
  • 4. Under As said, spell the word the way it should sound, such as Shivawn.

The pronunciation list changes only what is read aloud. It never changes the text of your book. Pronunciations are saved with the book, so they're still there the next time you listen.

Related

Read Aloud works on the chapter you have open in the Write workspace. If you want to check how the text looks on the printed page as well, use the page preview in the Format tab.