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Read Out Loud Feature Needs Serious Improvement

Suggestions for this feature:
1. Add read out loud to the toolbar for easier access, including pause and play options.The read out loud feature is currently very inaccessible from the "view" drop down menu.
2. Allow user to choose where to start reading and stop reading by highlighting text, rather than the limited ability to only read full pages / the entire document
3. Upgrade voice - please consider adding a more adaptive voice to the program for read out loud. the system default is not pleasant for listening and we know the technology exists to have more advanced AI voices such as Google Assistant, Siri, and Alexa integrated into software.
4. Echoing another user - definitely highlight words / phrases being read aloud.

These suggestions are already standard features in many of my digital textbooks; however, the majority of my reading as a student consists of PDFs from scientific journals. As a college student with a visual impairment, I would really like to see these features be improved to meet today's technological standards and made more accessible to individuals with disabilities. I am planning on completing a five-year graduate program, and will be eagerly waiting for these improvements to be made.

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Gianna shared this idea  ·   ·  Report…  ·  Admin →
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Under review  ·  AdminRachit Jain (Software Engineer, Adobe) responded  · 

Hi,
Thanks for connecting with us. I went though all the requests suggested by you. I would like to inform you that :
For #1, Shortcut keys exist for Pause, Play like Ctrl+Shift+Y/V/B.
For #2, the feature is supported. Click on any paragraph after enabling Read Out Loud and it will read the paragraph. For specific content read, we have informed the management and have been kept in radar for future improvements.
For #3, you can add the voices though system language setting and the voices will be visible in Acrobat if they exists on system.
For $4, we have informed the management and have been kept in radar for future improvements.

Try the latest enhancements and features on the latest version of Acrobat Pro DC.

Thanks
Rachit

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  • Frederick Gragg commented  ·   ·  Report

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  • William Dannenmaier commented  ·   ·  Report

    Absolutely, amen. Why I can't click a tool - think of people with auditory and also mobility issues - what about them?

  • Brennan Young commented  ·   ·  Report

    The correct thing to do is to ditch "Read Aloud" entirely, and instead support semantic tags so that the reader feeds an accessibility tree to the host system's accessibility API.

    Then users can choose whatever assistive tech they prefer (or have to use, because of their particular disability).

    I have made a feature request about this. Please vote for it.

  • Cait K commented  ·   ·  Report

    Definitely agree with all of these suggestions. On my work computer I can only use Adobe Reader and it is frustrating how limiting the text to speech is when even minor modifications could make the tool so much more useful when someone can not access better programs.

  • GOAK - Grandfather Of All Knowledge commented  ·   ·  Report

    "4. Echoing another user - definitely highlight words / phrases being read aloud."

    this is the most sought after feature for a very very long time. I want it too. but since adobe is adamant on not providing the feature, I have stopped using adobe and use 'textaloud' instead.

    number 2 - this feature already exists.

    number 3 - this is not adobe's realm. you have to install third-part voices and good ones are not free. I am using 'salli' from 'ivona', its the best one I found.

    number 1 - good feature to add but highlighting text while reading aloud should be first priority for adobe.

  • John Brucato commented  ·   ·  Report

    Sounds like something that should be pursued immediately

  • Linda commented  ·   ·  Report

    I would add voice command for the visually impaired and a feature that would automatically remember where you left off. Yes to a better and more human sounding voice.