essay for reading aloud

Essay Reader: Online Text-to-Speech Tool

If you’re a college or high school student, you might constantly struggle with writing assignments. Whether it is homework or a task in the classroom, you can use the essay reading tool to write a better paper.

❓ Essay Reader: How to Use

• 🤔 Why Using the Tool?
• 💬 Reading out Loud Strategies
• 🔍 References

Essay readers are a part of assistive technology. You might be wondering how this online text speech tool works. So, here’s how to use it.

• Paste your essay to the window. Copy your essay sample (or a part of it) and paste it into the window. Our essay reader allows you to insert up to 5,000 characters at once.
• Choose the preferable voice. We have different variations of voices to read your essay. The options include choosing between male and female voices, picking the timbre, and setting the reading speed.
• Press the “READ MY ESSAY” button. Once you’ve clicked it, the tool will read your text for you.
• New essay. In case you want to listen to one more essay, press the button below. Alternatively, you can download the audio for the current text using the according link.

🤔 Why Using Our Essay Reader?

How does reading out loud benefit your essay? Reading something aloud makes the text appear differently in our minds. We can see it from different perspectives and identify what is lacking. Most people are used to hearing and pronouncing English rather than reading and writing it.

First, there might be typos or mistakes that are hard to identify. Although we don’t intend it, we might also miss a word or write it twice. If we look through the text, we tend to skip those mistakes. On the other hand, if you read it out loud, you’ll easily spot them.

It is also easier to check your paper’s readability if you read it aloud. Sometimes the sentences and the paragraphs are too long and complicated, which makes them hard to understand. Reading them out loud can help to fix the format, style and make your paper readable.

Your essay should make sense overall. If your essay is very informative or complicated, you might be focusing on delivering your points rather than its readability . So, check if your transitions from topic to topic are smooth and if your explanations make sense by reading them aloud.

Let’s find out how you can use our free essay reader to make your paper even better!

💬 Reading out Loud: 7 Best Strategies

If you have already tried reading the paper out loud but still don’t identify all the mistakes or typos, you probably have been doing it wrongly. Our mind tends to correct minor errors naturally. We gathered these strategies that you can follow for the best result.

• Try reading from a printed copy. It is easier to make notes by hand on a printed copy. These notes can help identify the most crucial parts of your paper so that you can spend more time on them.
• Follow the text by pointing at it. Following the text as you read helps to concentrate. Reading significant amounts of texts, you might quickly lose focus. By following the text pointing at it with your finger, you can also focus on grammar.
• Don’t read too fast. Try not to hurry while reading. The faster you read, the more mistakes our brain misses. Slow reading doesn’t mean spending more time. If you read fast, you might need to reread the same passage several times. So, slow reading can save you time.
• Read from the end to start. If you want to focus on scanning your essay for mistakes and typos, try reading from the end so you won’t focus on the whole paper but each sentence.
• Cover everything except for the passage you’re working on. If you still find it hard to concentrate on reading your paper, try covering the parts you are not working on at the moment. That can help you concentrate on a specific passage.
• Ask someone to read for you. Another option you can use is to ask someone to read it aloud. Another person can take a look at it from another perspective. Since you are the one who is working on the paper, you might get used to it and not see something others see. Try to make notes as they read it for you.
• Use technology. Technology helps us with our studying a lot these days. There are online timers, graders, grammar correctors, etc. If you don’t want to bother others, you can use text-to-speech technology to read the essay for you. It has a list of advantages. First, unlike humans, it doesn’t miss any mistakes. You can also control the speed, the number of reading times, and where to start or to finish.

Online Text-to-Speech Tool: How to Choose?

Here’s what you should take into account when choosing an online tool:

• Speed control. Can you adjust the speed or pause the reader? It may be crucial, especially if your text is long.
• Voice. Can you choose between the voices? Don’t they sound robotic? You can also switch between the voices so that you won’t get tired of listening to it several times.
• Text control. How does the software work? Can you upload the documents? Can you highlight the crucial parts?
• Accessibility. Does it work offline? Do you need to download and install it?
• Tool speed. How long do you need to wait to hear the result? What’s the volume of an essay that the tool can convert at once?

If you are wondering, “Where can I have an essay read to me?” you can check our essay reader out for free and see if it’s suitable for you!

✏️ Online Text-to-Speech Tool: FAQ

• You can spot typos, misspellings, and mistakes.
• You can check the paper’s readability.
• You can see if it is informative.

Try our essay reader to listen to your essay for free!

Updated: Oct 25th, 2023

🔗 References

• Teaching Techniques: Reading Aloud Artfully! | Scholastic
• 7 Powerful Public Speaking Tips From One of the Most-Watched TED Talks Speakers
• 10 Tips for Reading Aloud with Children
• What Are the Benefits of Reading Aloud? An Instructional
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The tool available here is designed to turn any text into speech. You can choose the voice type and its timbre to make it sound just the way you like. The tool can be useful for when you need to know how long it will take to red through your speech, how it sounds live, or when you need a quick voiceover.

The Power of Vocalization: 6 Ways Reading Aloud Improves Learning

Discover how reading aloud can help you improve your learning, comprehension, and memory, as well as your language proficiency and communication skills.

• By Paul Holt
• Oct 4, 2023

E-student.org is supported by our community of learners. When you visit links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

When it comes to effective learning techniques, we often forget about some of the simplest yet most powerful tools we have. Reading aloud, which we typically associate with children’s story time, is one of these frequently overlooked tools, particularly in adult education. But the truth is that reading aloud, whether from textbooks, novels, or class notes, has a powerful effect on how we understand and remember information. In this article, we will delve into the science and practice of reading aloud, shedding light on its unrealized potential to improve comprehension and learning.

Table of Contents

The history and science of reading aloud.

Reading aloud has a rich history in human culture, dating back centuries before the widespread availability of written materials. In the past, knowledge and stories were primarily transmitted orally, aiding in the development of languages and the preservation of cultural traditions. Surprisingly, ancient languages frequently used the words “to cry out” or “to listen” in place of the word “to read,” emphasizing the vocal and interactive nature of reading.

Despite its place in history, reading aloud has become less popular in today’s fast-paced society due to its comparatively slower pace and the multisensory engagement it requires. Nonetheless, it is important to recognize that reading aloud still holds tremendous opportunity for boosting learning. To shed light on this potential, let’s delve into some scientific insights.

Scientific research supports the value of reading aloud. We can now see the brain in action while reading aloud and silently , thanks to new monitoring technology. When we read, different brain regions collaborate : the temporal lobe deciphers sounds and language, the occipital-temporal region stores word meanings, the parietal-temporal region dissects words into sounds, and the frontal lobe generates speech sounds, aids pronunciation, and supports grammar.

Reading aloud amplifies this cognitive activity by engaging multiple senses simultaneously. It enhances comprehension and retention, as research in cognitive psychology has demonstrated .

Essentially, vocalizing text goes beyond visual processing and provides a rich cognitive experience. By generating vivid mental images and auditory memories that aid recall , reading aloud promotes deeper learning and memory enhancement.

What are the actual benefits of reading aloud?

Research has shown that we can benefit from several learning and personal development from the simple act of reading aloud. Let us examine these benefits in greater detail to show why this method is a useful addition to your learning toolkit.

1. Reading aloud aids memory retention

Reading aloud offers this major advantage: it boosts memory retention. Memory is a complex process that involves multiple brain regions, and vocalization can play an important role in improving it.

When you read silently, you engage mainly with visual and linguistic memory aspects. However, vocalizing text adds auditory memory engagement – your ability to remember sounds, like your voice reading the text. This creates two distinct memory traces : one related to visual processing and the other to auditory processing.

This redundancy increases the likelihood of remembering the information later. If one memory trace weakens, the other serves as a backup, ensuring knowledge retention. Reading aloud broadens neural connections associated with the material, which strengthens memory.

Moreover, reading aloud often involves repetition, further enhancing memory . Repeatedly reading the same information strengthens neural pathways, making it easier to recall, whether for exams, discussions, or presentations.

These memory benefits also extend beyond academics, proving valuable in professional contexts where recalling facts, figures, and details is essential. Whether preparing for a presentation, client meeting, or job interview, reading aloud can provide a memory advantage.

2. Reading aloud promotes active engagement

One challenge in learning is passive reading, in which we skim through the material without real engagement, leading to shallow understanding and weak retention . Reading aloud changes this by making reading more dynamic and participatory.

When you read out loud, you naturally pay closer attention. It actively engages your mind, forcing you to process information deeply. This enhances comprehension by making you interact with the information. Educators use techniques like SQ3R and PQ4R , emphasizing purposeful reading and active engagement. Both include a “Recite” phase in which you articulate what you have read in order to strengthen your understanding of the text.

Reading aloud turns passive reading into an active process . It transforms you from a passive receiver into an engaged learner, greatly enhancing how you understand and remember the learning material.

3. Reading aloud helps with language acquisition

The benefits of reading aloud are particularly evident when learning a new language, a complex process involving grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and intonation. A major obstacle to learning a language is accurate pronunciation, which is frequently made more difficult by new sounds and tones. One effective strategy for overcoming these difficulties is to read aloud.

When you are learning a new language, reading aloud helps you become familiar with the unique sounds and intonations of the language , so you do not feel lost when you hear native speakers. It is similar to practicing correct pronunciation by speaking correctly . Plus, it allows you to pick up on the natural rhythm and flow of the language, making your speech sound more authentic. Reading aloud also helps you learn new words in real contexts, showing you how they fit into sentences. When you read aloud, you actually get a two-for-one deal: it improves your listening skills by helping you understand what you hear, and it improves your speaking skills by allowing you to express yourself more effectively.

The Pimsleur method , a well-known language learning strategy that emphasizes vocalization and repetition heavily, serves as a prime example of the value of reading aloud in language acquisition. Through audio exercises that require learners to listen to native speakers and respond in the target language, individuals enhance their speaking and listening skills significantly. This vocalization-based technique is essential in language acquisition since silent reading alone falls short of achieving precise pronunciation and fluency.

Consider learning French, known for its difficult pronunciation. Reading French text aloud enhances pronunciation, intonation, rhythm, and vocabulary. As a result, the learner becomes more comfortable with real-world linguistic patterns, which helps them master the language and have more natural conversations with native speakers.

4. Reading aloud improves public speaking

Reading aloud is a great way to get better at public speaking. When you regularly read aloud, you improve your pronunciation, the way you say words, and your speaking clarity – all of which are crucial when you are speaking to a crowd. It also assists you in developing a natural rhythm and tone when speaking, which makes your speeches more interesting. Furthermore, the more you read aloud, the more comfortable you become speaking in front of others, and that boosts your confidence in public speaking.

5. Reading aloud creates personal connection to the text

When you read aloud, you are not merely following a script. You are adding your emotions and expressions to the mix. Whether you are telling a story, giving a speech, or talking about something, the way you convey feelings through your voice makes a real difference. It makes the material more interesting and helps you connect with your material , as well as your audience, if you have any, on a deeper level.

Reading aloud is like having a personal conversation with the text as if you are developing a special bond with what you are reading. This personal bond can increase your appreciation for literature and make reading more enjoyable and meaningful.

6. Reading aloud reduces stress

Reading aloud can be quite relaxing and beneficial for reducing stress . When you vocalize text, it is like a form of mindfulness that brings your attention to the here and now. This can be really helpful, especially when you’re dealing with tough study sessions. It gives your mind a break and eases tension.

And even if we’re not putting it under its own heading, reading aloud is simply enjoyable in its own right!

Eight practical tips for reading aloud

Let’s explore some practical tips to make this technique an integral part of your learning routine and maximize your brain’s engagement with what you’re studying. 

• Create a quiet, distraction-free study space.
• Read at a comfortable pace, focusing on clear pronunciation and understanding.
• Add emotion to your reading to make it more personal and memorable.
• If reading in a foreign language, practice mimicking the natural rhythm and intonation of native speakers.
• Interact with the text, use gestures, or take notes as you read.
• Reflect on what you have read and summarize it in your own words.
• Try recording your reading sessions to identify areas for improvement (particularly useful if trying to improve your public speaking).
• Consider forming a study group where you take turns reading aloud to each other.

Keep in mind that reading aloud is a skill that gets better with practice, so be persistent in your efforts. As you continue to read aloud, you will not only enhance your learning but also boost your confidence in your language and public speaking proficiency.

Reading aloud in the digital age

The digital age has breathed new life into the age-old practice of reading aloud. Several digital mediums have emerged that offer new ways to experience spoken content. These technological and social advancements make listening and reading aloud more accessible and engaging for a wide range of audiences. However, most of these new methods primarily focus on listening to narration rather than reading aloud.

Audiobooks have become a modern staple for enjoying literature. They offer the convenience of listening to skilled narrators who bring books to life with expressive voices. This format allows for multitasking, making it accessible for busy individuals, and is inclusive for people with visual impairments. Skilled narrators enhance the listening experience by adding depth and emotion to stories, often accompanied by sound effects and music.

To get the most out of them, get hold of the print version of the book or use audiobook formats, such as Audible’s immersion reading , that allow you to follow along in the text, offering an extra layer of engagement for those who prefer this method. Consider taking over from the narrator now and again and read a section yourself.

Podcasts have become hugely popular, offering spoken content on a wide range of topics. Many podcasts include readings of articles, essays, or stories, essentially bringing reading aloud to the digital world. They are also easily accessible on platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts , providing convenience and flexibility for listeners to tune in whenever and wherever.

Additionally, podcasts often create a sense of community by fostering discussions and interactions among listeners, making the experience even more engaging.

While podcasts are mainly used for listening –  boosting your auditory memory – they are also an excellent medium for exposing new language learners to native speakers’ natural speech patterns. And to get yourself reading aloud, check out these interactive podcasts .

Voice Assistants

Voice assistants like Siri , Alexa , and Google Assistant have made it easier to listen to texts. They can read text aloud, significantly helping people with visual impairments and those looking for a hands-free reading experience. While the quality can never compare to a professional narrator reading an audiobook, you can, on the other hand, have them read any text you come across.

But how can you get out of the passive mode with voice assistants and engage more of your brain to boost your learning? Try switching the tables and read aloud to the voice assistants instead. To make it more interesting, ask the assistant to transcribe what you’re reading and then compare it with the actual text – that may just prompt you to work on your enunciation!

Reading aloud unlocks benefits for effective learning, whether it is for academic success, language improvement, or simply enjoying a book. Vocalization enriches your learning journey, and consistency and mindfulness are essential. Make it a habit, approach each session with intention, and you will enjoy enhanced comprehension, improved memory, and a deeper connection with the material. You can choose whether to read aloud or silently, but given all these benefits, reading aloud is undoubtedly worth a try.

Give it a shot now – go over this article again, but this time, read it aloud!

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Reading Aloud

What this handout is about.

This handout explains some of the benefits of hearing your writing read aloud. It offers tips on reading your draft yourself, asking a friend to read it to you, or having it read by a text-to-speech program or app.

Why read out loud?

If you come to the Writing Center for a tutoring session, you will probably hear your tutor say, “We always read papers out loud—would you like to read yours, or would you like to hear me read it?” Reading aloud has many benefits that we want to share with writers. Most people have far more experience listening to and speaking English than they do reading and editing it on the printed page. When you read your draft out loud or listen to someone else read it, your brain gets the information in a new way, and you may notice things that you didn’t see before.

As listeners, we need the order of ideas in a paper to make sense. We can’t flip back and forth from page to page to try to figure out what is going on or find information we need. When you hear your paper read out loud, you may recognize that you need to re-order the information in it or realize that there are gaps in your explanation. Listeners also need transitions to help us get from one main idea to the next. When you hear your paper, you may recognize places where you have moved from one topic to another too abruptly.

You may also hear errors in your sentences. Sometimes we leave out a word, mess things up as we copy and paste text, or make a grammatical mistake. These kinds of errors can be hard to see on the page, but sentences that contain them are very likely to sound wrong. For native speakers of English (and some non-native speakers, too), reading out loud is one of the most powerful proofreading techniques around.

Sometimes sentences aren’t grammatically incorrect, but they are still awkward in some way—too long, too convoluted, too repetitive. Problems like these are often easily heard. Hearing your paper can also help you get a sense of whether the tone is right. Does it sound too formal? Too chatty or casual? What kind of impression will your voice in this paper make on a reader? Sometimes hearing your words helps you get a more objective sense of the impression you are creating—listening puts in you in something more like the position your reader will be in as he/she moves through your text.

What are some strategies for reading out loud?

Reading your paper out loud has a lot of benefits, but it presents a few challenges, too. One issue is that a lot depends on how you read. It is very easy to read too quickly or to let your brain automatically “smooth over” mistakes, fill in missing words, and make little corrections without you ever becoming consciously aware that it’s happening. If you don’t read exactly what is on the printed page, you won’t get an accurate sense of what is in your paper. Here are some strategies to help you read out loud effectively:

• Try working from a printed copy. This will allow you to make marks at places where something sounds wrong to you so you can return to them later.
• As you read, follow along with your finger, pointing at each word. This can help you stay focused and not skip anything.
• Try to read at a moderate pace.
• If you are proofreading, consider reading your paper out loud one sentence at a time, starting at the end and working back to the beginning. This will help you focus on the structure of each sentence, rather than on the overall flow of your argument.
• Try covering up everything but the section or sentence you are working on at the moment so you can concentrate on it and not get lost.

Another great strategy to try is to ask a friend to read your paper out loud while you listen. Make sure that your friend knows to read exactly what is on the printed page. Pay close attention to places where your friend seems to stumble or get lost—those may be places where you need to make things clearer for your readers. As your friend is speaking, you can jot notes on a printed copy of the paper. You don’t have to be in the same room to do this—you could email a copy of your paper to your friend and ask him/her to call you and read to you over the phone.

How can technology help?

You don’t necessarily need to recruit a friend to read to you. There are a number of text-to-speech software applications and web-based services that will help you get your computer, smartphone, tablet, or e-book reader to read your paper out loud to you. One advantage of this approach is that an automated reader will definitely not cover up any errors for you! You can also control where it starts and stops, speed it up or slow it down, and have it re-read the same paragraph as many times as you want.

If you decide to experiment with this approach, there are many free text readers available. MS Word has a text-to-speech feature built in. Recent Android and iOS phones also have text-to-speech capabilities, which you can find under accessibility settings. You may also find text-to-speech software among your Windows or Mac computer’s accessibility features.

If you decide you want to acquire specialized software, “text to speech,” “TTS,” and “text reader” are search terms that can help you find what is available.

Here are some differences to keep in mind as you choose the best reader for you:

• Voice quality and selection: how many voices can you choose from, and how natural do they sound?
• Controls: can you determine the speed and pitch of the speaker, where the reading starts and stops, etc.? Is there a pause button?
• Applicability:  can you convert your text file into an audio file, download it, and listen to it on your phone or music player?
• Text handling:  does the software highlight each word as it is read (which may be especially helpful for non-native English speakers and students with reading/writing disabilities)? Do you need to copy text and paste it into a new window, or can the program work directly within an application (like Word or Powerpoint), or does it just read the text on your screen?
• Speed:  how many pages of text or words can be converted to voice at once? How quickly does the conversion happen?
• Type of program:  do you need an active internet connection to use the program, or can you run it without internet access once it has been installed?

While synthetic voices continue to improve, they will likely not sound completely natural to you. But you may find that if you choose a favorite voice, you can get used to its intonation and pacing over time.

I feel kind of silly doing this…

Reading aloud (or listening to your writing being read) takes some getting used to, but give it a try. You may be surprised at how much it can speed up your revision process!

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Essay Reader: A Free Tool for Reading Your Essay out Loud

This Essay Reader tool will help you listen to your papers for free!

• Paste a text into the window . Paste not more than 4500 characters at once.
• Choose the voice . You can pick the voice and adjust the reading speed in the menu.
• Press the Play button . If you want to take a break, pause the reading, then click “Continue” to resume.
• Click the Download button to save the audio file . The tool instantly generates a recording with the chosen voice and speed.

🗨️ What Is the Essay Reader?

🎁 benefits of reading aloud.

• 👉 Reasons to Use the Essay Reader

❓ Essay Reader FAQ

🖇️ references.

The Text-to-Speech Tool (TTS) converts written text into audible speech. It uses natural language processing to break the input into distinct words and a synthesized voice to read the piece aloud. The synthesized voice consists of pre-recorded sounds with a set of rules that put them together. It allows producing the speech in a natural sounding form.

We recommend using the tool to:

• Individuals with dyslexia, learning disabilities, visual impairments, or other disabilities.
• Students who are preparing for exams and don’t have much time to read.
• Researchers who need to digest large amounts of information.
• Non-native speakers who need to get used to the language flow and intonations.
• Those who simply prefer listening to reading.

Reading aloud helps to strengthen literacy, promote comprehension, and develop a love of reading. It also improves fluency and expands vocabulary. When students read their texts aloud, they can better hear themselves and their mistakes. Below we explain how our free Essay Reader will benefit your English .

Assistance in Proofreading

While listening to the text, we may notice errors we miss while reading silently. As the speaking pace is much slower than your reading pace, you have more time to notice mistakes. Also, your text can sound completely different in your head and real life.

Here are some writing mistakes that you can spot while reading aloud:

• Wrong wording . You will instantly hear an odd word, even if it seemed nice when you wrote it.
• Missing points . When you read aloud, you can notice the gaps that must be filled to complete the text .
• Flaws in logic . Reading aloud will help you challenge your assumptions and conclusions. You can notice an argument that lacks support or the need for more profound research.
• Wrong emphasis . Your word choice or tone might not highlight your main points. The problem might lie in the vocabulary, sentence length, or the wrong word order.
• Poor pacing and rhythm . You might notice that you sound robotic if your sentences have the same length and structure.

Memory & Focus Development

Reading aloud is beneficial for studying because it helps improve comprehension and memory retention . It makes abstract concepts more specific and helps to break down large chunks of text into smaller, more manageable pieces.

• Reading aloud engages auditory senses , which can make learning more enjoyable. Use multiple methods of remembering information to improve your memory.
• This is an efficient tool for students with dominating auditory learning styles. It allows them to focus and remember better while listening.
• It also helps you learn a foreign language. When we listen to a native speaker, we learn to imitate their pronunciation. You can record yourself and compare it to the text produced by our tool.

👉 Why Use Our Free Essay Reader?

Our text-to-speech tool has several benefits you can take advantage of:

• The tool is free . Use it as much as you want with no limit.
• It has customization options . For a better user experience, we offer different voices and reading speeds.
• The text-to-speech tool helps proofread your texts . Using the tool is much easier than recording yourself. You also don’t need to ask anyone for help.
• It helps you study effortlessly . Use the tool to practice English . Download the recordings to listen to them anytime and anywhere.
• You don’t need to download anything to use the tool . It is a 100% online tool available on the web or smartphone. You only need Internet access.

❓ How to Read an Essay?

You can print your paper to improve the experience and use an index finger to follow what you read steadily. To notice the flaws you might have missed while reading, ask somebody to read your paper out loud or record yourself and listen to the recording. Don’t forget to take notes while you listen to the text.

❓ How to Get Your Essay Read to You?

Use our free Essay Reader tool to read your paper aloud. First, paste the text into the according field. Remember that it is limited to 4500 characters. Then you can choose the voice you like most and the reading speed. After listening to the text, you can easily download the recording or listen to another text.

❓ How Long Will It Take to Read My Essay?

The average reading speed is 200-250 words per minute. Students can reach up to 300 words per minute due to frequent practice. Based on this, you can estimate how long it will take to read an essay. You must divide the total number of words in the text by the average reading speed. For example, a piece of 1200 words will take 4-6 minutes to read aloud.

❓ What Does Reading out Loud Do?

Reading aloud improves reading and listening skills, expands vocabulary, and helps perceive the information more thoughtfully. It can help to increase focus and comprehension, as well as improve a student’s memory. Reading aloud also can improve pronunciation and develop writing skills.

• Explain The Working Of Text-To-Speech Solutions
• Auditory Learning Style Explained
• Reading Aloud: A Revision Strategy - Thompson Writing Program; Duke University
• Reading Aloud - The Writing Center • the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Why you should read this out loud - BBC Future
• What Is the Average Reading Speed?

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January 24th, 2024

Embark on a seamless reading journey with our new Text Viewer—an immersive experience designed to focus solely on the textual content of PDFs. Enjoy features such as highlighting, bookmarking, and effortless reading, all tailored to enhance your interaction with the written word.

For the PDF Viewer, take control with precision using zoom in and zoom out buttons. In the Text Viewer, elevate your reading experience by customizing font sizes with easy-to-use buttons. Your preferences shape your unique reading adventure!

Explore the power of Text-to-Speech with our new caption section! Enable captions to view the current sentence you're reading or listening to. Dive into the immersive experience where each spoken word is highlighted with a distinct color. Experience reading in a whole new way!

December 12th, 2023

Tired of straining your eyes during late-night reading sessions? We've got you covered! Introducing our new Dark Mode feature—because your comfort matters. Enjoy a soothing, eye-friendly interface while delving into your favorite documents.

Exciting news! Now, you can share the joy of reading seamlessly. Whether it's a captivating PDF, an engaging eBook, or a valuable textbook, sharing is caring! Head to your dashboard's book section, hit the share option, enter your friend's email, and voilà—spread the reading love!

But wait, there's more! Our Share Option isn't just about sharing; it's your personal storage haven. Safeguard your cherished documents while creating a vibrant reading community. Update your experience now and let the reading revolution begin! 🚀

Nov 22th,2023

A new version for added flexibility. Store and access multiple books effortlessly, eliminating the need to upload the same book repeatedly. Enjoy reading or listening whenever you want!

• Login : Experience a streamlined and secure login process, ensuring easy access to your personalized features and content.
• Personal Dashboard : Your customized hub for an organized and efficient user experience, providing quick access to all your account settings and activities.
• Book Storage : Store and manage multiple books effortlessly, eliminating the need to re-upload, and enjoy a clutter-free reading environment.
• Highlight and Bookmark : Enhance your reading experience by highlighting and bookmarking specific sections, making it easy to revisit and engage with key content.
• Preference : Personalize your reading experience with color customization for highlights and bookmarks, allowing you to tailor the visual aspects to your preferences.

Sep 27th,2023

We're thrilled to introduce a game-changing update to the ReadLoudly PDF viewer that promises an even smoother reading experience. 📚

• Each page is now processed on our powerful servers, significantly reducing the load on your browser.
• Enjoy lightning-fast page loading and navigation, no matter the size of your PDF document.
• Say goodbye to slow rendering and hello to a seamless reading experience.

Sep 19th,2023

Enhance your reading experience with our new Text-to-Speech page. Now, you can easily convert written text or upload a TXT file and listen to it being read aloud. Whether it's articles, notes, or your own writings, our text-to-speech technology brings content to life, making it accessible and engaging.

Introducing our convenient Page Selection option! We've made it even easier to read books and documents. You can now select the specific pages you want to read, resulting in faster load times for larger books. Customize your reading experience and access content more efficiently.

Sep 13th,2023

We've added a handy option to Repeat a Single Sentence. Now, you can easily replay a specific sentence or passage while listening, ensuring you never miss a word of your favorite content.

Our team has been hard at work, addressing issues to improve your audio playback experience. Say goodbye to audio player glitches and enjoy smoother, uninterrupted listening.

Sep 6th,2023

We're excited to unveil our fresh, new logo! It represents our commitment to providing you with innovative and user-friendly reading and listening experiences.

Introducing the eBook Reader Page, where you can now listen to your eBooks directly. Immerse yourself in your favorite eBooks with our text-to-speech technology.

Transform your eBooks into interactive flipbooks effortlessly. Visit our eBook to Flipbook Page to view your eBook files in an engaging flipbook format.

Sep 1st,2023

We've upgraded to a more powerful server! This means your books will be ready for reading even faster than before. Enjoy quicker access to your content.

Your security is our priority. We've implemented enhancements to ensure your data and reading experience are more secure than ever.

Essay Reader out Loud for Students

Follow the 4 simple steps below to use the tool:

• Select the voice you prefer.
• Select the audio speed.
• Paste your text in the field provided.
• Click the tab “Read essay.”

Do you want your essay to be read aloud? Try our free text-to-speech tool and proofread your academic paper efficiently.

This essay reader out loud allows you to hear your essay being read aloud and correct silly mistakes you may have missed during editing. Hearing how your paper sounds helps you analyze the general quality. When reading by yourself, it may be difficult to focus on detailed aspects of your paper.

🔊 Why Read an Essay out Loud?

• 💬 Reading out Loud: 6 Tips
• 📻 How to Choose a Text-to-Speech Tool?

🔗 References

After completing your academic paper or article, you should always read it out aloud. It is a part of editing your work since you will easily listen to how your paper sounds.

Why is it good to read aloud?

There are many benefits to revising your paper this way:

• You will know if there are logical gaps or inconsistent arguments .
• At times, your paper might be too wordy or have grammatical errors. Reading it aloud will highlight such issues while setting the right tone.
• Your brain will process the text from a new perspective , and you will notice other silly mistakes you might have left out.
• Listening to your paper makes it easy to understand the flow of ideas . Flipping pages back and forth is cumbersome, and you may miss detailed information that needs correction. But listening allows you to identify gaps and paragraph transitions that need to be amended.
• The voice will give you an idea of how your readers will perceive your article .

💬 Reading out Loud: 6 Best Tips

Below are some strategies of reading out loud that you can use if you are a college or high school student.

However, you can eliminate the hassle of the entire reading process and take advantage of our free tool.

Our text-to-speech converter functions well with your smartphone, PC, tablet, or laptop .

It is an advantageous option that presents your text as it is without sugar-coating the errors.

📻 Essay Reader Aloud: How to Choose It?

When it comes to choosing a text-to-speech tool, it is imperative to consider some parameters. Knowing your options helps you identify the right tool that works effectively.

Here are some aspects you need to think about when choosing an essay reader aloud for your paper:

• Online access . Is the tool accessible online, or do you need to upload the entire file? The online tool requires a stable Internet connection since it functions within a web page.
• Free or paid . Another factor is to establish if the tool is free or if you must pay a subscription fee to use it. Students prefer free tools to get accurate results at no cost.
• Registration . Does the tool require registration? Many students don't like the registration process because it is time-consuming. So, you can go for an easily accessible online tool where you can copy and paste your text on the go without the hassle of registering your personal details.
• Volume . Check if the tool has volume control features ad if there is a pause or rewind button.
• Voice . Can you select a male or female voice? Are the voices natural or contain pitch variations?
• Speech tempo . How long does the tool take to read text per minute? Can you alter the speed to your preference?
• Pop-up ads . Some tools might have annoying pop-up ads, which can be distracting. So, you can choose a converter tool with zero to fewer ads.

Thank you for reading this article!

Note that you can also use our free essay reducer , paraphraser , and title generator at different stages of work on your assignment.

❓ Essay Reader FAQ

❓ how do i get my essay to read out loud.

If you want to read your essay out loud, you can ask a family member or friend to help you read your essay aloud. The most effective option is our free text-to-speech tool, and your essay will be read aloud in a voice you love. Just paste your text into the field, select your preferred voice and speed, and press the 'read essay' button.

❓ Is there any free text-to-speech tool?

Essay reader out loud is a free text-to-speech tool that converts your academic paper into audio. It is effective, and you can select a specific voice to vocalize your paper at a convenient speed.

❓ How long will it take to read my essay?

This tool reads 50-60 words per half-minute and 100-120 words per minute. It uses a natural oral speech tempo, but you can select a higher or lower speed. Therefore, the completion time for reading largely depends on your paper's length.

❓ How to choose an essay reader out loud?

There are several aspects to consider when selecting an essay reader out loud. Is it a free tool or paid subscription? Do you have to register before using and does it have annoying ads? Choose a tool that allows selecting a voice, processes large text volumes, and gives speech tempo options.

• Enhancing the learning process through text-to-speech
• Does Use of Text-to-Speech and Related Read-Aloud Tools Improve Reading Comprehension for Students with Reading Disabilities?
• The Benefits of Speech-to-Text Technology in All Classrooms
• Reading Aloud - UNC Writing Center
• University Writing Center (UWC) - Reading Aloud
• How Does Reading Aloud Improve Writing

• Export Audio

Free Text To Speech Reader

Instantly reads out loud text & pdf with natural sounding voices online - works out of the box. drop the text and click play..

Drag text or pdf files to the text-box, or directly type/paste in text. Select language and click Play. Remembers text and caret position between sessions. Works on Chrome and Safari, desktop and mobile. Enjoy listening :)

Best Text to Speech Online

• Online speech synthesizer, single click to read out loud any text
• Listen instead of reading
• Multiple languages and voices
• Reads PDF files too

TTSReader-X

• Chrome extension
• Listen to ANY website without leaving the page
• Adds a 'play' functionality to Chrome
• Clean page for readability and / or print

Try it Now for FREE

TTSReader / Android

• Podcast any written content
• Save data - works offline too

Get it on the Play store

Fun, Online, Free. Listen to great content

Drag, drop & play (or directly copy text & play). That’s it. No downloads. No logins. No passwords. No fuss. Simply fun to use and listen to great content. Great for listening in the background. Great for proof-reading. Great for kids and more. Learn more, including a YouTube we made, here .

Multilingual, Natural Voices

We facilitate high-quality natural-sounding voices from different sources. There are male & female voices, in different accents and different languages. Choose the voice you like, insert text, click play to generate the synthesized speech and enjoy listening.

Exit, Come Back & Play from Where You Stopped

TTSReader remembers the article and last position when paused, even if you close the browser. This way, you can come back to listening right where you previously left. Works on Chrome & Safari on mobile too. Ideal for listening to articles.

Better than Podcasts

In many aspects, synthesized speech has advantages over recorded podcasts. Here are some: First of all - you have unlimited - free - content. That includes high-quality articles and books, that are not available on podcasts. Second - it’s free. Third - it uses almost no data - so it’s available offline too, and you save money. If you like listening on the go, as while driving or walking - get our free Android Text Reader App .

Read PDF Files, Texts & Websites

TTSReader extracts the text from pdf files, and reads it out loud. Also useful for simply copying text from pdf to anywhere. In addition, it highlights the text currently being read - so you can follow with your eyes. If you specifically want to listen to websites - such as blogs, news, wiki - you should get our free extension for Chrome

Commercial-Ready

Use our apps for commercial purposes. Generated audio can be used for YouTubes, games, telephony and more. To export the generated speech into high-quality audio files, you can either use our Android app , or record them, as explained here . Read more for ttsreader’s commercial terms. Read more

We love to hear your feedback. Here’s what users said about us:

The new male voice is great. It is quite melodic and natural, much more so then other sites I have tried to use. This is a GREAT tool, well done thanks!

ttsreader.com

This product works amazingly well. I use it to edit my books, pasting in a chapter, having it read back to me while I edit the original. Cuts down my book edit time by over 50% !

Multiple voices from different nationalities. Easy to use interface. Paste text and it will speak. Can create mp3 files.

ttsreader for Android

Great app. Can handle long texts, something other apps can’t. Highly recommended!

What a great App! exactly what i needed, a reader to provide me content efficiently.

ttsreader-x for Chrome

Recent Posts

Read about our different products, get the news & tips from our developers.

Amazon's Kindle Fire - Can Now Read Websites

on June 6, 2017

Amazon’s Kindle Fire - Can Now Read Websites As TTSReader is Now Available on Amazon’s App Store Get it now for FREE Exciting news! Kindle lovers now got upgraded with some new great features. TTSReader on the Kindle can read out loud any text, pdf and website. It uses the latest algorithms to extract only the relevant text out of the usually-cluttered websites. Great for listening to Wiki articles for instance, blogs and more.

Continue reading

Android Gets the Best In Class Websites Reader

Android Gets Best In Class Websites Reader - With Latest Update to TTSReader Pro Start listening now for FREE Exciting news, as Android’s TTSReader Pro app, has been updated to use TTSReaderX’s algorithms to extract only the relevant text out of websites. This is super important for a text-to-speech website reader, as otherwise the reader would start reading out loud all the ads, menus, sharing buttons and more clutter.

Commercial Licensing & Terms

on May 10, 2017

When is a Commercial License Necessary Using ttsreader.com within your institution If you are a company, or organization, using ttsreader.com, please use our paypal donate link. If you are a personal user, or an educational institute - ttsreader.com is free, no need to even donate - you are welcome, of course :). Using the generated speech for commercial purposes Recording and using the audio generated by TTSReader in a commercial application (ie publishing)

Export Speech to Audio Files

How to Record Audio Played on PC (Speakers) for Free Need to record audio from TTSReader, YouTube or other? Here’s how in a few simple steps (includes screenshots). No need to record the speakers - you can record the audio from within the pc itself. It will be of higher audio quality - as it’s the original digital signal, clear and without ambient noise. Also, no need to purchase a software for that.

See All Posts

Want to see more?

Visit our company's page, to see more of our speech to text (dictation) and text to speech apps for desktops and mobile. For news and tips from our developers visit our blog.

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PRIVACY: We don't store any of your text, in fact, it doesn't even leave your computer. We do use cookies and your local storage to enhance your experience. Copyright (c) 2015 - 2017, WellSource Ltd. ; all rights reserved.    Template by Bootstrapious . Ported to Hugo by DevCows

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Bring Text-To-Speech into ANY website. Add our new TTSReader Extension for free.

Text to Speech

Voice cloning, ai translation, murf voices installer, e-learning that engages, explainer videos made simple, documentaries that really connect, youtube videos that hold attention, spotlight your spotify ads, corporate videos , friendly style, ads that speak to people, audiobooks that feel real, podcasts that speak to you, video games with realistic characters, training videos that keep the interest, presentations that tell, not just show, product demos that tell stories, ivr that feels like a friend, animations with chatty characters, integrations, google slides, html embed code, adobe audition, adobe captivate, adobe captivate classic, read aloud any text with murf text to speech.

Do you prefer to listen to content instead of reading? You are at the right place. Read any text out loud using Murf’s realistic AI voices, be it books, articles, word docs, PDF files, or short text snippets.

Read Text Out Loud in 20+ Languages

Tailor your listening experience, how to read aloud in murf.

Open Murf Studio. Copy-paste or enter the text you want to hear aloud into Murf’s text editor.

Choose an AI voice of your choice from the list.

Fine-tune the output by changing the pitch, speed, and pronunciation or adding pauses and emphasis where needed.

Click on the play icon to render and generate the voice output. You can listen to it by clicking on the play icon or ‘preview’ button.

Read Aloud: Turning Text into Spoken Words

How does read aloud work, applications of read aloud technology, benefits of read aloud text to speech, murf: your gateway to audible text transformation, frequently asked questions, murf supports text to speech in.

Important Links

How to create.

Free Text to Speech (TTS) Online

Try text to speech online and enjoy the best AI voices that sound human. TTS is great for Google Docs, emails, PDFs, any website, and more.

Mr. President

Select Voice

• Recommended

Select Speed

⚡️ 110 % productivity boost.

• Speed Reader
• 4.5x (900 WPM)
• 3.0x (600 WPM)
• 1.5x (300 WPM)
• 1.0x (200 WPM)

Type or paste anything and press play to convert text to speech. Unlock your reading super powers. Speechify can cut your reading time in half!

Choose from 40+ languages

Create a free account to continue

• Convert any text into audio
• 50+ premium voices
• Create your own custom voices
• Added layer of security for your documents
• Save your files
• Faster listening speeds (1.1x & above)
• Automatically skip content (headers, footers, citations etc)
• No limits or ads

Paste Web Link

Paste a web address link to get the contents of a webpage

• Text to Speech

Text to Speech Features

Ditch robotic voices for Speechify’s text to speech that sound very real.

The Best Text to Speech Converter

Listen up to 9x faster with Speechify’s ultra realistic text to speech software that lets you read faster than the average reading speed, without skipping out on the best AI voices.

Listen & Read at the Same Time

With Speechify text highlighting you can choose to just listen, or listen and read at the same time. Easily follow along as words are highlighted – like Karaoke. Listening and reading at the same time increases comprehension.

Convert Text to Studio-Quality Voices

With Speechify’s easy-to-use AI text to speech voices, you can forget about warbly robotic text to speech AI voices. Our accurate human-like AI voices are HD quality and available in 30+ languages and 100+ accents.

Image to Speech

Scan or take a picture of any image and Speechify will read it aloud to you with its cutting-edge OCR technology. Save your images to your library in the cloud and access it anywhere. You can now listen to that note you got from a friend, relative, or other loved one.

Try Text to Speech in these Popular Voices

The most realistic TTS voices only on the best text to speech app.

Gwyneth Paltrow

What is text to speech

Text to speech, also known as TTS, read aloud, or even speech synthesis . It simply means using artificial intelligence to read words aloud be; it from a PDF , email, docs, or any website. There isn’t a voice artist recording phrases or words, or even the entire article. Speech generation is done on-the-fly, in real time, with natural sounding AI voices.

And that’s the beauty of it all. You don’t have to wait. You simply press play and artificial intelligence makes the words come alive instantly, in a very natural sounding voice. You can change voices and accents across multiple languages.

Listen to any article. Easily scan any printed material and convert the image to audio.

Get Text to Speech Today

And begin removing barriers to reading online

I used to hate school because I’d spend hours just trying to read the assignments. Listening has been totally life changing. This app saved my education.

Ana Student with Dyslexia

Speechify has made my editing so much faster and easier when I’m writing. I can hear an error and fix it right away. Now I can’t write without it.

Daniel Writer

Speechify makes reading so much easier. English is my second language and listening while I follow along in a book has seriously improved my skills.

Lou Avid Reader

More text to speech features you’ll love, speechify text to speech online reviews, kate marfori.

Product Manager at The Star Tribune

With Speechify’s API, we can offer our users a new and accessible way to consume our content. We’ve seen that readers who choose to listen to articles with Speechify are on average 20% more engaged than users who choose not to listen.

Susy Botello

Thanks for sharing this.I love this feature. I just tweeted at you on how much I like it. The voice is great and not at all like the text-to-speech I am used to listening to. I am a podcaster and I think this will help a lot of people multitask a bit, especially if they are interrupted with incoming emails or whatever. You can read-along but continue reading if your eyes need to go elsewhere. Hope you keep this. It’s already in other web publications. I also see it in some news sites. So I think it could become a standard that readers expect when they read online. Can I vote twice?

Renato Vargas

I just started using Medium more and I absolutely love this feature. I’ve listened to my own stories and the Al does the inflections just as I would. Many complain that they can’t read their own stories, but let’s be honest. How many stories would go without an audio version if you had to do all of them yourself? I certainly appreciate it. Thanks for this!!

Oh! How cool – I love it 🙂 The voice is surprisingly natural sounding! My eyes took a much appreciated rest for a bit. I’ve been a long time subscriber to Audible on Amazon. I think this is Great 🙂 Thank you!

Paola Rios Schaaf

Super excited about this! We are all spending too much time staring at our screens. Using another sense to take in the great content at Medium is awesome.

Hi Warren, I am one of those small, randomly selected people, and I ABSOLUTELY love this feature. I have consumed more ideas than I ever have on Medium. And also as a non-native English speaker, this is really helping me to improve my pronunciation. Keep this forevermore! Love, Ananya:)

This is the single most important feature you can role out for me. I simply don’t have the time to read all the articles I would like to on Medium. If I could listen to the articles I could consume at least 3X the amount of Medium content I do now.

Andrew Picken

Love this feature Warren. I use it when I’m reading, helps me churn through reading and also stay focused on the article (at a good speed) when my willpower is low! Keeping me more engaged..

I was THRILLED the other day when I saw the audio option. I didn’t know how it got there, but I pressed play, and then I was blown away hearing the words that I wrote being narrated

Neeramitra Reddy

LOVE THISSS. As someone who loves audio almost as much as reading, this is absolute gold

What is text to speech (TTS)?

Text-to-speech goes by a few names. Some refer to it as TTS,  read aloud , or even speech synthesis ; for the more engineered name. Today, it simply means using  artificial intelligence  to read words aloud be; it from a PDF, email, docs, or any website. Instantly turn text into audio. Listen in English, Italian, Portuguese,  Spanish , or more and choose your accent and character to personalize your experience.

How does AI text to speech work?

Beautifully. Speech synthesis works by installing an app like Speechify either on your device or as a browser extension. AI scans the words on the page and  reads it out loud , without any lag. You can change the default voice to a custom voice, change accents, languages, and even increase or decrease the speaking rate.

AI has made significant progress in synthesizing voices. It can pick up on formatted text and change tone accordingly. Gone are the days where the voices sounded  robotic . Speechify is revolutionizing that.

Once you install the TTS mobile app, you can easily convert text to speech from any website within your browser, read aloud your email, and more. If you install it as a  browser extension , you can do just the same on your laptop. The web version is OS agnostic. Mac or Windows, no problem.

What is the text-to-speech service?

A text-to-speech service is a tool, like Speechify text to speech, that transforms your written words into spoken words. Imagine typing out a message and having it read out loud by a digital voice – that’s what TTS services, like Speechify TTS do.

What are the benefits of text to speech?

TTS technology offers many benefits, like helping those with reading difficulties, providing rest for your eyes, multitasking by listening to content, improving pronunciation and language learning, and making content accessible to a wider audience.

How is Speechify TTS better than Murf AI text to speech, Google Voice, or TTSReader?

Speechify TTS stands out by offering a more natural and human-like voice quality, a wider range of customization options, and user-friendly integration across devices. Plus, our dedication to accessibility means that we ensure a seamless and inclusive experience for all users.

Only available on iPhone and iPad

To access our catalog of 100,000+ audiobooks, you need to use an iOS device.

Coming to Android soon...

Join the waitlist

Enter your email and we will notify you as soon as Speechify Audiobooks is available for you.

You’ve been added to the waitlist. We will notify you as soon as Speechify Audiobooks is available for you.

Read My Essay: Free Speech Tool

Sometimes when you finish working on your paper, you want to hear someone reading it aloud. The reason for that is because you want to make sure it sounds as good as it reads. Our free and easy-to-use Read My Essay tool can help you with this task. It’s straightforward:

• You just copy and paste your essay into the box of our free speech tool;
• Click the button;
• Now listen to your work and evaluate how it sounds using Read My Essay tool.

Read My Essay: Q&A

Text-to-speech converters in learning.

Not everyone is born to be a natural reader. Text-to-speech converters help many students in learning because they can open new horizons for those who have difficulty reading or learning:

✅ Those with dyslexia. Dyslexia is a common learning difficulty that causes problems with writing, spelling, and reading. So, listening to books and texts can be a great alternative to task.

✅ Those learning a new language. When you improve your listening skills, you will better understand the native speaker. Plus, by listening and imitating someone else’s speech, you can significantly improve your pronunciation.

✅ Those with impaired vision . This group of people can also benefit from text-to-speech converters. Listening to tasks, text, books can allow a visually impaired person to participate in the learning process normally.

✅ Auditory learners. Recent studies show that people can develop learning preferences. Nevertheless, most people can use both methods. Those who better understand information by listening are called auditory learners . These types of people can use audio materials to boost their learning abilities.

We have some recommendations to assist in learning:

• Choose the voice that you like and can understand better: simply because it can get challenging to absorb information and enjoy listening if the agent is unpleasant.
• Listen to the text more than once. Ideally, you should try to listen to it at least two times while focusing on structure, argumentation, formation of sentences.
• Listen to other people's essays and audiobooks because it is the best way to widen your overall knowledge and get new information while combining it with other errands.

Text-to-Speech Converters: History

It might seem that computers appeared not so long ago, or it belongs to the far future with robots and other futuristic objects. Nevertheless, it can even be challenging to determine if it is a voice recording or a speech synthesizer. Indeed, technology develops quickly. However, speaking machines have an extensive history starting in the 18th century. Here’s a brief timeline for the speech synthesis technology:

1769: Wolfgang von Kempelen created one of the first mechanical speaking machines . It used the bagpipe to produce noises similar to human speech.

1770: A scientist from Christian Kratzenstein builds a mechanical version of the human vocal system. He later wrote a book called Mechanism of Human Language with a Description of a Speaking Machine.

1837: English physicist inventor Charles Wheatstone rediscovered a version of the von Kempelen speaking machine. He was fascinated with music and sounds.

1928: American scientist Homer W. Dudley develops a speech analyzer called Vocoder . Dudley later turns Vocoder into Voder, a speech synthesizer operated with the keyboard.

1940: Frank Cooper developed a system called Pattern Playback. It can generate speech sounds from their frequency spectrum.

1953: American scientists Walter Lawrence creates PAT, the synthesizer that makes speech sounds by combining four, six, and later eight frequencies.

1958: MIT scientist George Rosen created the first text-to-speech synthesizer. The 1960s/1970s: A scientist from Bell Laboratories named Cecil Coker dedicates his time to better speech synthesis methods.

1978: Texas Instruments came up with a TMC0281 speech converter toy called Speak&Spell.

1984: Apple computer creates a Macintosh with a built-in MacInTalk speech synthesizer .

2001: AT&T produced Natural Voices. The technology is used in online applications and websites that can read emails out loud.

2011: Apple introduces the Siri app to iPhones, an intelligent voice helper to their smartphones. Currently, Siri is available on most Apple devices - Macbook, iPad, iWatch, etc.

2014: Microsoft releases Skype Translator that can automatically translate speech from English to 40 languages.

2015: Amazon comes up with a voice software called Alexa .

2016: Google releases Google Assistant. Google later incorporated it into smart Google Home technology.

References:

• What Are the Benefits of Reading Aloud? An Instructional
• The Evolution of Text-to-Speech Voice Assistive Technology
• History and Development of Speech Synthesis
• Does Use of Text-to-Speech and Related Read-Aloud Tools Improve Reading Comprehension for Students with Reading Disabilities? A Meta-Analysis
• What makes Text-to-speech technology so effective?

How it works

• Copy your text and paste it in the textarea.
• Select preferred voice.
• Press “Read My Essay” button. Now you can play or pause reading of a text.
• “Read new essay” button allows you to reload the form, so you can read new essay.

For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript.

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

• Dear Life Kit
• Life Skills

How reading aloud can help you bond with your kids and make them better readers

Diana Opong

Andee Tagle

We've all heard about the benefits of learning to read quietly and independently. A big part of learning at school is all about reading, but it's not always easy to find time for more reading at home.

Families have busy schedules filled with after-school activities and homework. Plus — let's be honest — with all the tech at kids' fingertips and school days already filled with required reading, it can be hard convincing kids that reading isn't a chore.

But Keisha Siriboe says there is a way, and it doesn't have to be independent or quiet! Her solution: reading aloud as a family.

Explore Life Kit

This story comes from Life Kit , NPR's family of podcasts to help make life better — covering everything from exercise to raising kids to making friends. For more, sign up for the newsletter , and follow @NPRLifeKit on Twitter .

Siriboe is a Baltimore-based early childhood literacy consultant with a Ph.D. in early childhood education. She has researched education strategies and student leadership development all over the world and says reading aloud can help people with stress management, hope and resilience.

Reading aloud is the best bang for your buck, Siriboe says, adding that she hasn't seen anything yet that gives a higher return on investment.

The emotional benefits of reading aloud

Reading with your child is a practice that creates space for deeper independent learning and exploring. It doesn't matter if it's a traditional book, graphic novel, non-fiction or historical fiction, it all counts. What matters most is taking the time to dive deeper.

How To Read More Books

Use reading aloud to start conversations that can help your child deal with the now of wherever we are in the world. It could lead to something you may not have expected. For example, when it comes to anxiety and worry, a caregiver could use a picture book that specifically deals with that topic and turn that into an opportunity for a child to share what worries they are carrying.

Reading aloud is one of the few spaces that checks all the boxes in terms of social, emotional and mental health. For Siriboe, the simple act of sharing your love of reading with your child is bigger than just literacy. It's another expression of love and a tool for helping kids navigate the world.

Talk, read, play and sing

There's more to reading with your kids than just the words on the page. Before you dive into reading, try talking with them about the story or topic. miniseries/Getty Images hide caption

There's more to reading with your kids than just the words on the page. Before you dive into reading, try talking with them about the story or topic.

Siriboe likes to break down the global possibilities of reading into four key components:

Talk. She says take a moment to talk about the subject matter of the book, comic or recipe with your kids. If the book you're going to read is about wellness or meditation, you may want to share some of your favorite breathing exercises or ask your kiddo what coping skills they may have learned at school.

The next component is to read . Start looking at the words, finding the characters, settings and storyline of the book. Explore how the characters in the story engage with each other and their environment.

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Then play. Perhaps you and your child want to role-play some scenarios of what the character is experiencing in the real world or explore what it would be like to live inside the character's world.

The last thing is to sing . Come up with your own song or use some online resources to find some silly songs that can help you bring a story to life. Siriboe emphasizes that this whole experience should be filled with joy and laughter.

The goal is to go past the idea of phonetics alone and really think about bonding with your child. That may mean the child gets to lead instead of the adult. At the end of the day, both the caregiver and child should hopefully be having fun.

The benefits of reading aloud for neurodiverse learners

It's important to remember that every child learns differently. Siriboe says parents may need to think outside the pages of a book to connect and help a neurodiverse child thrive. Allowing kids who learn differently opportunities to experience success within literacy can help build confidence and spark that fire for reading and storytelling.

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Every child needs to discover what they like and who they are in the world of a story. If you have a child who loves to paint, you can take them to the museum and have them write down the artists that mean the most to them. Siriboe says the next step is to go to a local library and find books about the art that inspires them and give them a chance to create their version of that art.

Helping kids who may not take to reading

Not everyone takes to reading right away, and many kids struggle. Siriboe says parents need to know that it is probably safe to assume that a kid who doesn't love reading has probably had a negative experience.

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The first thing parents can do is help their kiddo shift their perspective. She says helping kids move from a fixed mindset about what they think their reading ability is into a growth mindset is a good starting place.

Help reassure your kid that they may not be the great reader they aspire to be yet, but they absolutely can do this. One way to do this is to incorporate aural storytelling into the fold. Invite your child to create a story that you, the adult, are willing to write down or help them use a computer or smartphone app that can do it for them while they speak. Siriboe says this helps kids to form a bridge from the inconceivable to the I can do this!

Take the step to start

It's not about how well you read or even what you read. What Siriboe wants families everywhere to know is the act of starting to read aloud and making it part of your routine for 15 minutes a day is what matters most.

Listen to the audio version of this story at the top of this page for more tips from Keisha Siriboe and get insights into what she has learned in her research.

The audio portion of this episode was produced by Andee Tagle, with engineering support from Patrick Murray.

We'd love to hear from you. If you have a good life hack, leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823, or email us at [email protected]. Your tip could appear in an upcoming episode.

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Neural Speech Synthesis uses deep machine learning to study human voices, speech patterns, intonations and other linguistic expressions.

Neural deep learning has allowed AI voices to become extremely natural, and mimic human speech. Many AI voices now can be used in place of human voices depending on the use.

Dyslexia and other reading-based learning disabilities are most common among students. NaturalReader text-to-speech makes learning more accessible by assisting with any reading, taking tests and promoting independence.

For most students, learning does not stop when school ends. NaturalReader EDU enables students to be more independent and assists with learning at home. Whether they’re doing homework, reading at home, or just surfing the web, our Chrome Extension and Mobile Application are always available.

NaturalReader AI Text To Speech is only for personal use. Personal use means that only you the individual purchaser may use for your own private listening. Audio files created with NaturalReader AI Text To Speech cannot be used publicly (including on websites or YouTube videos), commercially, or otherwise redistributed in any way. Only you may create the audio files for only yourself to enjoy and they cannot be utilized or made available to any other systems or people.

Please keep in mind that 'internal' or 'non-profit' use (such as for messaging systems or training videos) nonetheless requires a commercial license to allow redistribution of the audio content.

For any non-personal use, please check out NaturalReader AI Voice Generator, which is a separate application.

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Read My Essay to Me: Text-to-Speech Tool

Read My Essay to Me is a text to speech tool that transforms any typed text into audio. It is absolutely free.

How many times have you received a bad grade for a silly mistake? You’ve proofread the text several times, but a sentence or two are inconsistent with the rest of the text. You cannot notice it because you know your trail of thoughts. Reading aloud helps to evaluate the overall text quality. But when you read by yourself, it is hard to focus on the details.

Who will read my essay out loud? If you're looking for a free text-to-speech tool, you're in the right place! Try this "Read My Essay to Me" converter. Choose the voice you love and enjoy!

• 🤔 How to Use the Tool?

💬 How Do Essay Readers Work?

• ✅ The Key Benefits
• 🤗 Who Can Use Text to Speech?

🔗 References

🤔 read my essay to me: how to use.

Below is a short instruction that explains how to use the text-to-speech tool above.

Copy the text from your document and insert it into the respective field.

Select the voice you prefer to vocalize your text from the drop-down list box.

Once you’ve pasted the text and selected the natural reader, press the “Listen” button.

If you need to go back and listen to a different text, there is a special button for this purpose.

You’ve probably heard of online and offline tools that can read a text aloud. So, what is Text to Speech in technical terms? Text to Speech (often abbreviated as TTS) is a form of assistive technology . Read My Essay to Me is one of TTS systems used to voice over any printed text online.

The Text to Speech tool works on any personal digital device. There are applications designed for each mobile operating system (that work on iPhone or Android). Alternatively, you can use an online tool in Chrome or any other browser you prefer. These tools can even read web pages aloud.

The computer generates the voice in TTS, but you can select the reading speed and the speaker. There are several variants of male and female voices entitled by the respective names. The voice quality depends on the tool, but many of them sound human. Some even feature a child’s voice for you to listen to. There are even robot voices that sound like children speaking.

The tool highlights the words as they are read aloud. It allows you to track the reading and is especially beneficial for foreign language learners.

Some Text to Speech tools can read out loud from an image. This technology is called optical character recognition or OCR. For example, you can take a photo of a street sign or a public notice and listen to it through the TTS app or website.

As we have mentioned before, Text to Speech tool can help people who learn a foreign language. But it can also facilitate the lives of those who have problems with writing, editing, and focusing. According to computer science research , such assistive technology is helpful for people with dyslexia. It motivates them to read by making the process more enjoyable and comfortable. The case study performed during the same research indicated an improved fluency and comprehension in the control group.

✅ Read My Essay: the Benefits

We suggest you try out Read My Essay to Me while proofreading your writing. This TTS tool has critical benefits, notably:

A few more benefits:

• It helps to detect and correct mistakes. It is always better to give your already-written paper to a friend or relative to read it for typos. Imagine you have a friend who always can find a half-an-hour to read your work aloud for you. Amazing, right? How many A+’s have you missed due to poor proofreading? Insert your essay into this TTS tool and listen to it while cooking or cleaning. Your ear will pick the places that deserve corrections.

It helps to evaluate the plot attractiveness or the content consistency. In the course of creating an essay, you get distracted by the need to type on a keyboard or write on paper. You look up the right words and return to the introduction to check your thesis statement . In a word, you do a whole lot of things that distract you from the beauty of the text. The only way to make it sparkle is to reread it.

Still, you are familiar with what you wanted to say. Our mind tricks us into believing that other people will understand us just as intended. But if you listen to your essay read by a different person, you will find many passages that require rewriting .

• It shows if the argumentation is clear and sufficiently grounded. In the follow-up to the previous point, argumentation must be complete. Read My Essay to Me can show you where your evidence is insufficient or needs more substantial arguments.

🤗 Read My Essay to Me: Who Can Use the Tool?

Who else should find out how to use a Text to Speech converter? We believe that anyone can find a practical application to this tool, but the following groups of people will find it helpful strait away.

• Auditory learners. If it refers to you, 100% that you are aware of it. People with a well-developed auditory perception memorize information better when they listen to it (rather than read, write down, or see it as a phenomenon). Listen to your reading assignment via the tool and upgrade your academic performance!
• People with dyslexia. Such people have problems with reading, although they are normally intelligent. They are affected to various degrees. Still, TTS tools can help people with problems in spelling words, low reading speed, “sounding out” words in their heads, or pronouncing them while reading aloud.
• People with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or other emotional disabilities. Autism Speaks reported that almost 25% of people with ASD are low-functioning or non-verbal communicators. They can use TTS as a voice dictation tool for writing assistance or a real-life conversation simulator.
• Those who lack time for traditional reading. Have you been assigned a 300-page book by the next week? If it is in the public domain, you can upload it into Read My Essay to Me and listen to it while doing your domestic chores. It will be handy for literature that is unavailable in audiobook format.

❓ Read My Essay FAQ

❓ how can i get my essay read to me.

• Copy your essay from the file on your device.
• Paste it into the respective field of Read My Essay to Me tool.
• Select the voice (male or female in some variations) you’d like to listen to.
• Press the button below the text to convert it into an audio version.

❓ How can I convert text to audio for free?

To convert text into audio, you have to have an internet connection and any browser installed on your computer or mobile device. Go to Read My Essay to Me and insert the text in question into the blank field. Press the Read My Essay button to listen to its audio version.

❓ What is the best text to speech tool?

There are dozens of Text-to-Speech tools available for all sorts of mobile devices and computers, including all possible operational systems. Still, the best free TTS tool is Read My Essay to Me. It is relatively simple. It has the widest choice of voices and an unlimited number of words in the text.

❓ Is there a website that will read a text to me?

Read My Essay to Me will read any typed text of any length for you. It is intuitively clear for a user of any experience level. You can choose the preferred voice that will vocalize your essay. You can insert any text, from a one-page paper to a hundred-page book, since words are limitless.

• Enhancing the learning process through text-to-speech technologies
• What are some types of assistive devices - National Institute of Health
• Types of Assistive Technology | Web Access
• Strategies for Teachers - Dyslexia Help - University of Michigan
• What Is Auditory Learning Style? Definition and Strategies

March 26, 2024

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How to customize Microsoft Edge Read aloud settings

One of the most convenient and versatile features in Microsoft Edge  is Read aloud . Listen as Microsoft Edge reads webpage content to you using AI-powered technology to parse the text. Whether listening is preferable to reading or you need to multitask, Microsoft Edge Read aloud frees you to sit back and listen or do other things. With many languages, accents, and natural-sounding voices to choose from, Read aloud can be customized to read your way. Learn how to tailor Read aloud to speak to you in the tone, language, and speed you prefer.

How to access Read aloud in Microsoft Edge

You can access Read aloud from any webpage, no matter how much text there is on the page. There are three ways to access Read aloud.

• Select the right mouse button and choose Read aloud in the menu.
• Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + U .
• Select the Immersive Reader icon in the browser address bar when it appears. The icon will look like an open book.

Read aloud is a feature within Immersive Reader and can be accessed from the Immersive Reader toolbar that will appear at the top of the page. Use Read aloud by selecting the Play button. The screen will dim slightly, and words will be highlighted as they’re read aloud. Select Pause to stop playback and the Forward/Backward buttons to move ahead or back.

How to update Read aloud settings

Read aloud can be used both online and offline. With an active internet connection, Read aloud unlocks dozens of natural-sounding voices that can be customized to match what’s most comfortable for you.

In the Read aloud bar at the top of your browser, select Voice options . You can then choose from a variety of options:

• Reading speed . The default speed will be set at Normal, and you can tweak the slider to speed up or slow down the pace of narration.
• Voices and accents . Dozens of voices from around the world are identified by their names, such as Alonso (a male Spanish speaker) or Yunxia (a female Chinese speaker). With the power of AI technology, Read aloud can immediately bring the text to life with voices ranging from Afrikaans to Welsh and Zulu. Regional and specific accents are also incorporated: For example, if you’re looking for a French voice, not only can you select French, but you can also choose from Canadian French, Belgian French, or Swiss French.
• Language . Download language packs  to unlock the ability to immediately translate text to a different language when spoken out loud. These language packs are built directly into Windows 11, so they’ll be compatible across Microsoft 365  and OneNote Learning Tools  as well as Microsoft Edge.

Credit: Image Created with AI

Use Immersive Reader to focus on articles

In addition to Read aloud, the Immersive Reader feature in Microsoft Edge may help improve your focus and eliminate distractions by simplifying webpage layouts, removing clutter, and allowing you to customize your reading experience.

Initially designed to make content more accessible to those with dyslexia, Immersive Reader has become a widely used and effective tool to aid in comfortable reading. Change the color of your background, adjust font size and style, and focus on individual lines so you can improve your reading comprehension.

Try Microsoft Edge today  to customize Read aloud and Immersive Reader to read and hear web content your way.

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Colman Domingo Pays Tribute to Louis Gossett Jr. : ‘There Would Be No Me, if There Was No Him’

Gossett Jr., the trailblazing Oscar and Emmy winning actor, died Friday at age 87

By Colman Domingo

Colman Domingo

Colman Domingo is an Emmy winner, as well as Academy Award and Tony-nominated actor, playwright and director. Domingo and Gossett Jr. co-starred in 2023’s “ The Color Purple ,” one of the late Oscar winner’s final films.

There is a moment that our wunderkind director Blitz Bazawule set up for the great Louis Gossett Jr. and me that is one of my most memorable cinematic moments of my entire career. It is a moment created just for our offering of Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple.”

So much being said, so much left unsaid. Just the depth of Lou and I staring straight into each other’s souls and bringing generations of Black men with us in that room. Our families. The history of slavery and its effects on the Black family. The women have left the Easter dinner table — and left no crumbs — as liberation took hold in that hot Georgia home. In our eyes I felt horror, fear, trauma, pain, hurt, rage and regret.

The first day that I met Mr. Gossett, I said “Thank you.” Those were the words I wanted to say. Because I knew that there would be no me, if there was no him. And other giants like him. I always looked to him and James Earl Jones and Glynn Turman and Roscoe Lee Browne and Paul Winfield and Morgan Freeman and Sidney Poitier. Men who came from the theater, like me, who gave such dignity to heroes and villains. Every character had grace in some way shape or form.

Lou and I had many moments off screen just chatting about life and art, and he constantly would talk about the responsibility of youth. To get involved and make this world better. He was a teacher and a humanitarian. He wore Kente cloth and sat with a walking stick. He would ask me after a take, with all the humility in the world, “Was that okay?” I looked at him and said, “Anything you give us is a gift.” And I meant that. He brought years of experience, intelligence, with good humor, light and love to our set. I felt a kinship with him. I called him “Daddy” the entire time, since he was Ole Mista and I was his son.

When he wrapped, I kissed his hands twice. I asked Fantasia to sing a song of thank you. He told us, “Knock ‘em dead, now.” He had tears in his eyes. I couldn’t thank him enough for all that he had given. He ran his race for us. It is up to us to “Knock ‘em dead, now.”

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• The Case for Marrying an Older Man

A woman’s life is all work and little rest. An age gap relationship can help.

In the summer, in the south of France, my husband and I like to play, rather badly, the lottery. We take long, scorching walks to the village — gratuitous beauty, gratuitous heat — kicking up dust and languid debates over how we’d spend such an influx. I purchase scratch-offs, jackpot tickets, scraping the former with euro coins in restaurants too fine for that. I never cash them in, nor do I check the winning numbers. For I already won something like the lotto, with its gifts and its curses, when he married me.

He is ten years older than I am. I chose him on purpose, not by chance. As far as life decisions go, on balance, I recommend it.

When I was 20 and a junior at Harvard College, a series of great ironies began to mock me. I could study all I wanted, prove myself as exceptional as I liked, and still my fiercest advantage remained so universal it deflated my other plans. My youth. The newness of my face and body. Compellingly effortless; cruelly fleeting. I shared it with the average, idle young woman shrugging down the street. The thought, when it descended on me, jolted my perspective, the way a falling leaf can make you look up: I could diligently craft an ideal existence, over years and years of sleepless nights and industry. Or I could just marry it early.

So naturally I began to lug a heavy suitcase of books each Saturday to the Harvard Business School to work on my Nabokov paper. In one cavernous, well-appointed room sat approximately 50 of the planet’s most suitable bachelors. I had high breasts, most of my eggs, plausible deniability when it came to purity, a flush ponytail, a pep in my step that had yet to run out. Apologies to Progress, but older men still desired those things.

I could not understand why my female classmates did not join me, given their intelligence. Each time I reconsidered the project, it struck me as more reasonable. Why ignore our youth when it amounted to a superpower? Why assume the burdens of womanhood, its too-quick-to-vanish upper hand, but not its brief benefits at least? Perhaps it came easier to avoid the topic wholesale than to accept that women really do have a tragically short window of power, and reason enough to take advantage of that fact while they can. As for me, I liked history, Victorian novels, knew of imminent female pitfalls from all the books I’d read: vampiric boyfriends; labor, at the office and in the hospital, expected simultaneously; a decline in status as we aged, like a looming eclipse. I’d have disliked being called calculating, but I had, like all women, a calculator in my head. I thought it silly to ignore its answers when they pointed to an unfairness for which we really ought to have been preparing.

I was competitive by nature, an English-literature student with all the corresponding major ambitions and minor prospects (Great American novel; email job). A little Bovarist , frantic for new places and ideas; to travel here, to travel there, to be in the room where things happened. I resented the callow boys in my class, who lusted after a particular, socially sanctioned type on campus: thin and sexless, emotionally detached and socially connected, the opposite of me. Restless one Saturday night, I slipped on a red dress and snuck into a graduate-school event, coiling an HDMI cord around my wrist as proof of some technical duty. I danced. I drank for free, until one of the organizers asked me to leave. I called and climbed into an Uber. Then I promptly climbed out of it. For there he was, emerging from the revolving doors. Brown eyes, curved lips, immaculate jacket. I went to him, asked him for a cigarette. A date, days later. A second one, where I discovered he was a person, potentially my favorite kind: funny, clear-eyed, brilliant, on intimate terms with the universe.

I used to love men like men love women — that is, not very well, and with a hunger driven only by my own inadequacies. Not him. In those early days, I spoke fondly of my family, stocked the fridge with his favorite pasta, folded his clothes more neatly than I ever have since. I wrote his mother a thank-you note for hosting me in his native France, something befitting a daughter-in-law. It worked; I meant it. After graduation and my fellowship at Oxford, I stayed in Europe for his career and married him at 23.

Of course I just fell in love. Romances have a setting; I had only intervened to place myself well. Mainly, I spotted the precise trouble of being a woman ahead of time, tried to surf it instead of letting it drown me on principle. I had grown bored of discussions of fair and unfair, equal or unequal , and preferred instead to consider a thing called ease.

The reception of a particular age-gap relationship depends on its obviousness. The greater and more visible the difference in years and status between a man and a woman, the more it strikes others as transactional. Transactional thinking in relationships is both as American as it gets and the least kosher subject in the American romantic lexicon. When a 50-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman walk down the street, the questions form themselves inside of you; they make you feel cynical and obscene: How good of a deal is that? Which party is getting the better one? Would I take it? He is older. Income rises with age, so we assume he has money, at least relative to her; at minimum, more connections and experience. She has supple skin. Energy. Sex. Maybe she gets a Birkin. Maybe he gets a baby long after his prime. The sight of their entwined hands throws a lucid light on the calculations each of us makes, in love, to varying degrees of denial. You could get married in the most romantic place in the world, like I did, and you would still have to sign a contract.

Twenty and 30 is not like 30 and 40; some freshness to my features back then, some clumsiness in my bearing, warped our decade, in the eyes of others, to an uncrossable gulf. Perhaps this explains the anger we felt directed at us at the start of our relationship. People seemed to take us very, very personally. I recall a hellish car ride with a friend of his who began to castigate me in the backseat, in tones so low that only I could hear him. He told me, You wanted a rich boyfriend. You chased and snuck into parties . He spared me the insult of gold digger, but he drew, with other words, the outline for it. Most offended were the single older women, my husband’s classmates. They discussed me in the bathroom at parties when I was in the stall. What does he see in her? What do they talk about? They were concerned about me. They wielded their concern like a bludgeon. They paraphrased without meaning to my favorite line from Nabokov’s Lolita : “You took advantage of my disadvantage,” suspecting me of some weakness he in turn mined. It did not disturb them, so much, to consider that all relationships were trades. The trouble was the trade I’d made struck them as a bad one.

The truth is you can fall in love with someone for all sorts of reasons, tiny transactions, pluses and minuses, whose sum is your affection for each other, your loyalty, your commitment. The way someone picks up your favorite croissant. Their habit of listening hard. What they do for you on your anniversary and your reciprocal gesture, wrapped thoughtfully. The serenity they inspire; your happiness, enlivening it. When someone says they feel unappreciated, what they really mean is you’re in debt to them.

When I think of same-age, same-stage relationships, what I tend to picture is a woman who is doing too much for too little.

I’m 27 now, and most women my age have “partners.” These days, girls become partners quite young. A partner is supposed to be a modern answer to the oppression of marriage, the terrible feeling of someone looming over you, head of a household to which you can only ever be the neck. Necks are vulnerable. The problem with a partner, however, is if you’re equal in all things, you compromise in all things. And men are too skilled at taking .

There is a boy out there who knows how to floss because my friend taught him. Now he kisses college girls with fresh breath. A boy married to my friend who doesn’t know how to pack his own suitcase. She “likes to do it for him.” A million boys who know how to touch a woman, who go to therapy because they were pushed, who learned fidelity, boundaries, decency, manners, to use a top sheet and act humanely beneath it, to call their mothers, match colors, bring flowers to a funeral and inhale, exhale in the face of rage, because some girl, some girl we know, some girl they probably don’t speak to and will never, ever credit, took the time to teach him. All while she was working, raising herself, clawing up the cliff-face of adulthood. Hauling him at her own expense.

I find a post on Reddit where five thousand men try to define “ a woman’s touch .” They describe raised flower beds, blankets, photographs of their loved ones, not hers, sprouting on the mantel overnight. Candles, coasters, side tables. Someone remembering to take lint out of the dryer. To give compliments. I wonder what these women are getting back. I imagine them like Cinderella’s mice, scurrying around, their sole proof of life their contributions to a more central character. On occasion I meet a nice couple, who grew up together. They know each other with a fraternalism tender and alien to me.  But I think of all my friends who failed at this, were failed at this, and I think, No, absolutely not, too risky . Riskier, sometimes, than an age gap.

My younger brother is in his early 20s, handsome, successful, but in many ways: an endearing disaster. By his age, I had long since wisened up. He leaves his clothes in the dryer, takes out a single shirt, steams it for three minutes. His towel on the floor, for someone else to retrieve. His lovely, same-age girlfriend is aching to fix these tendencies, among others. She is capable beyond words. Statistically, they will not end up together. He moved into his first place recently, and she, the girlfriend, supplied him with a long, detailed list of things he needed for his apartment: sheets, towels, hangers, a colander, which made me laugh. She picked out his couch. I will bet you anything she will fix his laundry habits, and if so, they will impress the next girl. If they break up, she will never see that couch again, and he will forget its story. I tell her when I visit because I like her, though I get in trouble for it: You shouldn’t do so much for him, not for someone who is not stuck with you, not for any boy, not even for my wonderful brother.

Too much work had left my husband, by 30, jaded and uninspired. He’d burned out — but I could reenchant things. I danced at restaurants when they played a song I liked. I turned grocery shopping into an adventure, pleased by what I provided. Ambitious, hungry, he needed someone smart enough to sustain his interest, but flexible enough in her habits to build them around his hours. I could. I do: read myself occupied, make myself free, materialize beside him when he calls for me. In exchange, I left a lucrative but deadening spreadsheet job to write full-time, without having to live like a writer. I learned to cook, a little, and decorate, somewhat poorly. Mostly I get to read, to walk central London and Miami and think in delicious circles, to work hard, when necessary, for free, and write stories for far less than minimum wage when I tally all the hours I take to write them.

At 20, I had felt daunted by the project of becoming my ideal self, couldn’t imagine doing it in tandem with someone, two raw lumps of clay trying to mold one another and only sullying things worse. I’d go on dates with boys my age and leave with the impression they were telling me not about themselves but some person who didn’t exist yet and on whom I was meant to bet regardless. My husband struck me instead as so finished, formed. Analyzable for compatibility. He bore the traces of other women who’d improved him, small but crucial basics like use a coaster ; listen, don’t give advice. Young egos mellow into patience and generosity.

My husband isn’t my partner. He’s my mentor, my lover, and, only in certain contexts, my friend. I’ll never forget it, how he showed me around our first place like he was introducing me to myself: This is the wine you’ll drink, where you’ll keep your clothes, we vacation here, this is the other language we’ll speak, you’ll learn it, and I did. Adulthood seemed a series of exhausting obligations. But his logistics ran so smoothly that he simply tacked mine on. I moved into his flat, onto his level, drag and drop, cleaner thrice a week, bills automatic. By opting out of partnership in my 20s, I granted myself a kind of compartmentalized, liberating selfishness none of my friends have managed. I am the work in progress, the party we worry about, a surprising dominance. When I searched for my first job, at 21, we combined our efforts, for my sake. He had wisdom to impart, contacts with whom he arranged coffees; we spent an afternoon, laughing, drawing up earnest lists of my pros and cons (highly sociable; sloppy math). Meanwhile, I took calls from a dear friend who had a boyfriend her age. Both savagely ambitious, hyperclose and entwined in each other’s projects. If each was a start-up , the other was the first hire, an intense dedication I found riveting. Yet every time she called me, I hung up with the distinct feeling that too much was happening at the same time: both learning to please a boss; to forge more adult relationships with their families; to pay bills and taxes and hang prints on the wall. Neither had any advice to give and certainly no stability. I pictured a three-legged race, two people tied together and hobbling toward every milestone.

I don’t fool myself. My marriage has its cons. There are only so many times one can say “thank you” — for splendid scenes, fine dinners — before the phrase starts to grate. I live in an apartment whose rent he pays and that shapes the freedom with which I can ever be angry with him. He doesn’t have to hold it over my head. It just floats there, complicating usual shorthands to explain dissatisfaction like, You aren’t being supportive lately . It’s a Frenchism to say, “Take a decision,” and from time to time I joke: from whom? Occasionally I find myself in some fabulous country at some fabulous party and I think what a long way I have traveled, like a lucky cloud, and it is frightening to think of oneself as vapor.

Mostly I worry that if he ever betrayed me and I had to move on, I would survive, but would find in my humor, preferences, the way I make coffee or the bed nothing that he did not teach, change, mold, recompose, stamp with his initials, the way Renaissance painters hid in their paintings their faces among a crowd. I wonder if when they looked at their paintings, they saw their own faces first. But this is the wrong question, if our aim is happiness. Like the other question on which I’m expected to dwell: Who is in charge, the man who drives or the woman who put him there so she could enjoy herself? I sit in the car, in the painting it would have taken me a corporate job and 20 years to paint alone, and my concern over who has the upper hand becomes as distant as the horizon, the one he and I made so wide for me.

To be a woman is to race against the clock, in several ways, until there is nothing left to be but run ragged.

We try to put it off, but it will hit us at some point: that we live in a world in which our power has a different shape from that of men, a different distribution of advantage, ours a funnel and theirs an expanding cone. A woman at 20 rarely has to earn her welcome; a boy at 20 will be turned away at the door. A woman at 30 may find a younger woman has taken her seat; a man at 30 will have invited her. I think back to the women in the bathroom, my husband’s classmates. What was my relationship if not an inconvertible sign of this unfairness? What was I doing, in marrying older, if not endorsing it? I had taken advantage of their disadvantage. I had preempted my own. After all, principled women are meant to defy unfairness, to show some integrity or denial, not plan around it, like I had. These were driven women, successful, beautiful, capable. I merely possessed the one thing they had already lost. In getting ahead of the problem, had I pushed them down? If I hadn’t, would it really have made any difference?

When we decided we wanted to be equal to men, we got on men’s time. We worked when they worked, retired when they retired, had to squeeze pregnancy, children, menopause somewhere impossibly in the margins. I have a friend, in her late 20s, who wears a mood ring; these days it is often red, flickering in the air like a siren when she explains her predicament to me. She has raised her fair share of same-age boyfriends. She has put her head down, worked laboriously alongside them, too. At last she is beginning to reap the dividends, earning the income to finally enjoy herself. But it is now, exactly at this precipice of freedom and pleasure, that a time problem comes closing in. If she would like to have children before 35, she must begin her next profession, motherhood, rather soon, compromising inevitably her original one. The same-age partner, equally unsettled in his career, will take only the minimum time off, she guesses, or else pay some cost which will come back to bite her. Everything unfailingly does. If she freezes her eggs to buy time, the decision and its logistics will burden her singly — and perhaps it will not work. Overlay the years a woman is supposed to establish herself in her career and her fertility window and it’s a perfect, miserable circle. By midlife women report feeling invisible, undervalued; it is a telling cliché, that after all this, some husbands leave for a younger girl. So when is her time, exactly? For leisure, ease, liberty? There is no brand of feminism which achieved female rest. If women’s problem in the ’50s was a paralyzing malaise, now it is that they are too active, too capable, never permitted a vacation they didn’t plan. It’s not that our efforts to have it all were fated for failure. They simply weren’t imaginative enough.

For me, my relationship, with its age gap, has alleviated this rush , permitted me to massage the clock, shift its hands to my benefit. Very soon, we will decide to have children, and I don’t panic over last gasps of fun, because I took so many big breaths of it early: on the holidays of someone who had worked a decade longer than I had, in beautiful places when I was young and beautiful, a symmetry I recommend. If such a thing as maternal energy exists, mine was never depleted. I spent the last nearly seven years supported more than I support and I am still not as old as my husband was when he met me. When I have a child, I will expect more help from him than I would if he were younger, for what does professional tenure earn you if not the right to set more limits on work demands — or, if not, to secure some child care, at the very least? When I return to work after maternal upheaval, he will aid me, as he’s always had, with his ability to put himself aside, as younger men are rarely able.

Above all, the great gift of my marriage is flexibility. A chance to live my life before I become responsible for someone else’s — a lover’s, or a child’s. A chance to write. A chance at a destiny that doesn’t adhere rigidly to the routines and timelines of men, but lends itself instead to roomy accommodation, to the very fluidity Betty Friedan dreamed of in 1963 in The Feminine Mystique , but we’ve largely forgotten: some career or style of life that “permits year-to-year variation — a full-time paid job in one community, part-time in another, exercise of the professional skill in serious volunteer work or a period of study during pregnancy or early motherhood when a full-time job is not feasible.” Some things are just not feasible in our current structures. Somewhere along the way we stopped admitting that, and all we did was make women feel like personal failures. I dream of new structures, a world in which women have entry-level jobs in their 30s; alternate avenues for promotion; corporate ladders with balconies on which they can stand still, have a smoke, take a break, make a baby, enjoy themselves, before they keep climbing. Perhaps men long for this in their own way. Actually I am sure of that.

Once, when we first fell in love, I put my head in his lap on a long car ride; I remember his hands on my face, the sun, the twisting turns of a mountain road, surprising and not surprising us like our romance, and his voice, telling me that it was his biggest regret that I was so young, he feared he would lose me. Last week, we looked back at old photos and agreed we’d given each other our respective best years. Sometimes real equality is not so obvious, sometimes it takes turns, sometimes it takes almost a decade to reveal itself.

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Guest Essay

Elite College Admissions Have Turned Students Into Brands

By Sarah Bernstein

Ms. Bernstein is a playwright, a writing coach and an essayist in Brooklyn.

“I just can’t think of anything,” my student said.

After 10 years of teaching college essay writing, I was familiar with this reply. For some reason, when you’re asked to recount an important experience from your life, it is common to forget everything that has ever happened to you. It’s a long-form version of the anxiety that takes hold at a corporate retreat when you’re invited to say “one interesting thing about yourself,” and you suddenly believe that you are the most boring person in the entire world. Once during a version of this icebreaker, a man volunteered that he had only one kidney, and I remember feeling incredibly jealous of him.

I tried to jog this student’s memory. What about his love of music? Or his experience learning English? Or that time on a summer camping trip when he and his friends had nearly drowned? “I don’t know,” he said with a sigh. “That all seems kind of cliché.”

Applying to college has always been about standing out. When I teach college essay workshops and coach applicants one on one, I see my role as helping students to capture their voice and their way of processing the world, things that are, by definition, unique to each individual. Still, many of my students (and their parents) worry that as getting into college becomes increasingly competitive, this won’t be enough to set them apart.

Their anxiety is understandable. On Thursday, in a tradition known as “Ivy Day,” all eight Ivy League schools released their regular admission decisions. Top colleges often issue statements about how impressive (and competitive) their applicant pools were this cycle. The intention is to flatter accepted students and assuage rejected ones, but for those who have not yet applied to college, these statements reinforce the fear that there is an ever-expanding cohort of applicants with straight A’s and perfect SATs and harrowing camping trip stories all competing with one another for a vanishingly small number of spots.

This scarcity has led to a boom in the college consulting industry, now estimated to be a $2.9 billion business. In recent years, many of these advisers and companies have begun to promote the idea of personal branding — a way for teenagers to distinguish themselves by becoming as clear and memorable as a good tagline.

While this approach often leads to a strong application, students who brand themselves too early or too definitively risk missing out on the kind of exploration that will prepare them for adult life.

Like a corporate brand, the personal brand is meant to distill everything you stand for (honesty, integrity, high quality, low prices) into a cohesive identity that can be grasped at a glance. On its website, a college prep and advising company called Dallas Admissions explains the benefits of branding this way: “Each person is complex, yet admissions officers only have a small amount of time to spend learning about each prospective student. The smart student boils down key aspects of himself or herself into their personal ‘brand’ and sells that to the college admissions officer.”

Identifying the key aspects of yourself may seem like a lifelong project, but unfortunately, college applicants don’t have that kind of time. Online, there are dozens of lesson plans and seminars promising to walk students through the process of branding themselves in five to 10 easy steps. The majority begin with questions I would have found panic-inducing as a teenager, such as, “What is the story you want people to tell about you when you’re not in the room?”

Where I hoped others would describe me as “normal” or, in my wildest dreams, “cool,” today’s teenagers are expected to leave this exercise with labels like, Committed Athlete and Compassionate Leader or Environmentally Conscious Musician. Once students have a draft of their ideal self, they’re offered instructions for manifesting it (or at least, the appearance of it) in person and online. These range from common-sense tips (not posting illegal activity on social media) to more drastic recommendations (getting different friends).

It’s not just that these courses cut corners on self-discovery; it’s that they get the process backward. A personal brand is effective only if you can support it with action, so instead of finding their passion and values through experience, students are encouraged to select a passion as early as possible and then rack up the experience to substantiate it. Many college consultants suggest beginning to align your activities with your college ambitions by ninth grade, while the National Institute of Certified College Planners recommends students “talk with parents, guardians, and/or an academic adviser to create a clear plan for your education and career-related goals” in junior high.

The idea of a group of middle schoolers soberly mapping out their careers is both comical and depressing, but when I read student essays today, I can see that this advice is getting through. Over the past few years, I have been struck by how many high school seniors already have defined career goals as well as a C.V. of relevant extracurriculars to go with them. This widens the gap between wealthy students and those who lack the resources to secure a fancy research gig or start their own small business. (A shocking number of college applicants claim to have started a small business.) It also puts pressure on all students to define themselves at a moment when they are anxious to fit in and yet changing all the time.

In the world of branding, a word that appears again and again is “consistency.” If you are Charmin, that makes sense. People opening a roll of toilet paper do not want to be surprised. If you are a teenage human being, however, that is an unreasonable expectation. Changing one’s interests, opinions and presentation is a natural part of adolescence and an instructive one. I find that my students with scattershot résumés are often the most confident. They’re not afraid to push back against suggestions that ring false and will insist on revising their essay until it actually “feels like me.” On the other hand, many of my most accomplished students are so quick to accept feedback that I am wary of offering it, lest I become one more adult trying to shape them into an admission-worthy ideal.

I understand that for parents, prioritizing exploration can feel like a risky bet. Self-insight is hard to quantify and to communicate in a college application. When it comes to building a life, however, this kind of knowledge has more value than any accolade, and it cannot be generated through a brainstorming exercise in a six-step personal branding course online. To equip kids for the world, we need to provide them not just with opportunities for achievement, but with opportunities to fail, to learn, to wander and to change their minds.

In some ways, the college essay is a microcosm of modern adolescence. Depending on how you look at it, it’s either a forum for self-discovery or a high-stakes test you need to ace. I try to assure my students that it is the former. I tell them that it’s a chance to take stock of everything you’ve experienced and learned over the past 18 years and everything you have to offer as a result.

That can be a profound process. But to embark on it, students have to believe that colleges really want to see the person behind the brand. And they have to have the chance to know who that person is.

Sarah Bernstein is a playwright, a writing coach and an essayist.

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