Narration^[1] and use of human voices are quite the recipe to make online learners more interested and emotionally connected with the eLearning course. Fortunately, there is great abundance in narration and voice-over professionals out there. However, the cost keeps rising if you decide to hire a professional. There also arises the issue of what happens when you decide to update or add content to your online training course. Text to speech^[2] software tools eliminate the need to pay a professional while tackling cases of visually impaired online learners or online learners with various other learning disabilities.

1. Ivona^[3]

A member of the Amazon group of companies, Ivona is one of the best text to speech software tools in the market.

• 47 Human-Like Voices
  Ivona covers 24 languages with both male and female voices for almost all of them.
• Quality Performance Regardless Of Device
  Ivona partners with ReadSpeaker bringing optimized performance on almost all devices, as well as the ability to integrate Ivona into other applications.

Features And Plans

• 13 Subscription Plans Available
  Prices range from $29,95 for the basic option utilizing the Windows voice and go up to $159 depending on how many voices you will choose to purchase.

2. NaturalReader^[4]

Another great text to speech software with Optical Character Recognition for both Windows and Mac users. NaturalReader also offers the ability to change speed of speech.

• Free Download With Great Compatibility
  Free version available and compatible with PDF, Word files and Webpages.
• Vast Range Of Voices
  US English, British English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Arabic, Chinese and Japanese to name a few.
• Optical Character Recognition (OCR) 
  OCR enables you to scan your text and then convert it into digital text which you can listen to in audio form or save in your computer.
• Great Aid For People With Learning Disabilities
  From dyslexics to visually impaired online learners the “see it highlighted as you listen to it” function is a one key fits all solution. Real-time spelling feedback further strengthens spelling weaknesses. Online learners with learning disabilities^[5] can benefit greatly from such features.

Features And Plans

• 4 Subscription Options
  Free version is pretty standard with the Text To Speech function for documents and webpages along with other features. Then you have three other versions. One for $69,50, one for $129,50 and one for $199,50, depending on how many natural sounding voices you need or how many images you need the OCR function for.

3. Zabaware Text To Speech Reader^[6]

Great text to speech software with a speech synthesizer that reads many types of documents.