The first personal computers were designed without much thought for the physical needs of different users. If you couldn’t type on the cramped rubber keyboard or read the fuzzy text on your screen, you were out of luck. But things have been steadily improving, with the rise of voice recognition and screen-reading software.
Today, assistive technologies are a core feature of Windows, Android and iOS; screen reading and voice transcription are everyday tools. Your computer can read back documents for proofing, voice assistants can answer questions, and we can all interact with technology in more natural ways.
Reading aloud your screen content
Windows 10 and 11 both feature Narrator, a screen-reading tool originally designed for visually impaired users. It’s invoked by pressing Windows+Ctrl+Return; the first time you hit this key combination, you’ll see a window offering to install new voices if you’ve not already downloaded them. Clicking “Install now” takes you to Settings, where you can choose the active voice, the level of verbosity, output device and more.
There are four British voices to choose from; namely George, Susan, Hazel and Hazel Desktop. Click the down arrow to the right of the menu and you can tweak the speed, pitch and volume of your chosen voice.
While the Windows
