How to Do Mac Text-to-Speech? Built-in Tools, Apps & Pro Tips!

Nowadays, we all are too busy in our routine and professional lives. Usually, we don’t have time to read through those long books or papers. Do you want to read your favorite book? Can’t get enough time to carry it with you and read it for hours? Don’t worry, as this is where text to speech on Mac lends you a helping hand.

Moreover, Mac text to voice is super useful for those who have visual impairments and has proven to be a great tool for proofreading complex documents. Furthermore, it boosts your multitasking productivity.

Read this article to learn how you can unlock its full potential when it comes to text to speech conversion.

Part 1. How to Enable Text to Speech on Mac?

Mac offers an in-built TTS application to help your system read the text loudly. The term TTS stands for Text-to-Speech. You can access and use this tool at any time you want. This feature is known for assisting you in multitasking, proofreading, and accessibility. The Mac operating system offers different languages and voices. It enables you to customize voice and speed settings.

You can use this built-in feature of Mac to hear the words instead of reading them and examine your writing flow. You can enable this Mac text to audio feature on emails, web pages, and documents. If you want to learn a new language with proper pronunciation, it is better to listen to content in the same language. Here, this feature plays a key role.

Key Features

• It allows you to highlight text in messages, MS Word, Notes, Safari, and other apps.
• It offers a range of voices and features multi-lingual support.
• TTS on Mac lets you adjust the speaking rate.
• You can easily make a TTS shortcut for instant access.
• It provides spoken feedback to navigate macOS.

How to Use Built-In Mac TTS

Below are the steps to use TTS on your Mac system.

Step 1: Open System Settings, tap on Accessibility, and click Spoken Content, as shown below.

Step 2: Now, you can customize the settings and toggle the Speak selection on. You can also toggle other switches, as per your needs.

Note: For easy accessibility, you can customize the keyboard shortcut (Option + Esc is the default setting). It allows you to select sentences, words, or both. In addition, it can change the color of the sentence or word and pick a sentence style automatically to show Speech Controller on your screen. Here is how you can customize the shortcut keys.

Step 1: Click Spoken Content from Accessibility.

Step 2: Toggle on Speak Selection, and a pop-up will appear on the screen.

Step 3: Tap on the shortcut key and press your desired keys from the keyboard (e.g., Command + J).

Step 4: Hit the Done button, and your new shortcut will be saved.

Part 2. Top 5 Third-Party Apps for Text to Speech on MacBook

Now that you are familiar with text to speech on Mac using a built-in TTS tool and know the limitations it has. It is time to unlock the full potential of speech-to-text conversion on Mac with third-party, dedicated tools. Let’s do a quick comparison before going ahead.

Let's now look at the brief introduction, potential features, benefits, and limitations of each tool one by one.

Tool 1: UniConverter

Can’t you spend hours reading through the script to record your voice? Searching for a credible tool to assist you with this? Try Wondershare UniConverter. It is an incredible AI-powered tool that offers various functionalities, including text to speech conversion, in no time.

It enables you to generate a voice from the given script, thereby maintaining high precision. You can choose the purpose of speech and the voice tone while turning Mac text to audio. Whether you want to generate a speech from words for education, business, or entertainment, UniConverter will be your go-to partner.

If you are new to this domain, you can test the free trial first and if you are satisfied with UniConverter’s functionalities, you can choose to buy a premium plan.

Key Features

• It offers different voice types best for various content requirements, such as social media, education, entertainment, advertisement, and more.
• The interface offers easy navigation for users of all skill levels.
• This tool holds different voice tones based on the selected audio type.
• It allows users to create engaging scripts if they don’t have.

Best Text to Speech Software

Easily convert text to audio within few clicks, supporting 100+ voices and 25+ languages.

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Steps to Convert Text into Audio on Mac with UniConverter

Here is how you can generate speech from text using this amazing third-party text-to-speech conversion tool.

Step 1: Download Download UniConverter from its official website on your Mac system.

Step 2: Open the software and click on Text to Speech, as shown below.

Step 3: Select the Preview language and inside the Voice Library, open the All scenarios drop-down menu to choose the suitable option, such as Narrative, Education, and Social Media and select voice tone (e.g., confident, pleasant, mature, and crisp) from the new window that appears on your screen. Then, enter the script and make sure it is accurate.

Step 4: Tap on the Generate button, and UniConverter will convert your script into text within a few seconds. You can preview the generated speech to confirm it is okay. If it is up to the mark, hit the Export button. This way, an MP3 audio file of the given script will be stored on your Mac.

Tool 2: NaturalReader

Are you looking for a utility to convert written text into natural-sounding audio for personal use? If so, NaturalReader will be your helping hand. Whether you want to generate speech from a webpage, image, or PDF, this tool will help you get over the line. It is known for its highest AI voice quality. It supports multiple languages support for higher precision.

It only runs smoothly online on Mac but is also available as a Web app and Chrome extension. You can adjust the voice selection, pitch, and reading speed. Since it specializes in reading digital content aloud, it is a favorite choice of content creators, dyslexic users, professionals, and students.

Key Features

• It helps you filter unwanted text like images, footers, headers, or graphs.
• This tool lets you download and listen to MP3 files offline.
• The OCR camera scanner makes books and physical text more accessible.
• You can highlight specific text and create notes.
• It has the ability to edit the pronunciation of all words.

Price

• $0 (free trial)
• $20.90 per month (plus plan)

Tool 3: Apple Alex Enhanced

Apple has developed this high-quality voice for MacBook text to speech. It sounds natural as if human is reading. If you are looking for a more human-like reading and expressive experience, Apple Alex Enhanced will be your incredible assistant.

It is available on Mac and iPhone/iPad. Since it generates higher quality audio data, it is larger in file size. You can navigate to speech settings to download the enhanced version of Alex. The best part is that it is continuously enhancing its features to fulfill user needs.

Alex Enhanced is one of the perfect text to speech tools for people with reading difficulties or dyslexia, Mac or iPhone users who need realistic TTS for reading eBooks, articles, and documents. Moreover, it is an effective option for visually impaired people who often rely on-screen reading and voiceover.

Key Features

• It uses advanced speech synthesis and machine learning algorithms to create realistic and smooth intonation and pronunciation.
• It enables you to adjust tone and pitch.
• You can adjust stress on words of your choice.
• Alex Enhanced simulates breathing and pauses naturally to sound less robotic.
• Once you download this tool, it works without the internet.
• It helps visually impaired people enhance their navigation and screen reading experience.

Price:

Since it is not a stand-alone product, it does not have any specific price.

Tool 4: VoiceDream

If you are still looking for Mac talk to text tool, try VoiceDream. This tool is specialized in turning different text formats into speech or spoken words. Thousands of users like it due to the enhanced productivity and accessibility it offers.

This versatile and robust TTS application helps people with ADHD, dyslexia, visual impairments, and other reading challenges boost their reading experience. It was originally designed for iOS devices, but it is now available for macOS. Now, it offers a native experience to the users. Synchronization capabilities, multi-format support, and personalized settings make VoiceDream stand out in the market.

Key Features

• It has the ability to process various files, such as web articles, EPUB, and PDFs.
• You can integrate this tool with other services, like Bookshare, Dropbox, Google Drive, and iCloud.
• It offers multi-format support and access to 75 in-built macOS voices.
• VoiceDream lets you export text or speech as an audio file for offline listening.
• This application highlights the text that it reads aloud, which assists you in retention and comprehension.
• It synchronizes bookmarks, library, notes, and reading positions via iCloud across all Mac devices.

Price

• It offers a free trial for beginners.
• The regular price is $79.99 per year, but it often offers a 25% discount, which makes it $59.99 a year.

Tool 5: Amazon Polly

If you need a fully managed service to produce voice on demand, look no further than Amazon Polly. This AI-powered tool uses deep learning technology to turn PDF files, web pages, articles, and any form of text into spoken words. A diverse selection of voice tones in various languages sets this app apart from typical text-to-speech generators.

Amazon Polly synthesizes speech via generative voice engines and powerful neural networks that run in the background. You can integrate its API into any of your existing apps to experience a seamless reading experience across devices.

Key Features

• It enhances user engagement with high-quality speech synthesis.
• It offers hundreds of male and female voice tones.
• This app can generate speeches in 40+ languages.
• It is known for providing more human-like and expressive reading.
• You can define specific pronunciations for words of your choice to help Amazon Polly read the brand names and other words correctly.

Price

• The free tier offers 5 million characters per month.
• The standard voices are available for $4 per 1 million characters.
• The neural voices are available for $16 per 1 million characters.
• The price of long-form vehicles is $100 per 1 million characters.

FAQs about Mac Text to Audio

How do I get my Mac to read text aloud?

You can use the Speak Selection feature of your Mac to make it read the script or text aloud. Alternatively, you can start speaking the text by using the Edit menu. This feature allows you to set shortcut keys for quick access to text to speech on Mac.

Is there a way to do speech to text on Mac?

Yes, the Dictation feature on your Mac allows users to convert speech into text. It enables hands-free typing in search fields, emails, documents, and messages. People who prefer voice input over typing love using speech to text conversion feature on Mac.

Does Mac have a built-in text to speech?

Yes, the Mac comes with a built-in TTS to read the text aloud using natural-sounding settings. This tool is integrated into Accessibility settings and works with different applications, such as messages, notes, pages, and Safari.

How do I use text to speech in Word for Mac?

MS Word on Mac uses the built-in Speak Selection feature to offer precise and high-quality text to speech conversion. Though it is a great tool, it has certain limitations. If you want to enjoy the full potential of this domain, it is recommended to use dedicated, third-party tools like UniConverter and NaturalReader.

Ending Note

Mac text to speech conversion is nothing less than a blessing for visually impaired people or those who face any sort of reading challenges. This is where Mac lends you a helping hand. It offers an in-built TTS function to help users quickly turn the text into spoken words. However, this tool has certain limitations, like it does not highlight words that it reads and can’t read the text if it is not selected.

If you are worried about the built-in text to speech on Mac due to its limited functionalities, third-party tools, like Wondershare UniConverter, will be worth using. The discussion above has listed five dedicated tools to convert text to audio on Mac, along with their key functionalities, advantages, and limitations. Read through this guide for more details.