Student guide
Listen to any page,
with every word highlighted
ReadingVox reads your course pages aloud in a natural voice and highlights each word as it's spoken, so you can follow along, take a break from the screen, or hear a word you're not sure about.
Start in three steps
1 Open the toolbar
Click the round ReadingVox button, usually in the bottom-right corner of the page. The toolbar opens.
2 Press Play
The page is read from the top. Press again to pause; it picks up where you left off.
- Plants make their own food.
3 Follow along
The word being read is highlighted and the sentence is shaded. The page scrolls with the reading.
Hear just part of the page
Select any text with your mouse or finger, then choose Listen.
The player controls
- Play / pause
- Stop and go back to the start
- Previous / next sentence
- Slower / faster, from 0.5x to 2x
- Settings: voice, colors, language
- Guide: what every button does
Click the bar along the toolbar's edge to jump to any point.
Tools that help you read
They're in the toolbar next to the player. Your school chooses which tools to show, so you may see fewer than these.
- Click and listenTurn it on, then click any paragraph to start reading from there.
- DictionaryLook up a word: meaning, examples, and a button to hear it.
- TranslateSelect text and hear it in another language (when available).
- SummarizeA short, plain-language summary of the page or your selection.
- Simplify viewShows just the text in a clean, distraction-free column.
- Simplify vocabularySwaps hard words for simpler ones. Hover to see the original.
- Text sizeMake text up to twice as large.
- FontEasier-to-read fonts, including OpenDyslexic.
- Page colors12 high-contrast color combinations, like yellow on black.
- Reading rulerDims the page except a strip, to keep your place.
- MagnifierShows the sentence being read in large text.
- Download MP3Save the page as audio to listen later.
Make it yours
Open Settings. Your choices are saved in your browser.
- Voice: pick the voice you like best.
- Highlighting: word and sentence, word only, sentence only, or off, in six colors.
- Toolbar language: 29 languages, from Spanish and Arabic to Vietnamese and Somali.
- Text spacing: more space between letters, words and lines.
- Volume and keyboard shortcuts.
Keyboard shortcuts
On a Mac, Alt is the Option ⌥ key.
| Alt + R | Play / pause |
| Alt + S | Stop |
| Alt + Shift + → ← | Next / previous sentence |
| Alt + Shift + ↑ ↓ | Faster / slower |
| Alt + T | Open or close the toolbar |
| Alt + C | Click and listen |
| Alt + K | Dictionary |
| Alt + H | Toolbar guide |
Good to know
- Works on phones and tablets
- In the web browser. It isn't in the Canvas app yet, so open your course in the browser.
- No sound?
- Check your device volume and the Volume setting in ReadingVox. Some browsers wait for a click before playing audio.
- Other languages
- Pages in Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Hindi, Japanese and Chinese are read with natural voices. Translations are machine-made.
- Your privacy
- ReadingVox receives only the text you choose to hear, to turn it into audio. It doesn't receive your name, email or grades, and never sells or advertises with student data.