Screen Reader vs Text to Speech: What's the Difference?

“How do I get my screen read aloud?” had only one answer before. Now, there are several. This is precisely the point of all the confusion.

Screen readers and text-to-speech technologies transform text into audio form, so it is natural to perceive these terms as synonyms. They aren’t; in fact, they perform different functions and require completely different approaches from you if you are a website owner.

The current article is going to explain the difference between a screen reader and text to speech. You will understand what each of them is and how they differ from one another, why people often confuse them, and when it makes sense to use each option. For website owners, the latter section of this guide is crucial, as the choice is not as binary as people tend to think.

Let us begin with a brief overview.

The Quick Answer

If there was ever a single section to be read, it should be this one.

A screen reader is a special software that is installed onto the user’s device by someone with limited vision capabilities to allow the operation of the entire computer through audio or braille. On the other hand, a text-to-speech utility basically translates any text material into audio format for any person who would prefer listening to reading.

The comparison table below shows the differences between the two:

Features	Screen Reader	Text-to-Speech (TTS)
Purpose	To operate an entire computer without seeing	To read aloud selected texts
Target audience	Blind and low-vision individuals	General users of the feature
What does it read	Buttons, menus, links, alt tags, form controls, and all texts	Only the texts on the page/document
Navigability	Yes, via full keyboard or gesture	No, because it just plays audio
Installation process	The final user, on his/her own device	Generally, web owners, on their website
Examples	NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver, Narrator	Read-aloud feature, browser extension, on-site players

Let us now take a deeper look at both.

A screen reader is software that turns everything on a screen into speech or braille to enable a blind or visually impaired person to use a device on his/her own. It’s an essential part of assistive technology. For many people, it’s the sole means of accessing digital content.

The crucial thing here is everything. A screen reader does not just read text in paragraphs. It informs a person about all heading levels, links, buttons, alt texts, form fields, menus, and the current location on the page. In other words, it lets the user know what can be interacted with and how.

The unique feature of screen readers is navigation. Users navigate through the page using keyboard shortcuts or touch gestures. Thus, they skip from heading to link, to section, but never use a mouse. The software serves as the interface between the user and the device.

There are several popular screen readers. Most of them are either installed in a device by default or freely downloadable:

NVDA and JAWS are popular on Windows. NVDA is free and open-source. JAWS is a paid professional application.
VoiceOver is pre-installed on Mac, iPhone, and iPad.
Narrator is pre-installed on Windows.
TalkBack is pre-installed on Android devices.
ChromeVox is a Chrome extension and ChromeOS application.

Given the large volume of data handled by a screen reader, the software offers speech rate control, verbosity level, punctuation options, and even ways to announce elements differently. It is a very powerful tool, and it is not surprising that its learning curve is quite steep. Some proficient users navigate by audio faster than sighted people navigate by sight.

What Is Text-to-Speech?

Text-to-speech (TTS) transforms written text into speech. You feed it text, play it, and hear your text read out loud in a synthesized voice. If you want the longer technical version, our guide on what TTS is covers the fundamentals.

TTS was designed not only with certain people in mind, but as a general-purpose technology. It assists commuting drivers listening to audiobooks; people with learning disorders who find it easier to process information in an audible form; language students; all those whose eyes hurt; and everyone who needs to do several things at once.

Technologically, TTS today relies on AI and employs speech synthesis, producing voices that emulate human speech in terms of pitch, pace, and intonation. This is the main explanation of how modern TTS voices differ so much from TTS voices produced just a few years ago. You can learn more about that evolution in our how AI created human-like voices article.

Where can you find TTS?

E-book readers
Applications
Browser plugins
Play buttons are popping up all over the Internet

What TTS will not do? Assist with navigation. It reads what text you feed it and does nothing else.

This distinction between navigation and no navigation defines the comparison.

Both of them have speech synthesis technology, which transforms text to speech. After that, they parted ways.

Here are some differences.

Purpose and Audience

Screen readers help blind and low-vision users navigate and operate their devices independently. Text-to-speech is designed for anyone who prefers listening to content instead of reading it.

What Gets Read

A screen reader reads not only the text itself but also all elements of the interface:

“button”
“link”
“heading two”
“image of a sunset”
“checkbox, unchecked”

Text-to-speech technology reads just the words and usually omits the information about the elements of the interface, as a listener sees the structure and needs only the text.

Screen readers enable full navigation through websites and applications using keyboard shortcuts or gestures. TTS only provides audio playback without navigation features.

Who Sets It Up

Screen readers are installed and configured by users on their own devices. TTS is often added by website owners or content creators for their audience.

Cost and Access

Many popular screen readers, including NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack, are free. TTS solutions vary in cost depending on the features, voice quality, and platform.

Why People Confuse the Two

It is natural to be confused because screen readers use text-to-speech engines for their voice output. In other words, TTS is a component of a screen reader, not its competitor. This is why both technologies can sound similar.

The difference lies in the additional features screen readers provide, including navigation, interface descriptions, braille display support, and various accessibility settings. Remove those features, and what remains is simply a text-to-speech engine that reads text aloud.

Text-to-speech is the engine itself, while a screen reader is the whole car built around the engine with all its steering and control mechanisms.

Which One Do You Actually Need?

Your answer depends on who you are.

If You’re an Individual User

Select a screen reader if you are blind or have low vision enough to use your device through sound only. This is the complete solution that will give you full independence, and navigation tools will not be some additional functions for you, but a must.

For more details regarding our review of how reading text aloud helps people with disabilities, please check out.

Select text-to-speech technology if you are capable of seeing the content on the screen, but you just prefer to listen for whatever reason – be it dyslexia, attention disorder, or simply tired eyes.

TTS is a much more lightweight solution; it is easy to implement, and it was designed precisely for this purpose. In particular, for readers with dyslexia and other reading disabilities.

It is quite a common practice to use both technologies.

If You Own or Manage a Website

Now it is a completely different question.

You are no longer selecting a solution that you will implement for yourself. Now you should decide how to make your content accessible to the visitors of your site. This is what most comparison articles do not cover.

What This Means If You Own a Website

If you have a website, screen readers and text-to-speech are not two mutually exclusive choices. These are two separate responsibilities, and both must be performed.

You cannot install a screen reader on your website. Your visitors have them already.

Screen readers NVDA, JAWS, and VoiceOver are located on their computers, not on yours.

Your task is to create a website that will be correctly understood by those screen readers.

You do it by doing the following things:

Providing clean semantic HTML
Building correct headings hierarchy
Adding alt text to your images
Creating form fields with labels
Adding ARIA attributes when necessary

If done right, screen readers will read your website correctly. If not, you lose quite a lot of your audience.

Details about making your website accessible and ADA compliance can be found in our guides.

What about Text-to-Speech?

In contrast to a screen reader, a text-to-speech solution is installed on your website directly.

Instead of waiting for visitors to use their own solution, you provide a play button for each one of them. They click on it and listen without installing any software or even setting up anything.

Text-to-speech is used by people who can see your content but prefer to hear it.

How WebsiteVoice Helps

Here comes the WebsiteVoice product.

WebsiteVoice is an app providing users of your website with the ability to get content converted into audio just in time.

Some of its main features are:

More than 60 artificial intelligence voices
More than 35 languages are supported
Natural-sounding audio playback
Integration with multiple website platforms

Users listen in voices and languages appropriate for them while commuting, multitasking, or even resting.

WebsiteVoice works on:

WordPress
Shopify
Wix
Squarespace
Or any other platform via JavaScript API

There’s even a dedicated WordPress plugin available.

The Combination of Accessibility and Text-to-Speech Solution

Both elements work together.

The website is built to be easily readable by a screen reader and serves the visitors who need an audio interface. WebsiteVoice serves all the other people.

By taking care of both, you provide access to your content for the full audience.

In addition, such an approach is known to keep visitors on the page longer.

Getting Started

If you need to provide listening for your website, try WebsiteVoice free for 14 days without using a credit card and have a play button live in minutes.

Conclusion

Both screen readers and TTS convert written words into speech, but they serve different purposes. A screen reader is a navigation tool for visually impaired users, while TTS simply turns text into audio for people who prefer listening over reading.

The confusion comes from the fact that screen readers use TTS to generate their voice output. They are connected technologies, not competing ones.

If you have a website, the goal is not to choose between them. Make your website accessible to screen readers and give visitors the option to listen using a solution like WebsiteVoice. This helps make your content available to the widest possible audience.

Start your free trial and put a play button on your website.

FAQs

No. Text-to-speech only reads written text, while a screen reader reads text and describes interface elements to help visually impaired users navigate devices. Although screen readers use TTS technology, they do much more than read text aloud.

Is Text-to-Speech Artificial Intelligence?

Many modern text-to-speech systems use artificial intelligence. They rely on speech synthesis and machine learning to create voices with more natural pitch, pace, and emphasis than older TTS systems.

NVDA and JAWS are widely used on Windows, VoiceOver is built into Apple devices, and TalkBack comes pre-installed on Android. NVDA is especially popular because it is free and open source.

Yes. A TTS solution allows visitors to listen to content, but it does not provide the navigation features offered by screen readers. Your website should support both.

No. Screen readers are installed on users’ devices, not on websites. However, you can optimize your site for screen readers and add a text-to-speech play button.

Screen Reader vs Text to Speech: What's the Difference?

The Quick Answer