Making Text Audible

Reading can be a serious challenge for tens of millions of people, whether they struggle with comprehension difficulties, poor vision, dyslexia or other issues. But using computer vision and artificial intelligence, the OrCam Read ($1,990) can read any piece of text aloud. Users target the device’s laser frame at a page of a book, a menu, an advertisement or a screen displaying text, press a button, and the device instantly vocalizes it, in a voice that sounds remarkably natural; it also can read text in multiple languages. And since the device is able to respond to voice commands, you can ask it to read, say, a phone number from an ad, the operating hours of a business­—or your favorite story again, starting from “Once upon a time.” —Jesse Will

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