A screen reader is an application that will read text on a website aloud, as well as describe the layout and functionality, to assist users who need assistance reading the content visually. While there are a number of excellent third-party screen reader applications, both as browser extensions and standalone, Google also has a screen reader extension available in the Chrome Web Store. Unfortunately it is no longer updated, so it’s recommended to utilize another solution if needed on a regular basis, but Google’s extension is useful in a pinch.
Google’s screen reader extension can be used with any browser that supports Chrome extensions, such as Google Chrome itself and Microsoft Edge. Once installed, it will begin audibly describing the content of web pages immediately. You can use the TAB and SHIFT-TAB keys to move forward and backward through different elements of the current page. It also has a number of other keyboard shortcuts for accessing different browser elements. You can learn more about these shortcuts as well as other functionality that’s available in this help article.
