Clemmons, NC (PRWEB) January 17, 2006 -- It’s not easy to surf the web or read an article or book when your brain wants to switch letters or simply refuses to decode certain words. This is why text-to-speech software like NextUp’s TextAloud is becoming more and more essential to the way people read for work, learning, or simple enjoyment -- regardless of whether they face learning disabilities.

TextAloud is an award-winning Text-to-Speech program that converts text into spoken audio for listening on a PC, and can also save text to audio files for the added option of easy playback on the go. The program’s simple and elegant program interface works along with a wide array of surprisingly naturalistic premium voices, to bring words to life as if they are actually being read or spoken aloud.

This is why TextAloud can be so life-changing for the learning-disabled. It has been estimated that between five and ten percent of the general population experiences learning disabilities in some form, most often in the form of a reading disability. A person with a reading disability may have no difficulty with comprehension; but will often encounter great difficulty in simply identifying or decoding a word itself. This makes for a difficult and challenging reading process, in which the user must first “unscramble” a word before “reading” and comprehending it.

However, thanks to feedback from educators as well as reading-disabled users, programs like TextAloud can be a transformative experience, helping them to eliminate that often-frustrating middle step while improving recognition. By hearing the words read aloud, the brain can listen and comprehend far more quickly and smoothly, while also reinforcing visual identification of the words before them through hearing them aurally. The program works so well at this, in fact, that several universities in the United States have purchased multiple licenses of TextAloud in order to assist their reading- and learning-disabled students, as well as those with visual disabilities.

“One of our goals in creating programs like TextAloud has always been to translate the magic of reading, learning, and information into an enjoyable and natural listening experience,” comments Rick Ellis, President of NextUp.com. “It means a great deal to us that our program is proving a real benefit to users, educators and students across the globe, and assisting them to read even while dealing with formidable disabilities.”

Praise from Learning- and Visually-Disabled Users of TextAloud:

Edward C. (Australia): “I am dyslexic, and I could not have completed my MBA (Master of Business Administration) without TextAloud, which I used to convert all my course notes and case studies to text, and to then listen to them via TextAloud MP3 format.”

Eileen G.: “I have a reading disability and dyslexia, and as a result, I miss out on a lot. TextAloud has enhanced my life and given me a way around things I once found difficult, like gathering information from the Net, studying, or preparing for upcoming events.”

Jane E.: “TextAloud is fabulous! I have always been embarrassed that I have trouble reading, yet have always wanted to read articles from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times and other newspapers and periodicals. Thanks to TextAloud, now I can -- on a daily basis. I am 65 years old, and how I wish TextAloud had been around when I was in college.”

Katherine E.: “I have ADHD; as well the disorder where a person reverses words or numbers. Being able to hear the word (or number) spoken as I read on the computer screen is invaluable. I’ve recently completed the requirements for a four-year University undergraduate degree, something which would have been difficult, if not impossible, without TextAloud.”

Steven E.: “Here in Australia, I have studied with OTEN (or Open Training and Education Network), which assists many people with Reading difficulties. As a disabled student, I have been assisted with learning, reading and access to Technical Education by their very competent Disabilities Staff, and TextAloud has been a vital part of that for many years now. It's a wonderful software!”

About TextAloud
TextAloud is a full-featured Text to Speech (TTS) tool offering direct support for Word, PDF and HTML formats, as well as advanced pronunciation tools, an Internet Explorer Plug-In for easy listening of favorite web pages -- and more. TextAloud is priced at just $29.95, and is compatible with systems using Windows® 98, NT, 2000 and XP. The program is available for fast, safe and secure purchase via http://www.NextUp.com. NextUp.com also offers TextAloud with optional premium SAPI4 and SAPI5 voices from AT&T Natural Voices™, NeoSpeech, and Cepstral® for the most natural-sounding computer speech anywhere. Available languages include English with U.S., U.K., and Indian and Scottish accents, as well as French, Canadian French, Latin American Spanish, European Spanish, Mexican Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, European Portuguese, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese Chinese, Korean, Japanese, German, Italian, Dutch, Belgian Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, and Arabic.

About NextUp.com
NextUp.com, a division of NextUp Technologies, LLC, provides award-winning Text-to-Speech software for consumers, business customers, educators, and those with visual impairment or learning disabilities. In addition to TextAloud, NextUp.com markets other innovative Windows software including talking personal “news agent” NewsAloud™, WeatherAloud™ (a weather application that lets users select and listen to personalized weather forecasts), and stock updates and related news headlines read aloud thanks to StocksAloud™. Most recently, NextUp released NextUp Talker 1.0, an easy and affordable program that allows people who have lost their voices to use the latest in high-quality computer voices to communicate with others.

Evaluation copies of TextAloud are currently available upon request by members of the press. To receive a review copy, or for more information on NextUp.com or TextAloud, please contact

Rick Ellis at rdellis @ nextup.com. Meanwhile, for images, logos, box shots, or other information or artwork on TextAloud, please contact publicist Angela Mitchell at (904) 982-8043.