At risk of stating the obvious, our team talks a lot – both often AND loudly – about the comparative merits of digital reading and the value of providing students with choice. Choice of not only what to read, but how to read, whether it’s a physical book, an ebook, an audiobook – or some combination thereof.

We love a good print book as much as anyone, but there’s no question that when students can access digital books, they can also access a host of reading tools and accessibility features that support personalization and engagement. Now, we’re adding a game-changing feature your students can use to help enhance their reading experience even more: Read to Me, Sora’s new text-to-speech support option.

What is Read to Me?

Read to Me is a text-to-speech feature that gives students the power to select a word, phrase, sentence, or paragraph in an ebook and have the text read aloud. Furthermore, readers can use customization tools like reading speed and volume controls to tailor their experience to meet their unique needs and preferences.

Sample of the in-app experience for Read to Me, Sora's new text-to-speech feature.

Pronunciations are included, too.

Students can also now opt to hear pronunciations of words they define. Wherever a definition appears in Sora, learners can select the speaker icon to hear the word pronounced.

Example of text-to-speech support for defined words. Students may opt to hear words they've chosen to define in Sora pronounced aloud to them.

 

How to get text-to-speech support in Sora with Read to Me

In-app Sora notification for Read to Me, the new text-to-speech support feature.Ready to play around with Read to Me? Then we have great news – this Sora update will download automatically.

Plus, to increase awareness of the new feature, students will see an announcement the first time they open an ebook after the update.

Resources for Read to Me

To help you spread the word and get the most out of Read to Me, we have step-by-step help articles and promotional assets are available for you to share with fellow educators.

Your Sora team is also available to answer questions – contact them here or at schools@overdrive.com.

Don’t miss future Sora product updates

For more on recent Sora innovations, revisit the top 6 Sora innovations from 2023.

Cheers to the 6 best Sora product updates of 2023!

Plus, stay up to date on future product updates, content offerings and more by subscribing to the School Blog. (Note: Once you’ve subscribed, don’t forget to check your inbox to confirm!)