As showcased in the CES 2020, Google is rolling out a built-in screen reader for Google Assistant. The feature is activated when you say “Hey Google, read this page” and has started rolling out on Android.
Screen Reader will come in handy when you want to read long-form content without having to look at the screen. You can make Google Assistant read articles to you when you are driving or busy with anything else. Moreover, the utility of the feature increases when you pair your device with a Bluetooth headset. Furthermore, the screen-reader feature is extremely useful for people with visual or reading difficulties.
Think about how much you read on your phone every day: Catching up on the news, scanning a new recipe, finally reading the article that everyone is talking about. Some content may require a lot of text, which can be a barrier for people with some form of visual or reading difficulties, or want to read content in another language. The screen-reader is supported on both full and AMP versions of websites. After you have opened a page on Chrome just sat “Hey Google, read this page.” This will open a new UI that is fine-tuned for this experience. Furthermore, the UI will let you auto-scroll, play/pause, rewind for 10-second and skip for 30-second. You can also use the scrubbable timeline to set the pace of reading. The feature lets you slow down audio by 0.5x or increase the speed by 3x. The best part is that webmasters are not required to make any changes to their webpage. If needed they can block the content with a tag. As far as availability is concerned, the feature is already being rolled out and should soon appear on your Android as well.
