Google Rolls Out "Listen To This Page" TTS Feature For Chrome On Android

(RTTNews) - Google has announced a new feature for the Chrome browser on Android called "Listen to this page."

This innovative function allows users to have text-heavy web pages read aloud to them using text-to-speech (TTS) technology. After a page is completely loaded, the "Listen to this page" option will appear in the three-dot overflow menu of Chrome for Android. It is located between the "Translate" and "Add to Home screen" options in the fourth section of the menu.

The TTS feature includes playback controls similar to those found in music or podcast apps, enabling users to pause, adjust reading speed, and skip forward or backward by 10-second intervals.

A convenient mini-player will be displayed at the bottom of the screen with playback controls and the ability to adjust playback speed from 0.8x to 4x. Additionally, there is a menu for accessing settings such as Highlight Text & Auto Scroll and Voice options.

One of the most convenient aspects of this feature is that users can switch between tabs while listening to the content and can continue listening even when the screen is locked. The mini-player remains visible when browsing different tabs, but it will stop when Chrome is closed. However, upon reopening the browser, it will automatically resume from where it was last active.

Furthermore, the feature is not limited to English language users. It supports multiple languages including French, German, Arabic, Hindi, and Spanish, each offering different voice options.

For instance, in English (US), the TTS feature provides voice options such as Ruby (mid-pitch, warm), River (mid-pitch, calm), Field (low-pitch, bright), and Moss (low-pitch, peaceful). English (UK) users can choose from Cloud (mid-pitch, soothing) and Dale (low-pitch, calm) voice options, while English (India) offers the Lake (mid-pitch, calm) voice option.

This new functionality is available in version 125 of the Android Chrome app, as discovered by 9to5Google.