How to Get the Sound Of Text Using Free Software

Turn the sound of any text into spoken words.

Some years ago when we wanted to get the sound of text in the sound format we used to encounter two major problems. One is the software that was being used was very expensive and the second one is the sound of text after generated from the software was very robotic in nature. 

But now the time has gone of those robotic voices and expensive software to get the sound of the text of your need.

There are lots of reasons why you want to get the sound of the text. You might have dyslexia or a sight problem that makes reading on a screen difficult. You might be learning a language and find it easier to understand when it’s spoken, or you might just want to listen to a book or blog post while you’re doing something else.

Whatever might be the reason, Balabolka is the best software to get the sound of text that you want for your use. It gives you the feature of a bookmark to select from the text file that you want to convert. So let’s get started with the software.

1. Download Balabolka

Download Balabolka, extract the contents of the compressed archive balabolka.zip to your desired folder in your PC, then install it by double-clicking the setup file. Choose your preferred language and click next to go through the installer process. After the installation finishes, click launch Balabolka to finish the setup.

2. Write some text and get the sound of a text

Balabolka on its first impression looks like a word processor and it allows the user to type in it the desired text and get the sound of text. After you finished writing the text, position your pointer and click the green play button to listen to the sound of the text that you have entered.

Now the software will read the sound of text in a default voice. You can also open any type of text document in this software, or you can get the text from the clipboard to paste it in the software.

3. Choose a different voice

If you are not satisfied with the default voice of the software, you can change the voice type in the text field. You can also change the volume and pitch of the voice to get a better and desired sound of text.

4. Save the sound of a text

One of the best features of this software is that it allows the user to save the sound file to the local drive-in a sound format that you can listen to it later. Click ‘File’ and select ‘Save audio file’. 

You can choose from all the most common sound file formats, including MP3, WAV, OGG, and WMA. It’s also possible to save the spoken text as an audiobook. It won’t be the same as an audiobook read by a professional voice actor, but it’s free.

5. Set bookmarks

Balabolka allows you to set bookmarks, which will divide the documents into smaller parts making it much easier to navigate – particularly for long documents. Position the cursor in the text, then click ‘Bookmarks > Insert named bookmark’ and enter a name. Bookmarks are invisible, but you can skip between them by right-clicking and selecting ‘Go to named bookmark’.

6. correct the pronunciation of sound of the text

If Balabolka is facing difficulty in reading a particular word clearly then click the ‘Panel of dictionaries’ button in the top menu and select ‘sample.bxd’. Now right-click the word and select ‘Pronunciation’. Click the text box beside ‘Like this’ and type an approximate phonetic pronunciation of the word. Click the speaker icon to check whether it pronounce it good or not. When you’re satisfied with the sound of the text, click ‘OK’, then ‘Save’.

7. Try speed-reading

If you’re comfortable reading on a screen, but don’t have much time, Balabolka has Spritz built-in. This is an interesting technology that allows the software to display words in very quick succession so that you can read them without having to move your eyes more. Place the cursor to the start of the text, then click ‘Tools > Spritz Reader’ and click ‘Read’. Once you’re used to Spritz, you should be able to get up to 400wpm quite easily.

8. Sync text

Like some of the media, players display the lyrics of the song playing and with some adjustment in the setting, you can get that also. Just click ‘File > ID3 tags’, check ‘Set ID3 tags for Audio files’, click the ‘Text’ tab and select ‘Add text to MP3 files’. The words will now appear in sync with the spoken audio when you play the exported MP3.