A screenreader is a kind of assistive technology software that facilitates using applications by either announcing the applications’ text contents, structure, states, and possible operations aloud via a text-to-speech engine, or by feeding that information to a peripheral such as a refreshable braille display.
Screenreaders are most commonly used by blind and low-vision people, though they can also be used by anyone who struggles to read page contents, such as dyslexic readers.
While they are often conflated for each other, screenreaders and text-to-speech software are distinct products. Text-to-speech software generally focuses just on announcing text contents aloud. Screenreaders expose the whole enchilada: text contents, images’ alternative text, page structure, element states, and more. Additionally, screenreaders provide their users with more ways to navigate an application, such as skipping to landmarks or navigating between elements of a similar type. Additionally, screenreaders can provide their own modes for inputting information back into the application.
Depending on your operating system, the best-known screenreaders are:
- Microsoft Windows: JAWS (paid), NVDA (free, open source), or Narrator (built in)
- macOS: VoiceOver for macOS (built in)
- Linux: Orca (free, open source)
- iOS or iPadOS: VoiceOver for iOS (built in)
- Android: TalkBack (built in)
External Resources
- WebAIM’s tenth survey of screenreader users
- WebAIM on designing for screenreader compatibility
- Martin Underhill’s getting-started guide for NVDA
- Martin Underhill’s getting-started guide for VoiceOver on macOS