How to Enable Text to Speech on Kindle

Key Takeaways

• Kindle’s text to speech feature helps busy professionals “read” during low-focus moments like commuting or cooking.
• You can enable TTS directly on Kindle e-readers through the Aa menu and start listening with one tap. iOS, Android, and Fire devices also support Kindle read-aloud, either through native TTS engines or accessibility tools like Speak Screen and VoiceOver.
• Assistive Reader enhances the listening experience with real-time text highlighting and OS-level TTS support. Kindle includes strong accessibility features—VoiceView, Word Wise, Dark Mode, and OpenDyslexic font—to support diverse reading needs.
• TTS offers key benefits for multitaskers, visually impaired readers, language learners, and writers reviewing their work. However, the voice quality can be robotic, you may experience mispronunciations, and it offers limited customization options.
• Murf AI overcomes these gaps with human-like voices, advanced customization, multiple accents, and expressive styles that make audiobook listening more immersive.

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Busy professionals have little time to read, and ironically, they would benefit the most from it. Business leaders and senior executives in companies, due to the nature of their job, can be too occupied with strategic tasks.

At the same time, these folks do have some free time when doing non-demanding activities, such as commuting to work, eating a meal, and waiting in-between meetings.

Obviously, carrying a book at all times isn't always feasible or comfortable. Sometimes, you might be in the mood to read a different book than what you are carrying. Audiobooks are a much better option in this regard.

Listening to audiobooks can be more effortless, engaging, and immersive for many compared to reading the actual books.

With Kindle's text to speech feature, you can unlock a whole new level of comfortable reading by simply listening to every word of your book. This feature relieves eye strain and helps you read books effortlessly. Simply plug in your headphones and let the TTS feature on Kindle do the rest.

Introduced by Amazon back in 2007, Kindle e-readers have come a long way. From the Entry-Level Kindle and The Kindle Paperwhite to the Kids Editions, you can expect a premium and consistent experience in Kindle text to speech. 

Moreover, the audio quality is significantly better compared to commonly available tools, such as Google Text to Speech, in terms of realism, intonation, and listening comfort.

In this article, let's look at how can Kindle read to you to help you go through your favorite books effortlessly.

How to Activate Text to Speech on Kindle

Kindle text to speech is convenient for users who spend many hours commuting or performing tasks that require very limited cognitive capacity. They can simply activate the feature to use text to speech feature and learn on the go.

So, how to get Kindle to read to you? Here is a step-by-step guide on how to enable the text to speech feature on a Kindle device.

Step #1 

Tap the center of the screen and navigate to the menu icon 'Aa' in the upper right corner of the screen.

Step #2 

Click on the option 'Text to speech' from the Settings menu.

Step #3 

Users can now navigate and modify the speed, tone, and voice according to their preferences. For example, to increase or decrease the reading speed of the TTS voice, tap the 'Narration Speed' icon.

Step #4 

On returning to the reading page of the Kindle ebook, tap the screen to reveal the progress bar and click “Play.” The feature gets active by clicking the play button.

Users can now listen to the audio by attaching the headphones or simply through an external speaker of their device. By following the above steps, you can easily activate the text to audio output on the Kindle device.

How to Use Assistive Reader Text to Speech on Kindle App 

1. Kindle Text to Speech in iOS

The Kindle app on iOS does not include Amazon’s native TTS, but you can use Apple’s built-in VoiceOver or Spoken Content features to have books read aloud.

The first way is to do it via Speak Screen, which is easy for most iOS users:

1. Go to Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content
2. Turn on Speak Screen
3. Open any Kindle book
4. Swipe down with two fingers from the top of the screen
5. A controller appears and the book is read aloud

You can check out the steps in the video below:

2. Kindle Text to Speech in Android

Android does support system text-to-speech inside the Kindle app, which can be enabled by following the steps below:

1. Install/enable a TTS engine:
   Settings → Accessibility → Text-to-Speech Output
   (Google TTS or Samsung TTS both work)
2. Open the Kindle app
3. Open a book
4. Tap the center of the screen
5. Tap the three-dot menu ⋮
6. Choose “Text-to-Speech” or “Speak Text”

You can follow along with this video:

3. Kindle Text to Speech in Fire

Fire tablets support Amazon’s built-in Text-to-Speech, and the Kindle app on Fire devices is optimized for it.

1. Open Settings → Device Options → Accessibility
2. Ensure Text-to-Speech is on
3. Open a Kindle book
4. Tap the center of the screen
5. Tap the “Aa” (Display) menu
6. If the book allows TTS, you’ll see Text-to-Speech or “Narration / VoiceView”
7. Press Play to start reading aloud

The above steps are demonstrated in the following video:

How to Use Assistive Reader Text to Speech on Kindle App 

Assistive Reader allows you to use Kindle’s built-in audio features as well as highlight real-time text while listening. It is compatible with books purchased from the Kindle store or borrowed from Kindle Unlimited/Prime Reading/another Kindle partner.

It also supports books shared with you in your Family Library. Moreover, the book should be in a language that is supported by your device’s text to speech engine.

Here’s how assistive reader works:

• Uses your device’s OS-level text to speech engines to read the words aloud
• Pauses automatically when reading stops, like when you open the navigation menu or make an annotation

Enhanced Typesetting is a set of layout and typographical features that improve the reading experience of Kindle books. You can use Assistive Reader with any Kindle book with Enhanced Typesetting. To enable this feature, simply go to the Kindle eBook Store. Look for the Enhanced Typesetting option and choose “Enabled” in the features list. That’s it; you’re all set.

Wondering how to activate Assistive Reader? Just follow these simple steps, and Kindle will read to you the way you want:

Step #1

Start the Kindle app and open the content where you’d like to use Assistive Reader. 

Step #2

Tap the top center of the screen. Select the reading settings menu, i.e., “Aa.”

Step #3

Click on “More.” Turn on Assistive Reader. It will now stay active until turned off again. 

Step #4

To use player controls, tap the screen for the setting panel to appear at the bottom of the screen. You can now control the reading speed and more. 

Bonus Tip: If you’ve reached a certain point in the text and want to start Assistive Reader from there itself, long press the specific word to open the actions menu. Then, click “Play” to begin text to speech from that word onwards, instead of from the start of the page. 

Here’s an explainer video to make things clearer:

Best Accessibility Features on Kindle

Now that you know how to get Kindle to read to you, let’s delve deeper. The Kindle text to speech app not only provides a feature that reads the screen text aloud but offers various other features to make the reading experience better for all. These include: 

VoiceView for Screen Readers

In this era of digital reading, where everyone is stepping into e-books, people with vision impairment and blindness must also have equal experience and access to the content.

VoiceView feature allows users to listen to an e-book and can be set up using Bluetooth by following these steps:

• The user's Bluetooth should be in active mode.
• For nine seconds, hold down the power button on the Kindle app. Then, for one second, press two fingers apart on the screen.
• Wait up to two minutes to hear the VoiceView instructions that say, “Hold two fingers on the screen to use this audio device with VoiceView screen reader on Kindle.”

Word Wise for Definitions

With the help of Word Wise, readers can keep their reading flow in check by simultaneously looking at the word meanings of difficult words. This Kindle read aloud feature is accountable for adjusting the difficulty level as per the user's vocabulary.

This works well for users with reading difficulties as they can easily make sense of unfamiliar or challenging vocabulary.

Dark Mode for Less Eye Strain

Kindle's Dark Mode feature is an important feature that helps reduce eye strain and provides a more comfortable reading experience. Studies show that reading in a darker mode can reduce the amount of light entering the eyes and improve comfort while reading.

To activate this feature, users can simply swipe down from the top of the screen and tap on 'Dark Mode.' This will enable the feature and reduce eye strain.

Varying Font sizes and Layouts for Visual Enhancement

Kindle e-readers have an advantage over classic e-book readers in terms of customizing their page layouts. This includes adjusting fonts, margins, and spacing. Users can take control of their page's visuals as they wish.

OpenDyslexic Font for Easier Reading

Dyslexic readers cannot transcribe words, numeric symbols, and letters, and have difficulty reading in general. Kindle's OpenDyslexic font increases readability for people with dyslexia by using characters that are heavier on the bottom, enabling them to focus better.

To turn on OpenDyslexic font, open an e-book and click the 'Aa' icon that controls font size and appearance. Under the 'Font' option, tap 'Font' Family to view the OpenDyslexic font alongside other options.

Benefits of Using Text to Speech on Kindle App

As you can see, the Kindle text to speech option has simplified the act of reading, making it easier for users to multitask while staying on track with their books.

Here are some more benefits of using this feature on Kindle books:

• Visually impaired can greatly benefit from this read-aloud feature.
• Elderly people with declining eyesight can continue enjoying their favorite reads. 
• Language learners can benefit as they can hear the text for better understanding of pronunciation and fluency. 
• Writers and authors can listen to their books, which can help in identifying errors and missing words, as well as improving the content flow. 
• Frequent commuters can indulge in productive and relaxing experiences by listening to their favorite books without looking at the screen.
• Activities like cooking or exercising need not prevent you from reading because Kindle can read to you.

Drawbacks Of Using Text to Speech on Kindle Mobile App

Kindle can read to you, but it has some drawbacks that affect a reader's listening experience. Let's look at a few limitations you might encounter:

Lack of Emotional Nuance

The Kindle text to speech voice model fails to add emotions when it reads the on-screen content aloud. The robotic and monotonous voice can even be disengaging and reduce the reader's interest in the book.

Pronunciation Challenges

The Kindle app can read to you best in the English language. Its default engine can mispronounce colloquial and accented words. The confusion rises further if some words aren't in English language, such as names of characters and places.

Limited Customization

Customization options in Kindle e-reader are limited. The listener cannot change the accent and gender of the speaker.

Incompatibility

Only some text books and personal documents available in the market are compatible with text to speech enabled. In other words, it's a proprietary, restricted speak screen feature.

Text Formatting

The style of writing and message conveyed through text to speech features can vary, and some users may not appreciate the text to speech file format when compared to the original text.

Murf: Text to Speech That Makes Audiobooks Deeply Engaging

Murf AI takes text to speech to the next level, offering a user-friendly interface and an array of features that surpass the limitations of Kindle's text to speech. With Murf, users can enjoy a more engaging and natural listening experience, free from the monotony of robotic voices. 

Murf Studio enables users to generate over 200 human-like voiceovers in more than 20 languages, each language with its distinct accent. Additionally, users can customize the pronunciation of a particular word on the platform using IPA phonemes and alternate spellings. 

Our superior neural TTS, Murf Speech Gen 2, produces voices that are indistinguishable from human speech, capturing every nuance and every subtlety. You can easily customize the speed, volume, pitch, pause, and pronunciation; as well as emphasize words, making it more efficient in less time and effort.

Moreover, Murf API allows you to choose from versatile options like storytelling, terrified, meditative, inspirational, angry, and newscast formal, among others. A key advantage of Murf over the Kindle text to speech app is that users can add music and soundtracks with the voiceover and sync them together.

Users can easily download the audio created on Murf and use any third-party tool to read the content out loud on the Kindle app.

Ready to elevate your reading experience on Kindle?

Sign up for Murf today and get free ten audiobook generation minutes.