HoverSpeak Documentation
HoverSpeak is a Chrome and Edge extension designed to assist people with reading disabilities, specifically dyslexia. HoverSpeak reads whatever text you're pointing at with your mouse simply by clicking a shortcut. In this documentation, we will go through the functionality available in the HoverSpeak extension.
01 Core Features
- Reads what you hover or highlight. Aim your cursor at any text or select a passage, trigger the shortcut, and HoverSpeak plays the matching voice instantly.
- Automatic language detection. The extension inspects both the page language and the language of highlighted text so it can switch to the correct voice automatically.
- Follow the mouse. A focus highlight tracks your pointer to show which line will play next, keeping you visually anchored.
- Adjustable reading speed. Set the playback rate that feels comfortable-HoverSpeak remembers it for future sessions.
02 Add HoverSpeak to Chrome or Edge
Before you can enjoy narrations on the fly with HoverSpeak, you will need to add it on your Chrome or Edge browser. Below is a quick guide on how to do that.
- Open the HoverSpeak listing in the Chrome Web Store or the Edge Add-ons store.
- Select the HoverSpeak listing, then click Add to Chrome (or the Get button in Edge) and approve the requested permissions.
- Wait for the download to finish, your browser will confirm with a toast message and add the HoverSpeak icon to the extensions menu.
- Pin interface (Recommended):
To make the HoverSpeak interface easily available to you, click the extension menu (puzzle icon at the top right). Click that icon and then the pin icon to the right of the HoverSpeak extension to make its interface quickly accessible to you.
Need a thorough step-by-step walk through?
03 Open HoverSpeak Interface
Chrome and Edge place new extension interfaces behind the Extensions menu (puzzle icon). To access HoverSpeak quickly, pin it to your toolbar from the top-right extensions menu.
- Click the Extensions button (puzzle icon) at the top right of the browser.
- Find HoverSpeak in the list and click the Pin icon so it stays visible next to the address bar.
- Click the pinned HoverSpeak icon anytime to open the interface and access all the settings available in HoverSpeak such as:
04 Reading with HoverSpeak
To read a section of text with HoverSpeak, first hover your mouse over the text you want read aloud. Then use the default shortcuts below to control playback.
You can change these default shortcuts at any time by clicking the Edit link inside the HoverSpeak interface.
Tip: For visual focus while listening, enable Follow the Mouse. To adjust speed, see Adjust Reading Speed.
05 Supported Languages
HoverSpeak supports over 70 languages and additionally provides its interface in 24 languages.
Supported languages include:
- Afrikaans
- Arabic
- Basque
- Bulgarian
- Catalan
- Chinese (Simplified)
- Chinese (Traditional)
- Croatian
- Czech
- Danish
- Dutch
- English (Australia)
- English (Canada)
- English (India)
- English (United Kingdom)
- English (United States)
- Estonian
- Filipino
- Finnish
- French (Canada)
- French (France)
- Galician
- German
- Greek
- Hebrew
- Hindi
- Hungarian
- Indonesian
- Italian
- Japanese
- Kannada
- Korean
- Latvian
- Lithuanian
- Malay
- Norwegian Bokmål
- Polish
- Portuguese (Brazil)
- Portuguese (Portugal)
- Romanian
- Russian
- Serbian
- Slovak
- Slovenian
- Spanish (Latin America)
- Spanish (Spain)
- Swedish
- Tamil
- Telugu
- Thai
- Turkish
- Ukrainian
- Vietnamese
- Welsh
Note: The number of available languages can vary based on your browser and operating system configuration.
Where do HoverSpeak voices come from?
Your operating system and browser (Chrome or Edge) comes with multiple voices, HoverSpeak finds the voices available on your computer and browser. Whether they're cloud or local voices and makes them available to you to easily choose as your narration voice.
What is the difference between local and cloud voices?
HoverSpeak separates the voices list into two types of voices:
Cloud voices are the more natural sounding voices offered by Google, and Microsoft. On most computers, those are the voices that would be available to you out of the box, Cloud Voices as their name implies, use Google's or Microsoft infrastructure to generate the narration and requires an active internet connection to work.
Local voices Are the more synthetic voices we all know, their advantage is that they are extremely fast and run entirely on your device (no internet connection required). Their response time is almost immediate, and they can continue working offline once installed.
Note: If you've purchased a voice in the past and it registered itself as a voice on your machine, that voice may also be available in HoverSpeak.
06 Adding More Languages
HoverSpeak mirrors the voices your environment offers. Select one of the guides below for step-by-step instructions on adding languages in Chrome or at the Windows operating system level.
07 Automatic Language Detection
HoverSpeak automatically detects the language of the selected text and switches voices seamlessly, allowing you to narrate in the correct language without changing any settings. When the current voice cannot narrate in the language of the text, HoverSpeak automatically switches to a voice that can, then switches back when you return to your main language.
With this option, you can enable (Default) or disable this functionality.
08 Follow the Mouse
The Follow the Mouse feature highlights the text that will be read aloud when you press the start reading shortcut (Alt+Z). This visual indication makes it easier to track where you are and what you're about to read.
09 Adjust Reading Speed
Use the reading speed slider to fine-tune playback. HoverSpeak saves your selection alongside the current voice, so new narrations begin at your preferred speed.
10 Additional Help or Support
For general contact and feedback, use our contact page. If you are a business or organization that wants to support the HoverSpeak project for dyslexics, please visit our supporters page.