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HoverSpeak Documentation

HoverSpeak is a Chrome and Edge extension designed to assist people with reading disabilities, specifically dyslexia. HoverSpeak reads aloud text under your mouse pointer, or selected text, when you press a keyboard 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.
  • Word-by-word highlighter. Follow long selected passages in a dedicated panel with highlighting, text sizing, spacing, and definitions.
  • Word definitions let you point at a word inside selected text to get a plain-language definition.
  • Follow the mouse. A focus highlight tracks your pointer to show which line will play next, keeping you visually anchored.
  • Adjustable read-aloud speed. Set the playback rate that feels comfortable-HoverSpeak remembers it for future sessions.
  • Start, pause, continue, and stop playback. Use keyboard shortcuts to control spoken playback without leaving the page.
  • Device and cloud voice controls. Choose fast device voices or opt in to cloud voices in the extension settings interface.
  • Managed setup support. Educational institutions, classrooms, and education programs can manage selected settings for deployed users.

02 Add HoverSpeak to Chrome or Edge

Before you can start reading text aloud with HoverSpeak, you will need to add it to your Chrome or Edge browser. Below is a quick guide on how to do that.

  1. Open the HoverSpeak listing in the Chrome Web Store or the Edge Add-ons store.
  2. Select the HoverSpeak listing, then click Add to Chrome (or the Get button in Edge) and approve the requested permissions.
  3. Wait for the download to finish, your browser will confirm with a toast message and add the HoverSpeak icon to the extensions menu.
  4. 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. After installation, HoverSpeak may show a short tutorial that helps you pin the extension and try the reading shortcut.

  1. Click the Extensions button (puzzle icon) at the top right of the browser.
  2. Find HoverSpeak in the list and click the Pin icon so it stays visible next to the address bar.
  3. Click the pinned HoverSpeak icon anytime to open the extension settings interface and access the main controls:

04 Reading with HoverSpeak

To hear text read aloud with HoverSpeak, first hover your mouse over the text or select the passage you want read aloud. Then use the default shortcuts below to control playback.

Start: Press Alt+Z to start reading.
Pause / continue: Press Alt+C to pause or continue the current spoken session.
Stop: Press Alt+X to stop reading.

You can change these default shortcuts at any time by clicking the Edit link inside the HoverSpeak extension options. This opens the Chrome or Edge extension shortcut settings page. On macOS, Chrome may display Alt as Option.

Tip: For visual focus while listening, enable Follow the Mouse. To adjust speed, see Adjust Reading Speed.

05 Word-by-word highlighter

For longer selected passages, HoverSpeak can open a word-by-word and definitions panel. The panel is enabled by default and appears when selected text has more than the configured word threshold. The default trigger is more than 40 words, and you can change the threshold from the More settings page. Word-by-word tracking is only available for supported voices that provide word tracking data. Most cloud voices do not expose which word is currently being spoken, so the highlighter will not work for them; when tracking is unavailable, the panel can fall back to definition-only mode.

  • Word-by-word progress tracking: follows spoken progress when the selected voice provides word boundary events.
  • Flexible highlighting: highlights by word, by row, or by both word and row.
  • Readable text controls: adjusts text size and switches between standard, wide, and wider letter spacing.
  • Playback controls: pauses or continues playback, resynchronizes after manual scrolling, and hides or reopens the panel.
  • Custom panel layout: supports dragging, resizing, collapsing, and saved preferences for font scale, visible word count, highlight mode, letter spacing, size, and position.
  • Definition-only fallback: opens the panel without word tracking when cloud or high-quality voices do not reliably support tracking.

06 Word definitions

Word definitions let you point at a word inside selected text to get a plain-language definition. Select a single word in the panel to request a definition using the surrounding sentence as context. HoverSpeak can play the selected word aloud and read the returned meaning aloud.

Word definitions require Chrome 148+ because the feature relies on Chrome's newer local AI capability. This is separate from HoverSpeak's base browser requirement: the current extension requires Chrome 109+ or Edge 109+ because it uses Manifest V3 offscreen documents. Microsoft Edge does not currently support word definitions, but once Edge makes the local AI capability available, HoverSpeak word definitions should work automatically.

07 Extension Settings Interface and Controls

The pinned HoverSpeak icon opens the extension settings interface for everyday controls. Use More settings there to open a dedicated settings page with additional behavior options.

Extension settings interface

  • Language selector, including an all-languages view
  • Voice selector with a short preview when you choose a voice
  • Read-aloud speed slider
  • Enable cloud voices checkbox
  • Keyboard shortcut display with an Edit link
  • Reading counter, rating, donation, help, and support areas when available

More settings page

  • Always highlight text under the mouse
  • Auto-switch language
  • Show or hide the language switch message
  • Show the word-by-word and definitions panel for selected text above a configurable word count; the default trigger is more than 40 words
  • Notify you if keyboard shortcuts are not set up
  • Persist panel preferences such as font scale, visible word count, highlight mode, letter spacing, collapsed state, size, and position

08 Supported Languages

HoverSpeak can read aloud text in more than 70 languages when matching voices are available from your browser, operating system, installed language packs, or enabled voice providers. HoverSpeak's interface is currently translated into 26 languages.

Read-aloud language availability can vary by device and browser. Common supported voice 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

Interface languages

HoverSpeak's extension interface is translated into 26 languages: Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish.

Where do HoverSpeak voices come from?

Your operating system and browser (Chrome or Edge) come with multiple voices. HoverSpeak finds the voices available on your computer and browser and makes them available for you to choose from.

What is the difference between device and cloud voices?

HoverSpeak separates the voices list into two groups:

Device Voices (Fast) run on your computer or browser. They are usually quick, can work offline once installed, and are the only voices shown when cloud voices are disabled.

Cloud Voices (Better quality/slower) are included only when you enable cloud voices in the extension settings interface. They can sound more natural, but may be slower and require network or provider availability. When cloud voices are enabled, spoken text may be processed by the underlying browser or voice provider.

If a cloud voice fails, HoverSpeak may switch to a verified device voice and ask you to select another voice. If HoverSpeak is managed by your educational institution or organization, an administrator may turn cloud voices off.

09 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.

10 Automatic Language Detection

HoverSpeak automatically detects the language of the selected text and switches voices seamlessly, so the text can be read aloud in the correct language without changing any settings. When the current voice cannot read the text's language, HoverSpeak automatically switches to a voice that can, then switches back when you return to your main language.

Auto-switch language is enabled by default and can be turned off from the More settings page. You can also show or hide the language switch message separately. HoverSpeak uses page language hints and the selected or spoken text to choose a matching voice, then remembers language and voice preferences for future sessions.

11 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.

12 Adjust Reading Speed

Use the reading speed slider to fine-tune playback. HoverSpeak saves your selection alongside the current voice, so new reading sessions begin at your preferred speed.

13 Managed Educational Institution Setups

If HoverSpeak was installed or configured by your educational institution, district, college, or education program, some settings may be managed by an administrator and may not be editable in the extension settings interface or settings page. For IT administrators, see the HoverSpeak IT Deployment and Configuration Guide for supported managed policies and deployment instructions.

14 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.