Let your Mac read for you — premium voices & hotkey
Many situations are more comfortable if you don’t have to read text yourself. On macOS you can have text read aloud — useful for consuming long articles without staring at the screen and helpful when proofreading: errors often jump out when heard.
What this does
macOS Spoken Content (aka text-to-speech) lets your Mac read selected text, entire documents, or on-screen content. You can choose from many voices; some high-quality voices are offered as downloadable “enhanced” or premium voices.
Quick setup
- Open System Settings (or System Preferences) > Accessibility (or Speech/Spoken Content).
- Find Spoken Content (or Speech) and enable speaking of selected text.
- Under Voices, choose a voice and download any enhanced/premium voice you want for higher quality.
- Enable or set a keyboard shortcut (hotkey) for “Speak selection” so you can quickly read highlighted text.
Tips
- Use the preview button to compare voices and speeds before downloading.
- Use a hotkey while proofreading to catch mistakes you might miss when reading silently.
- For a better listening experience, consider noise-cancelling headphones (example search link below).
More details: Apple Support: Use Spoken Content on your Mac
Examples of headphones: Noise-cancelling headphones on Amazon
Have you tried listening to articles instead of reading? Share your favorite macOS voice in the comments!