Yes, you can listen to a textbook: photograph the pages you need in Outloud Reader, tap Create, and the app reads them aloud in a natural voice, highlighting each phrase as it goes. You type and copy nothing. For exam revision the benefit is that you can repeat the material on a commute, a walk or while tidying up, and not only at a desk.
Why listening helps with revision
Before an exam it is usually time that runs short, not knowledge, and the main enemy is rereading with your eyes: your gaze slides over familiar lines and it feels as if everything is clear. When a paragraph is read aloud, it moves at its own pace and you cannot skip the awkward part. You also get to use time that would otherwise be lost: the way to school, a queue, housework.
This does not replace studying from the book. It is an extra round of repetition. A pattern that works: read a section with your eyes first, then listen to it while you travel, then retell it in your own words.
How to turn pages into audio
- Start a new book and choose Camera to photograph now, or Gallery if you already have the pictures (a photo of the board, say, or a friend’s notes).
- Photograph the pages one by one. The app finds the page in the picture and crops it; you can adjust the frame or keep the photo as it is. One photo is one page, and up to 50 pages go into one import.
- Choose the language and the voice. The page’s own language means you hear the text as printed. Another language means it is translated first, which suits a textbook in a language you read slowly. Choose a woman’s or a man’s voice.
- Tap Create, wait until the book is ready, then press play.
Four ways to revise by ear
1. One section, one sitting
Do not put a whole unit into one book. Make a book from one or two sections. It is easier to come back to the right place, and every session ends with a clear mark: this is what I have repeated.
2. Slow down the hard parts
The speed goes from 0.5× to 1.25×. Speed up what you know well, and slow down definitions, statements of rules and dates.
3. Repeat a sentence
Any sentence can be repeated up to five times. This suits wording you need to know almost word for word: definitions, rules, classifications.
4. Listen first, check afterwards
Hide the text and listen to the voice alone. If a place is unclear by ear, hold it to look at the text. Then try to retell the paragraph without a prompt.
Photosynthesis is the process by which plants use light to turn carbon dioxide and water into sugars, with chlorophyll taking part.
A definition like this is worth hearing three or four times in a row and then saying yourself, without looking at the screen.
An example: the week before an exam
Say the exam is in seven days and the syllabus has twenty sections. On Sunday evening you photograph the first four and make one book. On Monday you listen to the whole of it on the way to class, and on the way back only the places that did not stick. Tuesday is the same with a new book. By Friday there are five small books in your library, and each can be played without opening the textbook.
That breaks the preparation into short, clear pieces. You are not sitting over a thick volume; you note for yourself that you have heard these two sections three times and that one only once. If a book has hard places, you can replay them on their own without going back to the start.
If the textbook is in a foreign language, try two rounds: first listen to a page in its own language to get used to the terms, then make the same page again with a translation into your language and listen for the meaning.
Photographing so the text reads cleanly
- Lay the book flat so the lines are straight.
- Watch the light: the shadow of the phone or your hand on the page gets in the way of recognition.
- On glossy paper, change the angle until the glare leaves the text.
- Photograph one page at a time, not the whole spread, especially if the print is small.
What reads badly and what reads well
- Pictures, diagrams and graphs. The app reads the words in a photo; it does not describe a drawing. It will read the caption of a diagram but will not explain the diagram.
- Formulas and tables. Pages with more symbols than words sound worse than running text. Paragraphs, definitions and explanations work best.
- Hard-to-read handwriting. If you struggle to read your own notes, so will the app. Neat notes usually read well.
- Blurred or badly skewed photos. Retake them.
Offline and price
Making a book needs the internet: recognising the text, translating it and producing the voice happen online. When the book is ready, the audio stays in the app’s library and plays without a connection and with the screen off. Playing it again uses no pages. You cannot export the sound as an MP3 file; it stays inside the app.
The app is free to download, and a few pages are free to start. After that you need page packs or Premium; prices are shown in the app. You do not need to sign up.
More on using the app for study is on the page for students, and a step-by-step guide to photographing is in the guide to photo to speech.