Document Read Aloud FAQs
Document Read-Aloud Playback Instructions
Document Read-Aloud Troubleshooting Tips
Which Gale products have the read-aloud feature?
The read-aloud feature is available in the following Gale products: the Student Resource Center family of databases, Discovering Collection, Junior Reference Collection, Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center, Science Resource Center and Kids InfoBits.
Where in the product can I find the audio playback controls? In other words, which pages can be converted to speech?
Just look for the audio player dashboard, which lets you hear the text on the current page. You can listen to all types of documents, except for documents from the Multimedia tab.
Will the audio player read aloud everything on the page?
When viewing a document, you may listen to the entire article read aloud, or just a portion you highlight with the mouse. In addition to the text of the article, the audio player will also read aloud embedded links and the alternate text associated with images, where available.
The audio player will not read aloud the navigation controls on the page or the sidebar panel.
What special plug-ins do I need for the audio player to work?
No plug-ins are necessary to use the audio player dashboard. Most modern web browsers allow for automatic audio playback, although in rare instances you may have to use Windows Media Player, QuickTime for Mac or Windows, or other similar application. For best results, make sure you are using a current version of your web browser.
Document Read-Aloud Playback Instructions
How do I hear the entire document?
How do I hear only a part of the document?
How do I use the audio player dashboard?
Use the audio controls to:
- Play the audio: Click the triangle button
- Stop the audio: Click the square button
- Change the volume: Click minus sign to adjust the volume down; click the plus sign to adjust the volume up
- Move ahead or back in the audio: Drag the blue rectangle on the slider bar
How do I save the audio version of a document as an MP3 file?
Click here for step-by-step instructions.
Document Read-Aloud Troubleshooting Tips
The audio playback suddenly stopped before reaching the end of the document or the selected part.
One of the following situations may have occurred:
- Make sure you did not press the Stop button in the player dashboard. If so, just click on the Play button to hear the text again.
- You may have accidentally or intentionally selected text somewhere on the screen. This will cause the playback to stop.
- You may have accidentally or intentionally double-clicked the mouse button while the audio is playing. This will cause the playback to stop.
- You may have lost your Internet connection while the audio is playing. If the Internet is disconnected this is a normal behavior. Wait for the Internet connection to function and either refresh the page or log in again.
- If none of the previous occurred and your Internet connection is functioning properly, this could be an error. Please report this behavior to your Cengage Learning Customer Service Representative. Technical Support can be reached at 1-800-877-4253 (Option 4) or online.
I selected some text. Immediately the player dashboard on the screen vanished. What should I do?
Please check if you are connected to the Internet. If the Internet is disconnected this is a normal behavior. Wait for the Internet connection to function and either refresh the page or log in again. If the Internet is connected this could be an error. Please report this behavior to your Cengage Learning Customer Service Representative. Technical Support can be reached at 1-800-877-4253 (Option 4) or online.
Is there a limit to the size of the document that I can hear aloud?
The audio player will read aloud the first 190,000 characters if you want to hear the full document. All text beyond this limit will not be read. The limitation for selected text is 1000 characters. The application will prompt you if you have exceeded this limit to play audio and you will have to re-select a part of the document again.
I want to play the audio to read the text in the whole document. I tried pressing Control-A to select the whole document. What should I do?
You should not press Control-A or select any part of the document if you want to hear the whole document. However, if you have pressed Control-A, an alert will pop up giving you the instructions to play audio. You have to:
- Click OK on the alert
- Click the page with your mouse button to remove the highlight
- Refresh the page
- Click the Play button to hear the whole document
I selected some text and heard the audio. After completion I pressed Control-A to hear the whole document. I clicked the Play button and heard the previous text selected. I did not hear the whole document. How can I now hear the entire document?
This is normal behavior. You can hear the full text document only when you first bring the document up on your screen. Later if you select any text and whether you play the audio or not you lose the ability to hear the audio for the whole document, until you refresh the page.
At this point, if you would like to hear the entire document aloud, you must first refresh the page using your browser’s refresh page control.
I selected some text and played the audio. To hear the same content again do I need to deselect and select the same text once again?
No. Once you have selected some text and played the audio, you do not need to select the same text to play it again. Instead click the Play button again to hear the same text. Playback will stop if you:
- Double-click the mouse button
- Select any part of the document again
- Refresh the page
- Navigate to another page and come back to this page
It took me 30 minutes to hear the text in the document. I clicked the document page and it asked me to authenticate myself again. Why did this happen?
A session in a Gale database product generally times out after 20 minutes. Listening to a document read aloud for a long period of time does not register as activity within the database product. Simply restart the session when prompted.
I am trying to print the document by either clicking Control-A or by selecting a portion of the text. I am getting a warning message not to select more than 1000 characters. Will this prevent me from printing the page?
No, it will not prevent you from printing the page. The alert is a warning if you want to play the audio. This will not prevent you from performing other functions in the page.
I have pressed Control-A to select the whole document. My intention is not to play the audio. I still see an alert coming up. What should I do?
The alert is just for your information. Click the alert and go ahead doing other functions on the document displayed.
I translated the text to some other language that is available in the application. I did not hear the text in this language. What should I do?
Currently the audio player tool as used in a Gale database product will only allow you to hear text displayed in the English language.