words about reading,

Microsoft Word reads to you: How to use the Speak and Read Aloud commands

Can Microsoft Word read to me? Yes, it can. The Speak feature was incorporated into Microsoft Office (Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, etc.) back in version 2003. It was called Text to Speech (TTS) then, and it functioned much the same as it does now. Fortunately, it’s a very simple procedure to set up and use, so you can get started immediately.

Add the Speak button to the Quick Access Toolbar

1. Click the Customize arrow on the Quick Access Toolbar.

2. From the dropdown menu, select More Commands.

3. On the Word Options screen >Customize the Quick Access Toolbar, locate the Choose Commands From box and scroll down to the Speak command.

4. Select the Speak command, click the Add button in the middle of the screen, then click OK.

5. Word adds the Speak command to the Quick Access Toolbar at the end, and you’re ready to go.

JD Sartain / IDG Worldwide

Add Speak button to Quick Access Toolbar

Click the Speak button to listen to your text

1. Ensure that your system’s speakers or sound devices are turned on.

2. Highlight a paragraph of text, then click the Speak command button.

3. Word reads any text that’s highlighted, even the entire document. Press Ctrl+ A to select the entire document.

4. Click the Speak command button once to begin the reading session, then click it again to stop. There is no pause-and-continue option at this time, but many users have requested this feature, so look for it in future versions.

Select the Read Aloud command

1. Another way to have your text read aloud in Word is to select the Review tab > Read Aloud button.

The greatest benefit of Read Aloud as opposed to the Speak command is...

(a) you don’t have to highlight the text. Just position your cursor where you want the reading aloud to begin and click the Read Aloud button.

And (b), when you click the Read Aloud button a second time, it stops. Click the button again to continue from that point on. So, essentially, you have a Pause feature with Read Aloud that is not available with Speak.

Change the Speak preferences in the Windows Control Panel.

The Speak preferences are defined in Widows, not in Word specifically.

1. Click Start > Windows System > Control Panel

2. Select Ease of Access > Speech Recognition > Text to Speech, and the Speech Properties dialog window opens on the Text to Speech tab.

3. Under Voice Selection, choose MS David Desktop for a male voice or MS Zira Desktop for a female voice.

4. Click the Preview button to listen to each voice, then make your selection.

5. Use the slider under Voice Speed to adjust the pace (slow, normal, or fast) of the reader.

6. Click the Audio Output button to define the Sound preferences.

7. Click the Advanced button to select or change the output device.

JD Sartain / IDG Worldwide To comment on this article and other PCWorld content, visit our Facebook page or our Twitter feed.

02

Brain region discovered that only processes spoken, not written words

Patients in a new Northwestern Medicine study were able to comprehend words that were written but not said aloud. They could write the names of things they saw but not verbalize them.

Even though these patients could hear and speak perfectly fine, a disease had crept into a portion of their brain that kept them from processing auditory words while still allowing them to process visual ones. Patients in the study had primary progressive aphasia (PPA), a rare type of dementia that destroys language and currently has no treatment.

The study, published March 21 in the journal Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, allowed the scientists to identify a previously little-studied area in the left brain that seems specialized to process auditory words.

If a patient in the study saw the word "hippopotamus" written on a piece of paper, they could identify a hippopotamus in flashcards. But when that patient heard someone say "hippopotamus," they could not point to the picture of the animal.

"They had trouble naming it aloud but did not have trouble with visual cues," said senior author Sandra Weintraub, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "We always think of these degenerative diseases as causing widespread impairment, but in early stages, we're learning that neurodegenerative disease can be selective with which areas of the brain it attacks."

For most patients with PPA, communicating can be difficult because it disrupts both the auditory and visual processes in the brain.

"It's typically very frustrating for patients with PPA and their families," said Weintraub, also a member of Northwestern's Mesulam Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease. "The person looks fine, they're not limping and yet they're a different person. It means having to re-adjust to this person and learning new ways to communicate."

Remarkably, all four patients in this study could still communicate with others through writing and reading because of a specific type of brain pathology, TDP-43 Type A.

"It doesn't happen that often that you just get an impairment in one area," Weintraub said, explaining that the brain is compartmentalized so that different networks share the job of seemingly easy tasks, such as reading a word and being able to say it aloud. "The fact that only the auditory words were impaired in these patients and their visual words were untouched leads us to believe we've identified a new area of the brain where raw sound information is transformed into auditory word images."

The findings are preliminary because of the small sample size but the scientists hope they will prompt more testing of this type of impairment in future PPA patients, and help design therapies for PPA patients that focus on written communication over oral communication.

While 30 percent of PPA cases are caused by molecular changes in the brain due to Alzheimer's Disease, the most common cause of this dementia, especially in people under 60 years old, is frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). The patients in this study had FTLD-TDP Type A, which is very rare. The fact that this rare neurodegenerative disease is associated with a unique clinical disorder of language is a novel finding.

The study followed patients longitudinally and examined their brains postmortem. Weintraub stressed the importance of people participating in longitudinal brain studies while they're alive and donating their brain to science after they die so the science community can continue learning more about how to keep brains healthy.

"We know so much about the heart, liver, kidneys, eyes and other organs but we know so little about the brain in comparison," Weintraub said.

Story Source:

Materials provided by Northwestern University. Original written by Kristin Samuelson. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

03

Six-Word Preview for Every MLB Team in 2019

Welcome to the Weekend Read. This week we take a very brief look at each MLB team as the 2019 season begins, run through our favorite stories of the week and offer a glimpse of the 2019 Iditarod.

Editor's note: During the NCAA tournament we're sending a daily email newsletter, Morning Madness, packed with insight, picks and analysis from our reporters around the country. Click here to sign up.

Recommended Reading

• Exclusive: Le'Veon Bell opens up about his Steelers breakup, sitting out 2018 and betting on himself. (By Jenny Vrentas)

• Watch: Le'Veon Bell sits down with SI for The Big Interview.

• Even with a contract approaching a half-billion dollars, Mike Trout still didn't sign for his true value. (By Tom Verducci)

• March Madness's most memorable moments are the life-changing shots that feel like they came out of nowhere, then endure forever. (By Greg Bishop)

• Alex Bregman loves the celebrity life, but baseball's newest $100 million man wants to be the guy who gets baseball back into the spotlight. (By Ben Reiter)

• Need last-minute bracket advice? Here are four bold strategies to come out on top in your bracket pool. (By Eric Single)

• NFL Mock Draft 7.0: Kyler Murray stays on top, the Giants pass on a QB (twice) and the Patriots roll the dice with Pick 32. (By Conor Orr)

Six Words on How Every MLB Team's 2019 Will Go

The 2019 MLB season is upon us, as those who crawled out of bed in the early morning hours to watch the Mariners and A’s battle in Japan already know. For everyone else, the 162-game chase begins next week. But what should we expect from this upcoming year in baseball, and what’s in the forecast for your favorite team? That’s a complicated answer, but in an effort to be efficient, here’s a season preview for all 30 clubs using six words apiece. — By Jon Tayler

Atlanta Braves: Young and talented but feel incomplete

Arizona Diamondbacks: Arizona’s newest desert is this lineup

Baltimore Orioles: Well, they can’t be worse … right?

Boston Red Sox: They’ll regress, but by how much?

Chicago Cubs: Is their championship window already closing?

Chicago White Sox: No Harper or Machado—now what?

Cincinnati Reds: Finally trying after years of failing

Cleveland Indians: Got cheaper instead of getting better

Colorado Rockies: Arenado stays, but is he enough?

Detroit Tigers: The road back remains long, tough

Houston Astros: World Series favorite? I say yes

Kansas City Royals: They’re a long way from relevance

Los Angeles Angels: With Trout secured, they must improve

Los Angeles Dodgers: A weird offseason, but still dangerous

Miami Marlins: Wait ‘til next year … or 2021

Milwaukee Brewers: The NL Central’s strongest, deepest team

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Minnesota Twins: Power aplenty, but that pitching ... yeesh

New York Mets: They’re better; so is the division

New York Yankees: Still a juggernaut, Machado or not

Oakland Athletics: It all rests on the bullpen

Philadelphia Phillies: Stakes bigger than Harper’s new deal

Pittsburgh Pirates: The team equivalent of beige wallpaper

San Diego Padres: With Machado aboard, the future is bright

San Francisco Giants: A fading roster’s final, doomed hurrah

Seattle Mariners: Another year for the postseason drought

St. Louis Cardinals: Expect resurgence with Goldschmidt in place

Tampa Bay Rays: Can baseball’s mad scientists surprise again?

Texas Rangers: There’ll be slugfests aplenty in Texas

Toronto Blue Jays: It’s all about Vlad, hopefully soon

Washington Nationals: Can Juan Soto claim Harper’s mantle?

Vault Photo of the Week: Smile If You Want $426.5 Million

Story continues

Say hello to baseball's newest zillionaire. Bryce Harper held that distinction for about 20 minutes before Mike Trout and the Angels closed in on the largest contract in baseball history: a 12-year pact that will be worth more than $430 million, according to ESPN. Trout's pictured above in 2012 posing for his first of many SI cover stories.

Does this picture scream Best Player in Baseball Worth Nearly a Half-Billion Dollars? No. It screams plain and boring—just the way Trout likes it.

Photo taken by SI's Robert Beck.

Taking on the 2019 Iditarod

The 47th Iditarod sled dog race finished up earlier this month. It's a grueling, thousand-mile trek across Alaska that took this year's winner more than nine-and-a-half days to complete. Twelve of the 59 mushers who began the event did not finish it. SI tasked photographer Erick W. Rasco with documenting the other-worldly journey.

Enjoy a sample of his snapshots below and check out the full gallery here.

Editor's note: What kind of stories and content would you like to see in the Weekend Read? Let's chat at SIWeekendRead@gmail.com.