There are two Scannx Scanners in Case Library's third floor (near the new books area) and one in Cooley Science Library. These are large-size scanners with a touchscreen control that offer book-edge scanning for books which are difficult to lay flat on a scanner. Scans can be sent to your email, Dropbox account, smartphone, Google Drive, or saved onto a USB device. These flatbed scanners offer color, grayscale or black & white scanning in standard or high quality, as well as document-feeding. You can save the final scans as a TIFF, PNG, image PDF (no OCR), Searchable PDF (the scanner will OCR the document), or Word document. You can also export your scan as an mp3 file with the built-in OCR and text-to-speech.

There is a menu button on the bottom or bottom left of the touch screen that will take you to the Accessibility Controls, which include a narrator and screen magnifier.

Software Available in the Workroom

	PC	Mac
Text-to-speech	NVDA	VoiceOver
Speech-to-text/Dictation/Transcription	Dragon NaturallySpeaking Microsoft Office	Microsoft Office
Screen Reader	NVDA	VoiceOver
OCR (Optical Character Recognition)	ABBYY FineReader Pro Adobe Acrobat Pro	Adobe Acrobat Pro
Mind Mapping	Inspiration Google Drive's Lucidchart	Google Drive's Lucidchart
Screen Magnification	Accessibility Preferences	Accessibility Preferences

 

For more information on using the Accessibility Preferences on Mac or PC, please see this Google Document.

These are mobile apps that have been tested by the Accessible Technology Librarian. For questions or more information, please email Debbie Krahmer at dkrahmer@colgate.edu. Apps with an asterisk* are paid apps, or require a payment to unlock some functionality.

Text-to-Speech apps

Apps that will read text aloud.

• Aldiko Book Reader Premium* (Android)
• Books + VoiceOver (iOS)
• ClariaZoom (Android)
• ClaroSpeak Plus* (iOS)
• Cool Reader (Android)
• Easy Text to Speech (Android)
• ezPDF* (Android)
• FBReader (Android)
• Google Text-to-Speech (Android)
• KNFB Reader* (iOS, Android)
• Moon+ Reader (Android)
• Natural Reader (Browser-based, Chrome Extension)
• Speechify (iOS, Android, Chrome Extension, Mac app)
• TextGrabber + Translator* (Android)
• Type and Speak (Android)
• Voice Dream Reader* (iOS, Android)
• Voice Dream Writer* (iOS)
• Web Reader TTS Web Browser (Android)

Speech-to-Text/Dictation apps

Apps that allow you to dictate or will convert spoken words to text.

• Apple Dictation (iOS)
• Dictation.io (browswer-based)
• Dragon Mobile Assistant (Android)
• Google Live Transcribe (Android)
• Just Press Record* (iOS)
• Otter Voice Notes - 600 free minutes per month (iOS, Android)
• Samsung Voice Recorder - limited to 10 minutes of live transcription at a time (Android)
• Speechnotes (Android)
• WebCaptioner (browser-based)

Mobile Scanning Apps

Take a picture of a text and create a PDF or OCR'd text.

• FineScanner (iOS)
• PDFpen Scan+* (iOS)
• PDF PROvider (iOS)
• Pocket Scanner Cloud* (iOS)
• Prizmo (iOS)
• TextGrabber* + Translator* (iOS, Android)
• Tiny Scanner+ (iOS)
• Translate Photo (iOS)

Screen Reader apps

Apps that will read aloud what is on the screen; an alternate way to access your phone or tablet.

• VoiceOver (iOS)
• ClariaZoom (Android)
• Google Text-to-Speech (Android)

Screen Magnification/Magnifier

Apps that will enlarge your mobile device's screen, and/or will add extra magnification to your camera.

• ClariaZoom (Android)
• Magnifier (Android)
• Seeing AI (iOS)
• Super Vision (iOS)
• Vision (Android)
• Visor* (iOS, Android)

Augmentative/Alternative Communication (AAC)

Apps that allow augmentative or alternative communication; type or press buttons to have a mobile device speak for you.

• ClaroSpeak+* (iOS)
• Proloquo2Go* (iOS)
• Speech Assistant AAC (Android)
• Type and Speak (Android)
• Verbally (iOS)

Accessible Directions

GPS or map apps that allow verbal walking directions

• BlindSquare* (iOS)
• Google Maps (iOS, Android)
• Intersection Explorer (Android)
• Lazarillo (iOS)

Mind Mapping

Create visual outlines or diagrams to visually organize information

• Inspiration Maps (iOS)
• MindNode (iOS)

Handwriting-to-Text

Apps that convert your handwriting to machine-readable text

• Google Handwriting Input (Android)
• MyScript Nebo* (iOS, Android)
• Notes Plus* (iOS)

Audio Enhancement Apps

Apps that will amplify or otherwise adjust audio to fit your hearing profile.

• Google Sound Amplifier (Android)
• Petralex Hearing aid (iOS, Android)
• Music Volume Booster (iOS)

Note Capturing apps

Apps for handwritten notes, diagrams and doodles.

• MyScript Nebo* (iOS, Android)
• NotesPlus* (iOS)
• One Note (iOS, Android)

Facial Mouse

Apps that allow you to control a mouse pointer on your mobile device with your head movements.

• EVA Facial Mouse (Android)

• Balabolka - convert text into mp3s, similar to Read & Write Gold (Free, PC)
• NVDA - Screenreader (free, PC)
• Enable Viacam - Mouse alternative, uses the webcam to allow mouse control with your head (Free, PC)
• Speechify - Text to speech (free, PC, Mac)
• Obi - audio editor for creating DAISY/Accessible audiobooks in a fully accessible format (free, PC)
• PangoBright - screen dimming and color-control, works with multiple monitors (free, PC)
• f.lux - blue-light filter which adapts automatically to the time of day (free, PC)
• NaturalReader - text to speech (browser-based)