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Audio Learners – Text to Talk
As a student pilot we have huge volumes of books and regulations to learn from. Nothing will replace reading and taking notes as you study, but this time consuming and not always convenient. Many of us listen to audio books when we’re driving or commuting – so why not listen to our study material as well.
There are several “Text to Talk” applications that allow electronic documents to be read out loud. Abode Reader and MS Word have “read out loud” options but these aren’t always user friendly.
I have found TTS PDF and TTS Text to be very good applications found in the Apple Application store (I’m sure there are similar apps for Androids).
Use TTS PDF to “read out loud” the VFRG, and other PDF’s whilst driving. Also great to read along (when not driving) using the hardcopy book or on the screen of the iPhone or tablet. See notes below about “cropping” and “substitutions”.
Use TTS Text as part of “chair flying” to learn / rehearse a procedure. For example circuits. Play back as many times as it takes to memorise and be able to recite the script as it is being played. I often play the script for my upcoming lesson on route to the airport.
Hope that helps the audio learners.
Cheers
Mick Doherty
TTS PDF – Text to Talk PDF – free for a restricted version but cheap to buy.
- Easy to use
- saves PDF in folder
- allows “cropping” of page to restrict what is read – used to hide headers/footer, figures and tables.
- Voices are customisable with Australian voices
- You can add “substitutions” to correct the way words are pronounced – eg, CASA – casah, CTAF – sea-taf, BECMG – becoming, SPECI – special. Or chose the way it sounds when there are multiple options, eg Live as in live (live) a long life, or as in Live (live) wire
<b style=”background-color: var(–bb-content-background-color); font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; color: var(–bb-body-text-color);”>TTS Text – Reads out text files – free for a restricted version but cheap to buy.
- Easy to use
- Easily edited – but make sure you save the change by “playing” the script as it only saves “recently played”.
- Recently played can be saved as “favourites” – I have saved scripts for Circuits, Radio Calls, Flight Briefings, Work Cycles, Emergencies and mnemonics.
- Can be exported as MP3 audio files.
- Write out your script in detail then add extra punctuation such as three full stops after a heading to get a pause after headings and between sections. Commas and full stops are ok within a paragraph. Spell out call signs and altitudes, eg. Cessna one seven two, Alpha November Charlie, one thousand one hundred feet.
Audible – has several aviation books as audio books but you will have to pay for these. Couple of good audio books are:
- FAA – Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge
- Stick and Rudder (Wolfgang Langewiesche) – written pre WW2 but still very relevant.
- Performance Pilot (Ross Bentley and Phil Wilkes (ex RAAF)) – not a “how to fly”, but more a “how to learn to” book. More about being motivated to learn techniques and strategies to be a better pilot. very good.
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2 Replies
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Hey Mick, cheers for the great advice! Audiobooks are defiently a missing component of aviation learning here in Australia. I believe some FAA manuals have been produced in Audiobook format. Another great tool I use is https://elevenlabs.io/ as the AI voices are amazing. Thanks again!
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This reply was modified 1 month ago by
Jonty.
elevenlabs.io
AI Voice Generator & Text to Speech | ElevenLabs
Rated the best text to speech (TTS) software online. Create premium AI voices for free and generate text-to-speech voiceovers in minutes with our character AI voice generator. Use free text to speech AI to convert text to mp3 in 29 … Continue reading
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This reply was modified 1 month ago by
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Hi Mick
Very helpful. One app that I use is Readwise-Reader. It is great, and there is a free trial version. It lets you summarise documents and books . http://www.readwise.com
readwise.com
Grow wiser and retain books better: Readwise sends you a daily email resurfacing your best highlights from Kindle, Instapaper, iBooks, and more.
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