Audio books are primarily recorded by actors and other professional readers, although some are recorded by the author.
If you're listening to an eBook, the voice will be synthetic.
Experience our audio book service - Talking Books by listening to the following five samples from our wide range of titles:
Listen to our example clips of the synthetic voices used for text-to-speech in eBooks.
Sample audio clips of downloadable audio books, newspapers and magazines are available from:
Your local library is a good place to try out audio books and magazines. Many libraries have audio books on CD that you can borrow. Some libraries are also beginning to try other audio formats, such as MP3.
Online retailers of download audio books may also enable you to try a section of an audio book before you buy or borrow it. This is a good way to get an idea of what the audio book will sound like.
If you have access to an eBook reader or a mobile phone or tablet computer with an eBook app you could try using the text-to-speech option. This will read a book, newspaper or magazine in synthetic speech.
Many department stores, electrical shops and supermarkets sell eBook readers, so why not try an eBook by visiting a store and ask to be shown text-to-speech on the devices they sell?
We make it possible for you to get access to books, newspapers and magazines in the format you prefer, whether that’s digital, braille, audio or large print. You can borrow from our library service – the largest of its kind in the UK – or buy from our online shop.
Reading services