Voice Dream Reader

I love reading books on my iPhone 6s plus, and there is so many books I want to read.

So I've been trying to find a speed reading technology that works. I've been testing different ebook reading apps that has different technologies built in to try improve my reading speed. Technologies like Spritz, BeeLine and other technologies that chunking and minimizing subvocalization.

None of them actually works.

And the reason why these technologies doesn't work is that they can't improve your reading speed without missing out on a lot of meaning.

But I have found a solution that I can assure you works.

I use the iOS app Voice Dream Reader.

Voice Dream Reader

Voice Dream Reader turns text into audio so you can listen to the text at the same time as you reading it yourself. And you can do a lot of different visualization customizations of the text that helps you read along with the audio.

With synchronized word and line highlighting, Voice Dream Reader is your personal reading aid that you can carry with you anywhere. And, it comes with all the tools you’d expect in a visual reader, such as bookmarking, full-text search, customizable font, font size, and colors. Now you have a tool that seamlessly merges audio and visual reading. The result is better knowledge retention and improved reading skills.

Voice Dream Reader

You can use the built-in iOS voices if you like, but you can also buy really professional voices directly from the app. And these voices are really professional. I mean it. It actually turns text into audiobooks. That is how good they are. There is nearly 100 professional voices in 20 different languages available.

Voice Dream Reader

One of the reason why this technology works is that when auditory listening is combined with visual reading, comprehension increases. We remember multi-sensory experiences better. And this improves your reading speed big time. I read books in Voice Dream at a speed of 450 words a minute. Without missing out on a lot of meaning. And I can probably go even faster over time.

It means that I can easily read a normal thick book in 4-6 hours. Depending on how many pages it is of course.

Seeing the words smoothly synchronized with speech improves comprehension and knowledge retention. Auto-scrolling and full-screen, distraction-free view helps the reader focus.

And it doesn’t have to be novels you read with this app and technology. You can easily send any webpage from Safari web browser to Voice Dream. You can even sync your Pocket and Instapaper reading list with Voice Dream if you like.

Voice Dream Reader

You can use these content sources:

Dropbox

Google Drive

iTunes via USB or WiFi

iCloud Folder

Bookshare

Evernote

Pocket

Instapaper

Gutenberg

Safari Extension for Saving Web Pages

“Open In…” from another app

Cut-paste via clipboard

And one of the best things with Voice Dream Reader is that it can turn any text into an audiobook or podcast that you can listen to when you are on the go using headphones, or in the car while driving to work. I have noticed that your reading attention is not as good when you only listens though. So my tip is to turn down the speed to around 200-250 words a minute (depending on which voices you use), while you only listens. And turn it up again to your max speed when you can visually read at the same time as you listen to the text.

I absolutely love Voice Dream Reader. It has changed how I read. And the full synchronization with iCloud is awesome too. It means that I can have all my bookmarks, notes, markup and reading positions totally synchronized with both my iPad and iPhone. And of course are all my books and other content are also synchronized. I wish Voice Dream were available for Mac too though.

Here are the supported file formats:

PDF

EPUB (DRM free)

DAISY 3.0 text-based eBooks

DAISY 2.02 audiobooks

Zipped MP3 files, such as LibriVox

Plain Text

Rich Text Format (RTF)

Microsoft Word

Microsoft PowerPoint

HTML

I can highly recommend buying the Voice Dream Reader app, even if it’s quite expensive. Trust me, it will change how you read. And it will make you read faster. Much faster. It’s speed reading that actually works.

Here is a short and simple video showing the Voice Dream Reader app in action: