Better accessibility coming to Kindle books
E-reader accessibility is anything but consistent. You might find a font size adjustment, but no high-contrast or dark mode settings. And screen readers, where they exist, don’t rival those available for computers and smartphones. Even where devices offer these features, many books don’t fully take advantage of them.
Michael Kozlowski of Good e-Reader says Amazon is beefing up its accessible offerings, including accessibility information on book pages and software enhancements:
Kindle Assistive Reader is… fully available in the update that was released a couple of days ago. It will essentially convert any Kindle book into an audiobook, utilizing an advanced text-to-speech system that sounds natural.
Publishers, too, have accessibility on their minds:
Publishers have been prioritizing the submission of e-books to Amazon that include accessibility features. According to Publishers Weekly, “The move comes as publishers face increasing legal pressure to make digital content accessible, positioning accessible publishing as both a competitive advantage and a necessity as new laws such as the European Accessibility Act and expanded digital accessibility requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act drive industry momentum toward universal accessibility.”
It’s important to note that this feature is an on-device accessibility system, which differentiates it from approaches that generate audiobooks for sale using artificial voices.