A self-voicing application is an application that provides an aural interface without requiring a separate screen reader

Screen reader

A screen reader is a software application that attempts to identify and interpret what is being displayed on the screen . This interpretation is then re-presented to the user with text-to-speech, sound icons, or a Braille output device...

. Self-voicing applications can be an important form of assistive technology

Assistive technology

Assistive technology or adaptive technology is an umbrella term that includes assistive, adaptive, and rehabilitative devices for people with disabilities and also includes the process used in selecting, locating, and using them...

, useful to those who have difficulty reading or seeing.

A prominent group of self-voicing applications are talking web browsers. Traditionally, talking web browsers have been specially created, as was the case with:

• pwWebSpeak, originally developed by The Productivity Works in Princeton, New Jersey (now obsolete)
• Simply Web (also now obsolete)
• Home Page Reader (HPR)
  Home Page Reader
  Home Page Reader was a computer program, a self-voicing web browser designed for people who are blind. It was developed by IBM from the work of Chieko Asakawa at IBM Japan....
  
   from IBM (recently discontinued)
• Connect Outloud from Freedom Scientific
  Freedom Scientific
  Freedom Scientific is a corporation which researches, creates, and sells technology intended for people who are blind or have low vision and those with learning disabilities. The company's Blind and Low Vision Group's products include software and hardware to help people with low vision work with...
  
  
• WebAnywhere
  WebAnywhere
  WebAnywhere is a free web-based open source screen reader, created at the University of Washington.-Features:Since WebAnywhere is web-based, it is available on all operating systems. Users simply go to the WebAnywhere site and the screen reader begins working.-History:WebAnywhere was originally...
  
   from University of Washington (UM)

A more recent trend has seen the self-voicing capabilities added to mainstream web browsers with free add-ons. In 2004 Opera Software

Opera Software

Opera Software ASA is a Norwegian software company, primarily known for its Opera family of web browsers with over 220 million users worldwide. Opera Software is also involved in promoting Web standards through participation in the W3C. The company has its headquarters in Oslo, Norway and is...

 created a self-voicing and speech-recognition extension for the Windows version of their web browser. And in 2005 Charles L. Chen devised Fire Vox

Fire Vox

Fire Vox is a free and open source extension for the Mozilla Firefox web browser that transforms it into a self-voicing application. Easy to install and operate, it works on Windows, Mac, and Linux. It can work independently, or together with screen readers such as Orca. Since its debut in 2005,...

, an extension that adds speech capabilities to the Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. , Firefox is the second most widely used browser, with approximately 25% of worldwide usage share of web browsers...

 web browser on Mac, Windows, or Linux.

A second important category are broader self-voicing applications that function as what T. V. Raman calls "complete audio desktops", including editing, browsing, and even gaming capabilities. These include his own Emacspeak

Emacspeak

Emacspeak is a free computer application, a speech interface and an audio desktop employing Emacs, which is written in C, Emacs Lisp and Tcl and developed principally by T. V. Raman and first released May 1995; it is portable to all POSIX-compatible OSs...

 enhancement for Emacs

Emacs

Emacs is a class of text editors, usually characterized by their extensibility. GNU Emacs has over 1,000 commands. It also allows the user to combine these commands into macros to automate work.Development began in the mid-1970s and continues actively...

and Karl Dahlke's Edbrowse.