Text-to-Speech for Accessibility: How Retina plus Makes Content Audible
For us, text-to-speech for accessibility means more than just presenting information clearly – it also has to reach people in the right form. For people with progressive vision loss, plain text is often more of an obstacle than a help. That is exactly the concern Retina plus e.V. brought to us.
The starting point
Retina plus is a non-profit association that connects and supports people with retinal diseases and their families, offering information for everyday life at home, at work and at school. The association is run entirely by volunteers. For many members, reading plain text was and is not a given, so Retina plus wanted to make its content available in audio form as well. Because producing audio with voice actors or a studio is costly and time-consuming, the association looked for a practical solution and came across text-to-speech.
The solution
With access to our TTS Cloud, Retina plus now produces audio content independently, without a studio and without relying on external voice actors. The solution is already in use for the podcast “Retina Innovation” and for Retina plus Radio: both formats are created with voices from the Aristech TTS Cloud, which makes them reliable to produce. From the very beginning, this was a cause we were glad to support, because it fits exactly what we want to make possible with our technology. The collaboration has been running since November 2025. Going forward, the free newsletter “Retina plus News” is also set to get an audio version. It is a great example of how a lean solution can become a lasting part of an association’s day-to-day work.
A voice from practice
As Retina plus puts it:
"As a network of experts and a self-help community, we know from our own experience how important self-determined access to information is. That is why we want to make content not only readable, but also accessible by listening. Aristech's text-to-speech technology helps us break down barriers and give people with vision loss an additional way to access our information. That is exactly what Retina plus is about: enabling participation and creating new perspectives together."
Conclusion
This example shows us how little it sometimes takes to make digital offerings truly inclusive. It is not about complex technology, but about bringing existing content into a form that reaches everyone – and that is exactly what drives us in projects like this.
Or, put even more concisely:
"Information should not depend on how well someone can see. With text-to-speech, we are creating an additional accessible way to reach our content. This is how technology can contribute very concretely to greater self-determination and participation – and create new perspectives."
Retina plus e.V. Website: https://www.retinaplus.de/
