RBD launch ‘listen to the news’ option for blind and partially sighted

Recognising the problem blind and partially sighted people might have in accessing the latest rail news, Rail Business Daily (RBD) has launched a ‘listen to the news’ option on the newsletter.

In what is believed to be a first in the railway press, news.railbusinessdaily.com has launched a text-to-speech tool which reads the stories aloud to ensure those who are visually impaired or with cognitive and learning disabilities can listen to what has been written.

David McLoughlin, chief executive officer at the Business Daily Group, said it is part of a drive to ensure the website is accessible to all.

“We are constantly striving to drive RBD into the future of news publishing and this is part of that journey to ensure that what we do is accessible to all,” he said.

“This service allows even more people to be kept up to date with the latest rail news, whether visually impaired or even just if you’d rather listen to the stories than read through them.

“For us it is a complementary way to allow visitors to the website to engage with the rail content in a format that is most convenient to those wanting to find out about the latest rail news.”

The new feature uses artificial intelligence to convert text news articles into speech, reading them aloud, simply by clicking the play button at the top of the article.

The launch comes at a time of great growth for Rail Business Daily, with the daily newsletter landing in the inbox of more than 73,000 rail industry professionals. It is predicted that the website will receive 15.2 million-page views this year.

David added: “With Rail Business Daily, the more in-depth Rail Insider and our monthly publications Rail Director and Inside Track, people really don’t need to go anywhere else for their rail industry news.”

Visit news.railbusinessdaily.com and click on the news stories to listen. You can also download a PDF of the news articles and listen to a roundup of the latest rail news from the papers by visiting the InTheNews section of the website.

Download article