More than two million people in Pakistan are blind or visually impaired. Most of them use phones and computers through a screen reader, the software that speaks what is on the screen so you can work by ear, with the keyboard or with touch gestures.
A screen reader is only as useful as the voice it speaks with. For years, Urdu speakers had two poor options: run their devices in English, a language many do not read with ease, or put up with Urdu voices that sounded robotic and stumbled over numbers, dates and English words. Urdu, with more than 200 million speakers, was still waiting for a natural voice.
So people waited for help. A relative read out the message from the bank. A classmate read the textbook aloud. A neighbour checked the electricity bill. We built Rehnuma Awaz so you can do those things yourself.
