The new Kindle Audio Adapter. Image via Amazon.
The new Kindle Audio Adapter. Image via Amazon.

Amazon is making it easier for visually impaired users to benefit from the improvements of digital books by bringing VoiceView to the Kindle Paperwhite, the tech giant announced today.

VoiceView has been available on the Amazon’s Fire tablets since the release of Fire OS 5 last year, but those tablets have speakers to play the natural language text-to-speech option. The Paperwhite, along with all modern Kindles, doesn’t have a speaker, so Amazon built a special dongle just for the text-to-speech feature.

The new Kindle Audio Adapter, which plugs into the USB port on the Kindle, helps users navigate and listen to audiobooks by letting them plug in their own speakers or headphones. Users are able to choose from eight different playback speeds for ebook reading and should be able to listen for six hours before needing to recharge the device.

Visually impaired users can buy a bundle with the Paperwhite and Kindle Audio Adapter right now. The bundle is $139.98, about $20 more than the standalone Paperwhite. However, Amazon will give users a $20 credit when purchasing this bundle. Amazon doesn’t appear to be selling the adapter on its own right now, but will be selling it bundled with other Kindles soon.

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