NZ Herald and text-to-speech: How you can listen to stories read by an automated voice

The New Zealand Herald is launching text-to-speech functionality on its website, allowing readers another way to experience its journalism.

We’re excited to launch a new way to experience the New Zealand Herald’s award-winning journalism - audio articles.

Starting Monday, March 17, 2025, readers can engage with some of our content through text-to-speech (TTS) technology - an automated voice designed and trained with a special focus on accurate te reo Māori pronunciation.

Initially available for select world section articles, we aim to expand this feature across more sections and stories soon.

While we’re continuously refining it, occasional errors may occur.

You can report any errors via an email to nzhvoice@nzme.co.nz and we will investigate them.

Learn more about stories read by our automated voice, including how to use this and where to find it on Herald articles below:

How to Listen - web/mobile browser

Open the story you wish to listen to and select the play button next to Listen at the top. This is found underneath the headline and the byline. The story will start playing.

Desktop view:

If you scroll down the page after a story starts playing, the player will appear on the right-hand side and follow down the page as you scroll:

You can adjust the playback speed, rewind and fast-forward within the player, and hit the cross on the top right to close it:

Mobile view:

Similar to the desktop view, hit the play button by ‘Listen’ under the headline and byline to start listening to the story. The player will follow you down the story as you scroll.

Like on desktop, you can rewind, fast forward, drag to a certain section of the story, or adjust the playback speed:

What about the New Zealand Herald app?

We plan to roll out text-to-speech audio articles for Herald app users shortly.

Feedback

We appreciate your feedback as we launch this exciting new feature. Please contact us via email at nzhvoice@nzme.co.nz to tell us what you think or to report errors.