On the occasion of Vision Month in October, VOIZ launched an AI-based accessibility feature that enables professional-quality narration of e-books for visually impaired users. The feature is offered free of charge to members of the Hungarian Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted (Magyar Vakok és Gyengénlátók Országos Szövetsége, MVGYOSZ).
Changes in availability
The new solution delivers a marked increase in both quantity and quality: VOIZ’s catalogue rose from an initial 3,000 accessible titles earlier this year to more than 12,500 today, and the company says the number could reach roughly 40,000 professionally narrated works by the end of the year. For comparison, MVGYOSZ’s long-standing audio library — with about 65 years of history — currently holds some 7,000–7,200 titles, and newly released books often required up to a year or more to be added.
Importantly, VOIZ positions the development not as a replacement for traditional audiobooks but as an accessibility service: AI narration fills gaps where human narration is not available, while a large portion of the platform’s conventional audiobooks will continue to be read by actors.
Technology and legal context
The rollout aligns with the requirements of Act XVII of 2022 on general rules for accessibility of products and services, which sets out standards for the accessible provision of digital content and services to support independent living and equal participation for people with disabilities.
Papp Norbert, a VOIZ expert and leader, said: “We have been following AI voice technology for four years, and now this solution has reached the level where we can confidently share it with our users.” He added that while built-in smartphone screen readers often sound monotonous, VOIZ’s technology “renders the text as a real performer,” and voices are matched to genres: fantasy is more narrative, non-fiction more neutral, and news items sound like broadcasts.
Eligibility, registration and outreach
To verify eligibility and simplify access, VOIZ’s system connects directly to the MVGYOSZ official membership database. Registered visually impaired users enter their MVGYOSZ membership number in the VOIZ app (registration via Google or Facebook is supported), and following automatic verification the system activates full, free access.
VOIZ is also paying attention to groups that may lack an email address—such as visually impaired young people living in children’s homes—and invites institutions and organizations to contact them so that appropriate administrative workflows can be arranged to broaden access.
Testing with a visually impaired developer and fine-tuning
VOIZ tested the application in collaboration with visually impaired software developer Áron Ócsai, who continuously evaluated the app and provided direct instructions to the development team so the interface would be genuinely usable. Ócsai noted that one of the main barriers for visually impaired users is the lack of suitable formats: many digitally purchased books cannot be converted into text that a screen reader can process, and reading apps themselves often have accessibility shortcomings.
VOIZ’s reading technology has been fine-tuned behind the scenes to better handle language-specific features and specialized terminology, reducing mispronunciations that weaker AI systems sometimes produce.
Why this matters
The VOIZ development is an example of how artificial intelligence can be applied to social responsibility goals and equal access. The accessibility feature rapidly increases the volume of listenable cultural content available to visually impaired people and shortens the waiting times that users previously faced when relying on traditional sources.
Summary
VOIZ’s new AI-based feature provides free access for MVGYOSZ members, immediately makes tens of thousands of e-books listenable, and aims to expand to around 40,000 professionally narrated titles by year-end while preserving human narration where available.
