VOICE INTERFACE FOR ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS

Methods, systems, and computer program products for providing an audio interface to electronic documents. An audio interface receives a request for electronic content from a client and retrieves the requested document. Next, the document is parsed to identify various elements, such as title, text, and links included in the document. Many of those providing electronic content include hierarchical indices to aid clients in finding documents covering a particular topic. The audio interface includes a facility to preserve, enhance, or create this hierarchical organization by mapping a document's text and links into a corresponding audio hierarchy. The client is then presented with various options from which to make a selection. Outside of this hierarchy, the client receives the document title, the number of links contained within the document, an audio representation of the document's text, and may optionally chose to hear only the links included in the document. The audio interface also includes a number of global commands to facilitate navigation.