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For LCSWs, RNs, LPCs, LMFTs, CADCs, OTs
Your CEU hours, while you commute.
Required CEUs are mostly dense PDF reading you save for the deadline. Convert them to audio and you finish the reading portion during commutes, runs, and household time. Quizzes still happen on the official platform, that is how credit works, but the slog disappears. No IT approval, no enterprise sales call. Free to try right now.
PRO at $19/mo: 1M chars (~14 hours of audio) per month. Most clinicians cover their full biennial cycle on a single PRO month and pause until next time.
Hear what a CEU paragraph sounds like at three speeds
An ethics CEU sentence on the duty to warn (Tarasoff principle, 1976). Same voice, three speeds. Find the one that lets you absorb the material without losing nuance.
Free
1.0x normal
Guy standard voice, careful study pace
Free
1.3x faster
Guy standard voice, commute sweet spot
PRO
1.7x with HD voice
Andrew Multilingual HD retains clarity at high speed where standard voices start slurring
Speed adjustment is free on standard voices. The PRO card uses Andrew Multilingual HD which holds together at 1.7x where standard voices start to lose detail. PRO ($19/mo) also unlocks 1 million characters a month, no watermark, and SSML for technical terminology. A typical biennial CEU cycle fits inside a single PRO month.
Why continuing education feels like a tax (and what to fix)
Text-to-speech converts the format of CEU reading material; the official quiz on the provider's platform still grants the credit.
Honest version. Most licensed clinicians put off CEUs until 6 weeks before renewal. Then it is a panic-week of staying up reading dense PDFs that all start to blur together. Ethics. Cultural competency. Updated guidelines. The same five providers charging $30 to $200 per course for content nobody actually retains. Roughly 75% of healthcare professionals report that CE creates scheduling and work-life-balance pressure (Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions, 2020). The number feels low. Anyone who has done this knows.
Here is what is fixable. CE does not actually require sit-down focus time. The CONTENT does not require it. The QUIZ requires it, briefly. The reading is just reading. Reading that you are doing because a board says you have to, not because you are learning new clinical skills you do not already use. Most ethics CEU material is a refresher of code you already know. Most cultural-competency material is the same handful of frameworks repeated. The reading does not need your peak cognitive hours.
Audio recovers commute, treadmill, walking-the-dog, and laundry-folding hours that you were not using for anything else. Run a 6-hour ethics CEU as a 6-hour audio queue. Listen during 9 commute days. Knock the quiz out on a Saturday afternoon. Done. Total new evening reading: 0 hours.
Run your numbers
License lookup: what does YOUR cycle require?
Pick your license type and state. The lookup returns the official biennial requirement and a rough estimate of how much listening time you need to cover the reading portion at 1.0x speed. Numbers compiled from publicly available state-board summaries; verify before submitting renewal paperwork.
License lookup
Pick your license and state. Returns the official CE hour requirement and a rough estimate of the listening time needed to cover the reading portion via TTS at 1.0x speed.
36 hours per biennial cycle
About 25.2 hours of that is reading (typically). At 1.0x listening speed, that is roughly 6.3 hours of audio per month spread across the cycle. Source: BBS.
Estimates compiled from publicly available state-board summaries. Verify the exact current requirement with your licensing board before submitting renewal paperwork.
By license
CEU requirements by license type
Licensed clinical social workers must complete 20 to 50 continuing-education hours every two years, depending on state.
LCSW (clinical social work)
20 to 50 hours biennially. Mostly reading-heavy. Excellent TTS candidate.
RN (nursing)
10 to 30 hours biennially in most states. Mix of reading and skill-based.
LPC (counseling)
30 to 40 hours biennially in most states. Reading-heavy, ethics + cultural focus.
LMFT (marriage and family therapy)
30 to 45 hours biennially. Heavy on theoretical and modality content.
CADC (addiction counseling)
30 to 50 hours biennially depending on certifying body. Reading-heavy.
OT / PT
20 to 36 hours biennially. Theoretical content converts well, technique demos do not.
All 50 states require continuing education for nursing license renewal, with hours ranging from approximately 10 to 30 per cycle (NCSBN regulations summary, 2022). LCSWs fall under ASWB-aligned state boards with the 20 to 50 hour range cited above. LPCs are governed by NBCC-aligned state boards. The honest takeaway: the exact number varies, the workflow does not. Convert the reading, take the quiz.
Pick the right courses
What CEU content converts well to audio
The 80/20 of which courses to convert. Some content is born for audio. Some is not.
Convert these: Ethics CEU (basically all of it), cultural competency, treatment-modality overviews (CBT theory, DBT theory, EMDR theory), regulatory and law-update CEUs, case-study narratives, DSM-5-TR criteria walkthroughs, supervision theory, professional-development reading.
Do not bother: Anything heavy on tables (assessment scoring keys), decision trees and clinical pathways with branching logic, courses where most of the content is video demonstrations, multi-image medical pathways. For these, watch the video and read the supplemental PDFs at a desk like a normal person.
Practical filter: open the PDF. Page through it quickly. If it is 80% paragraphs of prose, convert it. If it is 80% grids and diagrams, do not. If it is mixed, convert the prose portion only and skim the visual sections at a desk.
When to listen
The multitask matrix
Activity
Works for CEU?
Speed
Note
Driving (commute)
Excellent
1.0 to 1.2x
Best window. Stable focus, no interruptions.
Running / cardio
Good
1.0x
Heart rate slightly degrades retention. Lower the speed.
Walking dog / outside
Excellent
1.0 to 1.2x
Calm pace, fresh air, surprisingly retentive.
Laundry / dishes / cooking
Good
1.0x
Some interruption from kitchen sounds; pause-friendly.
Lifting weights
Mediocre
1.0x
Sets break flow. Save for cardio days.
Active conversation
No
n/a
Cannot multitask audio with conversation. Do not try.
Working at desk
No
n/a
Defeats the purpose. Use this slot for the quiz.
Voice settings
Voice and speed for long-form CE content
Andrew (American English male) for theoretical content, ethics, regulatory updates. Calm, neutral, listenable for 60 to 90 minute stretches without fatigue. Jenny (American English female) as an alternative if you prefer female-narrated content.
Speed is personal. Most clinicians settle around 1.1x to 1.2x for unfamiliar content and 1.5x for refreshers. Past 1.5x, retention drops measurably for most people on dense content. The exception: if you have already taken the topic before (your fifth ethics CEU on similar territory), 1.7x to 2.0x is fine because you are pattern-matching to what you already know.
"I used to dread renewal weeks. Now I knock out 30 hours of CEUs in 3 weeks of normal commute time. The quiz is the only desk work."LCSW, 12 years in practice
Honest comparison
FreeTTS vs PESI, Relias, NetCE audio upgrades
Audio-format CEU upgrades from publishers typically cost 25 to 50 percent more than the text version of the same course.
Option
What you get
Typical cost
Best for
FreeTTS PRO
Convert any text CEU course you already have to audio.
$19/mo (any number of courses)
Self-paced, multi-course audio listening.
PESI audio upgrade
Audio version of one specific PESI course.
+25-50% over text version (verify)
Single PESI course you specifically want produced audio for.
Relias audio
Audio modules within Relias enterprise platform.
Bundled with employer LMS subscription
Hospital/agency staff with Relias access.
NetCE audio
Some NetCE courses available with audio narration.
+15-30% over text (verify)
NetCE-loyal clinicians.
Math: most clinicians take 2 to 4 paid CEU courses a year. If you would have paid the audio upgrade on even one $200 course, you have already paid for 3 months of FreeTTS PRO. After that, every additional course converted is free. The audio-upgrade business model from publishers is genuinely silly when you can do it yourself for $19.
Step by step
Walkthrough: ethics CEU to audio in under 10 minutes
Download the CEU PDF
Open your provider portal (PESI, NetCE, Relias, CE4Less, your state association). Download the assigned reading PDF. Some providers lock the PDF; if so, use the in-portal text-extract option or contact support. Most allow personal-use download.
Extract clean text
Open /pdf-to-audiobook on FreeTTS. Drop the PDF in. The tool handles chapter detection, strips headers and footers, and ignores reference lists. Cleaner output than copy-paste from a messy two-column PDF.
Open the studio with the cleaned text
Click the open-in-studio button. The text appears in the box pre-loaded. Pick a clear voice (Andrew works for most theory content). Speed at 1.0 to 1.2 for unfamiliar topics, 1.5 for refreshers.
Generate, save MP3, queue for commute
Generate the audio. Download the MP3. Drop into your podcast app of choice (Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Overcast all support sideloaded files). Queue it for tomorrow's commute.
Take the quiz on the official platform
After listening, log into the provider portal. Take the quiz. Submit. Credit posted. The quiz is the credit-earning step; the audio just shifted the reading slog into time you would have lost anyway.
A real clinician's pattern
30 hours in 3 weeks: the commute method
An LCSW we know used to do all 36 hours of biennial CEUs in two miserable weekends before renewal. Last cycle she switched to the commute method. Here is what she did, in her own description.
Week 1: bought 4 PESI courses online (2 ethics, 1 trauma-informed care, 1 cultural competency). Total: about 30 hours of reading material. PDF download for each. Ran each through FreeTTS in batches over a Saturday morning. Total studio time: about 90 minutes.
Weeks 1 to 3: 40-minute commute each way, five days a week. About 6 hours 40 minutes of audio time per week. Listened to one course at a time, in order. Took quick voice memos at red lights for the 5 to 10 things worth writing down per course.
End of week 3: sat down on a Saturday afternoon, took all 4 quizzes back to back. Total quiz time: 75 minutes. All 4 passed first attempt. Credit posted within 48 hours. Renewal completed 3 weeks before deadline.
Total new evening hours she lost: zero. Total dollars saved on audio upgrades from publishers: about $80 (the ethics audio upgrade alone would have been $40). Total FreeTTS cost: one month of PRO at $19. Net: about a $60 saving plus 30 hours of recovered weekend time. The math is honest. Just commit to one cycle of doing it this way.
Nursing and NCLEX prep
Nursing CE, NCLEX review, and making your own audio
Nursing splits into two groups here. Licensed nurses converting reading-heavy CE modules into commute audio, and nursing students or educators turning review material into narrated lessons. The first group is listening to somebody else's content. The second group is producing their own, and that changes which plan makes sense.
For nurses meeting CE requirements, the workflow on this page applies directly. State boards vary in how much classroom-style CE they require, and the reading-heavy modules (pharmacology updates, infection control, ethics, documentation standards) convert to audio cleanly. Skills-demonstration requirements do not, and no format change fixes that.
NCLEX and NCLEX-PN review is the more interesting case, because the material is built for repetition. Practice questions with the reasoning spelled out afterwards work unusually well as audio: you hear the stem, you get a beat to answer in your head, then you hear why the correct answer is correct. That is close to how a good tutor teaches, and it survives being listened to on a commute or before a shift in a way that reading a question bank on a phone screen does not.
A note on terminology, because it matters in this specialty. Standard voices handle most clinical language well, but longer drug names are worth checking before you commit to a stack of material. Generate one short clip with the ten terms you use most, listen once, and respell anything that comes out wrong phonetically, or switch that section to an HD voice. Two minutes of testing prevents a whole set of files with a mispronounced medication in them.
If you are on the producing side, writing review lessons rather than consuming them, the considerations change: you need one consistent voice across every lesson, longer per-generation limits, and a commercial licence before you charge for any of it. We wrote that workflow up separately in how to turn your study notes into a narrated review course, which covers scripting, batching, and what a full course actually costs to produce.
Quick answers
FAQ on CEUs and TTS
Can I earn CEU credit just by listening?
Text-to-speech converts the format of the reading material, not the credit pathway. You still complete the provider's quiz, attestation, or assessment on their platform to earn credit. What changes is when and where the reading portion happens. Most clinicians use TTS to finish 6 hours of reading during commute time, then sit down for a 15-minute quiz. The credit comes from the quiz, not the listening.
What CEU content works best as audio?
Text-heavy theoretical content. Ethics codes, cultural-competency articles, treatment-modality reviews, regulatory updates, case-study narratives, DSM-5-TR criteria walkthroughs, supervision theory. What does not convert well: heavy tables, decision trees, multi-image clinical pathways, anything where the visual layout carries the meaning. Skim the PDF first. If it is mostly prose, it is a great candidate. If it is mostly grids, hybrid works better.
How do I take notes while listening?
Three approaches that work. First: voice memo on the phone for quick thoughts during commute, transcribe later. Second: listen straight through at 1.0x, then skim the PDF for the 5 to 10 things worth writing down. Third: tap-to-pause your headphones and a Notes app for stationary listening. Most clinicians stop trying to take notes mid-commute and accept that the audio pass is comprehension, the desk pass is capture.
Is this cheaper than buying audio-format CEU upgrades from PESI or Relias?
Usually yes. Many CEU providers charge 25 to 50 percent more for the audio version of an identical course. PRO at $19 a month lets you convert any text-format course to audio yourself, at any voice and any speed. The math: one audio-upgrade fee on a single $200 course often exceeds three months of FreeTTS PRO. If you take more than two CEUs a year, the math gets even better.
Which licenses benefit most from this approach?
Licenses with reading-heavy CE: LCSW, LPC, LMFT, addiction counselors (CADC), nursing in states with classroom-style CE, OT, PT theoretical CE modules. Licenses dominated by hands-on demonstration (some surgical CME, lab-skills CE) benefit less. If your license requires substantial reading hours, this saves real time. Use the license lookup above to estimate your specific case.
Does this work for NCLEX and nursing review material?
Yes, and question banks are one of the better fits. Practice questions with the reasoning spelled out after each answer work well as audio because you hear the stem, get a beat to answer in your head, then hear why the right answer is right. That pattern survives listening on a commute in a way that reading questions on a phone does not. The one thing to check first is terminology: standard voices handle most clinical language fine, but longer drug names like metoprolol or furosemide are worth testing. Generate a short clip with your ten most-used terms, listen once, and respell anything that comes out wrong phonetically or switch to an HD voice for that section.
I teach nursing. Can I make my own narrated review lessons instead of just listening?
Yes, and it is a different job from converting a PDF for personal study. Producing a review course means one consistent voice across every lesson, longer per-generation limits so a full lesson goes through in one pass, and a commercial licence before you charge for any of it. The free plan is personal use only and adds a watermark tag, so switch to PRO or Creator before you publish the first paid lesson rather than after. We wrote the full workflow up separately, covering scripting, batching, pronunciation testing, and what a full course costs to produce.
Can I speed it up to finish faster?
Yes, but retention matters more than speed for license requirements. 1.0x to 1.2x is the sweet spot for ethics and theory. 1.3x and up tends to skim past nuance you will need on the quiz. The real time-saving is multitasking, not rushing. Audio at 1.0x during a 40-minute commute beats 2.0x at midnight the day before a deadline. Most clinicians settle into a comfortable speed within 2 to 3 weeks of regular listening.
Try it on your next ethics PDF
Open the studio. Paste up to 1,000 characters. Hear how it sounds. If you like it, upgrade to PRO and convert your full course.
Last reviewed May 2026. Sources cited: ASWB state-by-state requirements 2021, NCSBN state regulations summary 2022, NBCC state-board summary 2021, J. Continuing Education in the Health Professions 2020, SAMHSA Behavioral Health Workforce Report 2021. Verify specific requirements with your licensing board before relying on these figures for renewal. Related guides: TTS for therapists, TTS for healthcare pros, PDF to audiobook.