Windows Vista comes with an accessibility tool called Narrator that reads aloud what appears on your screen, such as window items, menu options, and typed characters. Windows uses Text-to-Speech (TTS) technology to recognize text and play it back as spoken words using a synthesized voice, which is chosen from several pre-generated voices. Narrator is designed for those who are blind or have impaired vision and works with the Windows desktop and setup, Control Panel, Notepad, WordPad, and Internet Explorer. Narrator supports only the English language and might not read words aloud correctly in other programs. You can adjust the speed, volume, or pitch of the voice in Narrator and change other Text-to-Speech options using Speech properties in the Control Panel.
Change Text-To-Speech Options
Click the Start button, click Control Panel, and then double-click the Text to Speech icon in Classic view.
Click the Voice selection list arrow, and then select a synthesized voice.
Drag the Voice speed slider to adjust the speed of the voice.
Click Preview Voice.
To set a preferred audio device as output for TTS playback, click Advanced, make a selection, and then click OK.
To adjust settings for your audio output devices, click Audio Output, specify the options you want on the Playback, Recording, or Sounds tabs, and then click OK.
Click the Start button, point to All Programs, click Accessories, click Ease of Access, and then click Narrator.
Select the Narrator check box options you want:
To hear what you type, select the Echo User’s Keystrokes check box.
To hear background events, select the Announce System Messages check box.
To hear an announcement when the screen scrolls, select the Announce Scroll Notifications check box.
Select the Start Narrator Minimized check box to minimize the Narrator dialog box.
Click Voice Settings.
Select a voice and adjust the voice speed, volume, and pitch.
Click OK.
Click the Minimize button to use the Narrator program or click Exit to close the program. (Restore the Narrator window, if necessary.) Click Yes, if necessary.
Common Narrator Shortcuts
Action
Result
Ctrl+Shift+Enter or Alt+Home
Get information about the current item
Ctrl+Shift+Spacebar
Read the entire selected window
Ctrl+Alt+Spacebar
Read the selected window layout
Alt+End
Get a summary of the current item
Ctrl
Stop Narrator from reading text
Insert+F2
Select all of the text with the current text pattern
Click the Start button, click Control Panel, and then double-click the Text to Speech icon in Classic view.
Click the Voice selection list arrow, and then select a synthesized voice.
Drag the Voice speed slider to adjust the speed of the voice.
Click Preview Voice.
To set a preferred audio device as output for TTS playback, click Advanced, make a selection, and then click OK.
To adjust settings for your audio output devices, click Audio Output, specify the options you want on the Playback, Recording, or Sounds tabs, and then click OK.
Click OK.
Click the Start button, point to All Programs, click Accessories, click Ease of Access, and then click Narrator.
Select the Narrator check box options you want:
Click Voice Settings.
Select a voice and adjust the voice speed, volume, and pitch.
Click OK.
Click the Minimize button to use the Narrator program or click Exit to close the program. (Restore the Narrator window, if necessary.) Click Yes, if necessary.