Hi Roslyn,,
Hope you are keeping well, So after a bit of searching, I found the
following from the nvda manual so you should be able to find more of the
same information in the help menu of the nvda window. I'll include the web
address for the manual and you can go through the links or you can google
for nvda shortcut keys. See the text below and note the shortcut key to the
voice settings in the first header. Also here is the web address for the
nvda manual:
https://www.nvaccess.org/files/nvda/documentation/userGuide.html#toc2 ;
9.1.3. Voice Settings (NVDA+control+v)
The Voice Settings dialog, found in the Preferences menu, contains options
that let you change the sound of the speech. For a quicker alternative way
of controlling speech parameters from anywhere, please see the Synth
Settings Ring
<https://www.nvaccess.org/files/nvda/documentation/userGuide.html#SynthSetti
ngsRing> section.
The Voice Settings dialog box contains the following options:
Voice
The first option that you land on in this dialog is a combo box listing all
the voices of the current synthesizer that you have installed. You can use
the arrow keys to listen to all the various choices. Left and Up arrow take
you up in the list, while right and down arrow move you down in the list.
Variant
If you are using the Espeak NG synthesizer that is packaged with NVDA, this
is a combo box that lets you select the Variant the synthesizer should speak
with. ESpeak NG's Variants are rather like voices, as they provide slightly
different attributes to the eSpeak NG voice. Some variants will sound like a
male, some like a female, and some even like a frog.
Rate
This option allows you to change the rate of your voice. This is a slider
that goes from 0 to 100, (0 being the slowest, 100 being the fastest).
Pitch
This option allows you to change the pitch of the current voice. It is a
slider which goes from 0 to 100, (0 being the lowest pitch and 100 being the
highest).
Volume
This option is a slider which goes from 0 to 100, (0 being the lowest volume
and 100 being the highest).
Inflection
This option is a slider that lets you choose how much inflection (rise and
fall in pitch) the synthesizer should use to speak with. (The only
synthesizer that provides this option at the present time is eSpeak NG).
Automatic Language switching
This checkbox allows you to toggle whether NVDA should switch speech
synthesizer languages automatically if the text being read specifies its
language. This option is enabled by default. Currently only the eSpeak NG
synthesizer supports automatic language switching.
Automatic Dialect switching
This checkbox allows you to toggle whether or not dialect changes should be
made, rather than just actual language changes. For example, if reading in
an English U.S. voice but a document specifies that some text is in English
U.K., then the synthesizer will switch accents if this option is enabled.
This option is disabled by default.
Punctuation/Symbol Level
Key: NVDA+p
This allows you to choose the amount of punctuation and other symbols that
should be spoken as words. For example, when set to all, all symbols will be
spoken as words. This option applies to all synthesizers, not just the
currently active synthesizer.
Trust voice's language for processing symbols and characters
On by default, this option tells NVDA if the current voice's language can be
trusted when processing symbols and characters. If you find that NVDA is
reading punctuation in the wrong language for a particular synthesizer or
voice, you may wish to turn this off to force NVDA to use its global
language setting instead.
Capital pitch change percentage
This edit field allows you to type the amount that the pitch of the voice
will change when speaking a capital letter. This value is a percentage,
where a negative value lowers the pitch and a positive value raises it. For
no pitch change you would use 0.
Say "cap" before capitals
This setting is a checkbox that, when checked, tells NVDA to say the word
"cap" before any capital letter when spoken as an individual character such
as when spelling. Usually, NVDA raises the pitch slightly for any capital
letter, but some synthesizers may not support this well, so perhaps this
option may be of use.
Beep for capitals
If this checkbox is checked, NVDA will make a small beep each time it
encounters a capitalized character by itself. Like the "say cap for
capitals" checkbox, this is useful for Synthesizers that can't change their
pitch for capital letters.
Use spelling functionality if supported
Some words consist of only one character, but the pronunciation is different
depending on whether the character is being spoken as an individual
character (such as when spelling) or a word. For example, in English, "a" is
both a letter and a word and is pronounced differently in each case. This
option allows the synthesizer to differentiate between these two cases if
the synthesizer supports this. Most synthesizers do support it.
This option should generally be enabled. However, some Microsoft Speech API
synthesizers do not implement this correctly and behave strangely when it is
enabled. If you are having problems with the pronunciation of individual
characters, try disabling this option.
9.1.4. Synth settings ring
If you wish to quickly change speech settings without going to the Voice
settings dialog, there are some NVDA key commands that allow you to move
through the most common speech settings from anywhere while running NVDA:
Name
Desktop key
Laptop key
Description
Move to next synth setting
NVDA+control+rightArrow
NVDA+shift+control+rightArrow
Moves to the next available speech setting after the current, wrapping
around to the first setting again after the last
Move to previous synth setting
NVDA+control+leftArrow
NVDA+shift+control+leftArrow
Moves to the next available speech setting before the current, wrapping
around to the last setting after the first
Increment current synth setting
NVDA+control+upArrow
NVDA+shift+control+upArrow
increases the current speech setting you are on. E.g. increases the rate,
chooses the next voice, increases the volume
Decrement current synth setting
NVDA+control+downArrow
NVDA+shift+control+downArrow
decreases the current speech setting you are on. E.g. decreases the rate,
chooses the previous voice, decreases the volume
9.1.5. Braille Settings
Gerry
From: vicsireland-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:vicsireland-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
roslynallman@xxxxxxxxx
Sent: 05 May 2017 15:21
To: vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [vicsireland] N.V.D.A.
Hi All,
Just trying to use NVDA here for the first time.
Not sure which version but could anybody try give me a keystroke to slow it
down? It might not be the same in every version but I could try.
Thanks in advance.
Roslyn