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Thread: Mysterious JAWS voice change
Number of posts in this thread: 10 (In chronological order)
From: Shane Anderson
Date: Fri, Aug 05 2016 3:42PM
Subject: Mysterious JAWS voice change
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Hello All,
The aria-describedby text for a text input speaks in a low and slow (some
have described it as demonic) voice under certain conditions. It occurs
while running JAWS 17 and IE11 when a 5 digit number (or the number set in
the speak single digits setting) is typed in the input and the user returns
to the field.
Case in point, if you go to the aria-describedby example at
http://heydonworks.com/practical_aria_examples/#input-tooltip and type
12345 in the "Your username" field, then tab away, and then tab back, the
describedby text will read in a lower and slower voice.
It won't happen if you type in text. It only happens with a number with 5
or more digits.
Anyone know what this voice is for?
Regards
Shane Anderson
From: Jamous, JP
Date: Sat, Aug 06 2016 7:39AM
Subject: Re: Mysterious JAWS voice change
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I wish I knew Shane. I observed it on our company site and other sites too.
It seems that the function to change the speaking rate of the synthesizer is fired up in the IE.jss file. I used that function to slow JAWS down in one of my scripts to allow it to read the font size, type and color at a slower speed than the regular one that I use.
Personally, I think it is a bug that they need to clear up. It doesn't happen with me all the time. It fires up at random.
I believe it uses Rocko's or Read's voice in a very low rate and pitch. That is why you described it as demonic.
From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Sat, Aug 06 2016 10:05AM
Subject: Re: Mysterious JAWS voice change
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When Jaws sees 5 digits or more without a separator (like a "," or
".") it stops reading the number as a number and starts announcing
individual digits.
You can adjust this in the Jaws browser settings (JawsKey-V).
then type "numbers" and you will see "number options".
The first entry under that is "digit threshold" which is set to 5 by default.
That doesn't really answer your question honestly, but if you set this
option to 6, would Rocco's demonic voice only start scaring you after
6 digits?
If so, the voice change is tied to this setting and that is an
important detail if filing a Jaws bug or comment.
Heres' the kicker. This never happens in my Jaws (16 or 17 with IE or FF).
This bug is elusive.
-B
On 8/6/16, Jamous, JP < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> I wish I knew Shane. I observed it on our company site and other sites too.
>
> It seems that the function to change the speaking rate of the synthesizer is
> fired up in the IE.jss file. I used that function to slow JAWS down in one
> of my scripts to allow it to read the font size, type and color at a slower
> speed than the regular one that I use.
>
> Personally, I think it is a bug that they need to clear up. It doesn't
> happen with me all the time. It fires up at random.
>
> I believe it uses Rocko's or Read's voice in a very low rate and pitch. That
> is why you described it as demonic.
>
From: Chaals McCathie Nevile
Date: Sat, Aug 06 2016 10:45AM
Subject: Re: Mysterious JAWS voice change
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On Sat, 06 Aug 2016 15:39:58 +0200, Jamous, JP < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
wrote:
> I wish I knew Shane. I observed it on our company site and other sites
> too.
Is it picking it as a ZIP code? Does JAWS have special handling of things
it thinks might be addresses - or phone numbers - by default?
cheers
Chaals
> It seems that the function to change the speaking rate of the
> synthesizer is fired up in the IE.jss file. I used that function to slow
> JAWS down in one of my scripts to allow it to read the font size, type
> and color at a slower speed than the regular one that I use.
>
> Personally, I think it is a bug that they need to clear up. It doesn't
> happen with me all the time. It fires up at random.
>
> I believe it uses Rocko's or Read's voice in a very low rate and pitch.
> That is why you described it as demonic.
>
From: Jamous, JP
Date: Sun, Aug 07 2016 6:06AM
Subject: Re: Mysterious JAWS voice change
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Honestly, I don't know. Yet, it is occurring on lots of sites.
I just ran into it this morning on Google.com as I was typing fast my search query. Rocko kicked in with a lower pitch and slow rate.
I tested your URL below and Grandpa kicked in aftershift-tabbing with a low pitch and rate.
I tried to track the IE scripts, which lead me to the default.jss file. In it there was a OT_HELP being used to announce any notifications.
My assumption is that JAWS is taking your div and announcing it as a help or tooltip. That is forcing the functions to switch to those voices.
I'd recommend you email = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = and get this baby to the escalations team.
From: Jamous, JP
Date: Sun, Aug 07 2016 6:43AM
Subject: Re: Mysterious JAWS voice change
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I changed it to 6 digits but the problem continued to occur. However, if I set it to 6 digits and set the SayAll reads by Paragraph, it stops firing up Grandpa when I type 1234 or 12345. The moment I inset 6 digits or more, the voice is back.
I tried it with the default settings and it does occur. However, it does not occur in Firefox or Chrome whether I use my settings or the default settings.
So it is an issue in IE for sure.
I bet it has something to do with the enhancements that they have been adding for Windows 10 and its version of Internet Explorer. On Windows 10 IE is a different beast. Also, if you visit the download page of JAWS and check out the enhancements of JAWS 17, you will notice lots of issues with ARIA in general.
That is why I'd recommend taking all of the details from here and emailing them about this constant bug.
From: Shane Anderson
Date: Mon, Aug 08 2016 9:05AM
Subject: Re: Mysterious JAWS voice change
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JP - You might be right. But it seems impossible to tell for certain if the
cause originates with JAWS or IE. I'll file a bug with Freedom Scientific.
I wondered the same thing about zip code as Chaals and others noted but it
occurs with any number of digits above the "speak single digits" setting as
Birkir noted (which just happens to default to 5).
I copied and pasted 1234567890 several times together and it still happens.
When I add a character the describedby text is read normally.
1234567890 - yields Rocco's demonic voice.
1234567890a - yields the same Jaws voice as currently set.
As JP noted this occurs anywhere there is aria-describedby text and a
number longer than or the same as the "speak single digits" setting. And
it's only happening with IE.
A few other odd facts:
- I've found that the voice change doesn't occur inside an iframe. For
example, when creating test examples on Code Pen or JS Fiddle.
- Other screen reader users have reported Rocco's demonic in other
(random?) situations but I can't reproduce it.
Finally, Birkir, "Rocco's demonic voice"? LOL
Regards
Shane Anderson
On Sun, Aug 7, 2016 at 8:43 AM, Jamous, JP < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> I changed it to 6 digits but the problem continued to occur. However, if I
> set it to 6 digits and set the SayAll reads by Paragraph, it stops firing
> up Grandpa when I type 1234 or 12345. The moment I inset 6 digits or more,
> the voice is back.
>
> I tried it with the default settings and it does occur. However, it does
> not occur in Firefox or Chrome whether I use my settings or the default
> settings.
>
> So it is an issue in IE for sure.
>
> I bet it has something to do with the enhancements that they have been
> adding for Windows 10 and its version of Internet Explorer. On Windows 10
> IE is a different beast. Also, if you visit the download page of JAWS and
> check out the enhancements of JAWS 17, you will notice lots of issues with
> ARIA in general.
>
> That is why I'd recommend taking all of the details from here and emailing
> them about this constant bug.
>
From: Jamous, JP
Date: Mon, Aug 08 2016 10:15AM
Subject: Re: Mysterious JAWS voice change
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Great!
Get it in their lap and let them narrow it down from there. If it is not JAWS, they have connections with Microsoft. I filed a bug with them regarding Outlook 2013 and they were able to trace it to Microsoft. Microsoft assured them that it was fixed in Outlook 2016 365. I'll wait till our IT manager deploys Office 2016 365 in the fall. It will be interesting to see the result.
Keep us posted about your ticket with them. Good luck.
From: Whitney Quesenbery
Date: Tue, Aug 09 2016 6:12AM
Subject: Re: Mysterious JAWS voice change
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Somewhat unrelated: has anyone else who uses GoogleMap directions noticed
that there is sometimes a voice change between a direction that you will
follow soon and one to follow now?
On Mon, Aug 8, 2016 at 12:15 PM Jamous, JP < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> Great!
>
> Get it in their lap and let them narrow it down from there. If it is not
> JAWS, they have connections with Microsoft. I filed a bug with them
> regarding Outlook 2013 and they were able to trace it to Microsoft.
> Microsoft assured them that it was fixed in Outlook 2016 365. I'll wait
> till our IT manager deploys Office 2016 365 in the fall. It will be
> interesting to see the result.
>
> Keep us posted about your ticket with them. Good luck.
>
From: Jamous, JP
Date: Tue, Aug 09 2016 7:26AM
Subject: Re: Mysterious JAWS voice change
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I did not, but as I stated, I got a voice drop when I was typing in the Google search box. Rocko fired up at a lower pitch and rate.
I believe I shift + tabbed to the text box and started typing before Read, my PCCursor, stopped talking. At that point, Rocko came in cutting off Read. So there is some type of latency somewhere. Maybe the synthesizer is not flushing everything in the RAM when it is interrupted.
In other words,
1. read is talking, it's info is in the heap.
2. Rocko's info is already in the heap in the queue.
3. As I type quickly interrupting Read, JAWS flushes the cell in the heap for read but starts processing Rocko, which is in the queue. Until I start typing a few keystrokes, then Rocko is flushed and my typing starts sounding out.