Voice Preferences

Voice Type Settings

Voice type

This combo box makes it possible for you to use different voices so that you can better distinguish uppercase and linked text from other text, and on-screen text from text added by Orca.

Configuring Multiple Voices

For each voice you wish to configure, first select the voice in the Voice type combo box. Then configure the person, rate, pitch, and volume to be used for that voice.

Speech system

This combo box allows you to select your preferred speech system from those you have installed, such as Speech Dispatcher.

Speech synthesizer

This combo box allows you to select the speech synthesizer to be used with your chosen Speech system.

Person

This combo box allows you to choose which "person" or "speaker" should be used with the selected voice. For instance, you might wish to have David speak by default, but have hyperlinks spoken by Alice. Note that what you find in the Person combo box will depend on which speech synthesizers you have installed.

Capitalization style

This combo box allows you to choose which Speech Dispatcher capitalization indication styles you wish to use in addition to Orca's capitalization voice. The options, which are named using Speech Dispatcher's terminology, are:

  • Icon: Plays a tone

  • Spell: Speaks the word "capital"

  • None

This setting can be toggled on the fly

Orca also has a command to cycle through the available capitalization styles. See Speech Settings Commands for more information.

Default value: none

Rate, Pitch, and Volume

These three left-right sliders allow you to further customize the sound of the person you have just selected.

Global Voice Settings

Break speech into chunks between pauses

Depending on the enabled speech settings, Orca may have quite a bit to say about a particular object such as its name, its role, its state, its mnemonic, its tutorial message, and so on. Checking the Break speech into chunks between pauses checkbox will cause Orca to insert brief pauses in between each of these pieces of information.

Default value: checked

Speak numbers as digits

Checking the Speak numbers as digits checkbox will cause Orca to break a number like "123" into separate digits ("1," "2," and "3") prior to passing it along to the speech synthesizer.

Default value: not checked