Rate Boost checkbox in speech settings - what exactly does it do?
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Brian's Mail list account
To my ears, using it on Espeaks seems to make it gabble, but speed the voice up normally it is not so bad. My guess is that it kind of cuts some samples out to speed it up, It makes Dear Daniel sound like an alien.
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From: "Sarah k Alawami" <marrie12@...> To: <nvda@nvda.groups.io> Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2023 11:53 PM Subject: Re: [nvda] Rate Boost checkbox in speech settings - what exactly does it do? I have rate boost on the eloquence voice and use it at 40 percent with boost on, 70 percent with boost off. From: nvda@nvda.groups.io <nvda@nvda.groups.io> On Behalf Of JM Casey Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2023 1:34 PM To: nvda@nvda.groups.io Subject: Re: [nvda] Rate Boost checkbox in speech settings - what exactly does it do? Hey brian. Someone might be able to clarify exactly how this works, but I think this was designed for the Microsoft voices perhaps, which by default don’t go very fast and insert rather long pauses between sentences. With the rate boost on, too, you can increase the speed to a much greater level (though there is probably a way to do this from within the oS as well because that’d make sense), which some people desire. I personally don’t think these sorts of voices sound very good at “hyperspeed” compared with something like Eloquence or, probably, Espeak (which I never got used to personally) but it’s good that the option’s available. From: nvda@nvda.groups.io <mailto:nvda@nvda.groups.io> <nvda@nvda.groups.io <mailto:nvda@nvda.groups.io> > On Behalf Of Brian Vogel Sent: January 12, 2023 4:24 PM To: nvda@nvda.groups.io <mailto:nvda@nvda.groups.io> Subject: [nvda] Rate Boost checkbox in speech settings - what exactly does it do? I know, obviously, that it causes some sort of increase in speech rate. What I don't know is under what conditions such a rate boost would be triggered, nor how much above one's set speech rate the boost would be. Rather than play with this, I thought I'd ask if anyone knew the "under the hood secrets" of this specific speech setting. -- Brian - Virginia, USA - Windows 11 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 22H2, Build 22621; Office 2016, Version 16.0.15726.20188, 32-bit It is much easier to be critical than to be correct. ~ Benjamin Disraeli, 1804-1881 |
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Luke Davis
Brian Vogel wrote:
I know, obviously, that it causes some sort of increase in speech rate. What I don't know is under what conditions such a rate boost would be triggered,As has been pointed out: it's an always-on multiplier for the regular rate slider. My use case may be a good example for you to test. I found that eSpeak English (Great Britain), variant: Max, was just slightly too slow at rate 100. Once they introduced rate boost, I was able to select that, and then set my rate to 10. I can then move it up/down between five and 20, depending on how fast I need to get through something, or how much I need to pay attention to the details. Luke |
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I have rate boost on the eloquence voice and use it at 40 percent with boost on, 70 percent with boost off.
From: nvda@nvda.groups.io <nvda@nvda.groups.io> On Behalf Of JM Casey
Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2023 1:34 PM To: nvda@nvda.groups.io Subject: Re: [nvda] Rate Boost checkbox in speech settings - what exactly does it do?
Hey brian. Someone might be able to clarify exactly how this works, but I think this was designed for the Microsoft voices perhaps, which by default don’t go very fast and insert rather long pauses between sentences. With the rate boost on, too, you can increase the speed to a much greater level (though there is probably a way to do this from within the oS as well because that’d make sense), which some people desire. I personally don’t think these sorts of voices sound very good at “hyperspeed” compared with something like Eloquence or, probably, Espeak (which I never got used to personally) but it’s good that the option’s available.
From: nvda@nvda.groups.io <nvda@nvda.groups.io> On Behalf Of Brian Vogel
I know, obviously, that it causes some sort of increase in speech rate. What I don't know is under what conditions such a rate boost would be triggered, nor how much above one's set speech rate the boost would be. Brian - Virginia, USA - Windows 11 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 22H2, Build 22621; Office 2016, Version 16.0.15726.20188, 32-bit It is much easier to be critical than to be correct. ~ Benjamin Disraeli, 1804-1881 -- ---------- Sarah Alawami, owner of flying Blind. Visit my website to read my story. Windows 11 22H2 (x64) build 22621.963 NVDA Version: 2022.3.3 Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2211 Build 16.0.15831.20098) 64-bit |
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Gene
I've played with the setting a bit when using Microsoft voices. for
a lot of voices, the setting isn't needed because the speech rate
can be set to be very fast without using it. But in the Microsoft
voices, and perhaps some others, without using it, even when the
screen-reader rate is set at 100 percent, speech may not be nearly
as fast as some users would want.
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My recollection is that when you turn the setting on when using Microsoft voices, even low settings produce fast speech. Gene On 1/12/2023 3:23 PM, Brian Vogel
wrote:
I know, obviously, that it causes some sort of increase in speech rate. What I don't know is under what conditions such a rate boost would be triggered, nor how much above one's set speech rate the boost would be. |
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Joseph & Chris,
Thanks to you both for making it clear that Rate Boost is a speed shift, making the voice faster from its lowest through its highest slider rates. You essentially "cut off" the very lowest rates from the normal rate range and start at more words per minute when it's on (and it works only for synths & voices that support it). -- Brian - Virginia, USA - Windows 11 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 22H2, Build 22621; Office 2016, Version 16.0.15726.20188, 32-bit It is much easier to be critical than to be correct. ~ Benjamin Disraeli, 1804-1881 |
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Hi, Yes - it shifts the rate across values. Originally this checkbox was applicable to eSpeak NG. But when NVDA introduced support for Windows OneCore voices, users said that OneCore rate was slow in comparison to say, Narrator (if I remember the discussion correctly, which was about five years ago), so the setting was extended to cover OneCore as well. Cheers, Joseph |
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From: nvda@nvda.groups.io <nvda@nvda.groups.io> On Behalf Of Brian Vogel
Sent: January 12, 2023 4:42 PM To: nvda@nvda.groups.io Subject: Re: [nvda] Rate Boost checkbox in speech settings - what exactly does it do?
On Thu, Jan 12, 2023 at 04:34 PM, Joseph Lee wrote:
- Brian - Virginia, USA - Windows 11 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 22H2, Build 22621; Office 2016, Version 16.0.15726.20188, 32-bit It is much easier to be critical than to be correct. ~ Benjamin Disraeli, 1804-1881 |
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On Thu, Jan 12, 2023 at 04:34 PM, Joseph Lee wrote:
This is used in eSpeak NG and Windows OneCore voices to boost speech rate if this checkbox is checked.- I'm now asking this not to be snarky: But in what way? We have a rate slider to control rate. Does rate boost effectively shift the lowest end and highest end of the available speech rate? Put more plainly, does checking it make the voice faster no matter where on the rate slider you might place it, making any given rate setting relatively faster? Or, by contrast, does it just "extend the high end" beyond what is normally available? -- Brian - Virginia, USA - Windows 11 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 22H2, Build 22621; Office 2016, Version 16.0.15726.20188, 32-bit It is much easier to be critical than to be correct. ~ Benjamin Disraeli, 1804-1881 |
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Hi, This is used in eSpeak NG and Windows OneCore voices to boost speech rate if this checkbox is checked. Cheers, Joseph |
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JM Casey
Hey brian. Someone might be able to clarify exactly how this works, but I think this was designed for the Microsoft voices perhaps, which by default don’t go very fast and insert rather long pauses between sentences. With the rate boost on, too, you can increase the speed to a much greater level (though there is probably a way to do this from within the oS as well because that’d make sense), which some people desire. I personally don’t think these sorts of voices sound very good at “hyperspeed” compared with something like Eloquence or, probably, Espeak (which I never got used to personally) but it’s good that the option’s available.
From: nvda@nvda.groups.io <nvda@nvda.groups.io> On Behalf Of Brian Vogel
Sent: January 12, 2023 4:24 PM To: nvda@nvda.groups.io Subject: [nvda] Rate Boost checkbox in speech settings - what exactly does it do?
I know, obviously, that it causes some sort of increase in speech rate. What I don't know is under what conditions such a rate boost would be triggered, nor how much above one's set speech rate the boost would be. Brian - Virginia, USA - Windows 11 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 22H2, Build 22621; Office 2016, Version 16.0.15726.20188, 32-bit It is much easier to be critical than to be correct. ~ Benjamin Disraeli, 1804-1881 |
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I know, obviously, that it causes some sort of increase in speech rate. What I don't know is under what conditions such a rate boost would be triggered, nor how much above one's set speech rate the boost would be.
Rather than play with this, I thought I'd ask if anyone knew the "under the hood secrets" of this specific speech setting. -- Brian - Virginia, USA - Windows 11 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 22H2, Build 22621; Office 2016, Version 16.0.15726.20188, 32-bit It is much easier to be critical than to be correct. ~ Benjamin Disraeli, 1804-1881 |
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