Read out loud is working but it is pausing between each line

[sztk5x]

I have version 2019.008.20071 and I had followed the instructions that you had provided in this posting:  Re: PDF read out loud is working but pauses on new line

I have utilized the cleaner tool and installed the reader back.  I also checked the text to speech.  I have a Windows 10 machine and it happens in all pdf files.

[try67]

Can you share with us a sample file that has this issue? You can upload it to something like Dropbox, Google Drive, etc., and then post the link to it here.

[sztk5x]

Adobe

[try67]

Please make the file public.

[sztk5x]

are you able to access it?

[try67]

Yes, and the same happens to me, but I don't know why...

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

Acrobat's Read Aloud is not a screen reader.

Repeat: it is NOT a screen reader.

It does not access and render the content (aka, voice it) per current PDF/UA-1 and WCAG 2.0 accessibility standards. It does not have the majority of user controls that real screen readers have. And it consistently mis-reads basic content.

Do not waste your time testing a document for screen reader accessibility with Acrobat's Read Aloud tool. It will give you false positives and false negatives.

Many of us in the professional accessibility world have asked Adobe to either fix Read Aloud and make it a full-featured, compliant tool, or remove it from Acrobat entirely.

Do your testing with a real screen reader:

• JAWS by Freedom Scientific https://www.freedomscientific.com/Products/Blindness/JAWS
• NVDA (which is free) https://www.nvaccess.org/

And don't forget to test for enlargement with ZOOM text, keyboard accessibility, and reading order for other AT (assistive technologies).

Accessibility is for all disabilities, not just blindness.

[Rajjeet · Accepted solution]

As Bevi suggested, please use JAWS or NVDA for testing a document for screen reader accessibility.

Read Out Loud was never designed as a complete Accessibility Solution. Respective screen readers like JAWS/NVDA for Windows and VoiceOver for Mac are the best available screen reader solutions (primarily for vision disabilities). That's one of the reasons that Adobe started funding NVDA (through NVAccess) to address the goals of accessibility support for PDFs in Acrobat Reader.

It's better to invest in providing a first-class screen reader experience than to over-haul ROL and keep playing a catch-up game with established screen readers which are already doing a great job and have much better and deeper integrations with respective operating systems.

ROL can be used as a tool in cases of situational disabilities (driving a car, cooking, reading outside on a sunny day) or as a very basic entry level tool (not calling it a screen reader yet) for users who don't want to learn how screen readers work.

[defaulth4u660wvtmjv]

Thanks for providing a solution by posting the links to a free accessibility option. 

[Peter Rhodes London]

Hi Bevi,

I am sorry to have to differ with you publicly but your claim that Adobe "Read Aloud" is not intended to be a screen reader is directly contradicted by Adobe themselves and it's my view you should take greater care to make such a claim when the evidence is on the record from the vendor themselves.

Any user dissatisfied with this feature is likely to come across your advice, reaching this page from a google search and likely reach the conclusion that it is their expectations that are too great rather than Adobes product being sub-standard.

I link this article https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/hub/how-to/how-to-read-pdf-aloud to illustrate this point to anyone that cares to look further. It's clear from this article that Adobe does intend this product will offer a "read aloud" experience that meets whats one might expect from a "screen reader" which is contrary to your claim.

Kind Regards,

Peter.

[Peter Rhodes London]

Edit : Just adding the headline from the article together with some snippets:

"Conveniently hear PDF files read aloud"

"Perhaps you need your documents read aloud to you because reading print text is too difficult. Or maybe you’ve just downloaded a PDF file of a book to listen to"

"You can choose to have the whole document read aloud or just the page you’re on"

[AndrewC1264]

Hi Peter... excellent response. I am trying to track down a way to insert pauses in sentences/sections so it doesn't read like one long toilet paper roll of text which is infuriating. Your message further confirms Adobe's recent attempts [as in the last 4-5 years] to create products that oversell, then run and hide behind horrendous customer support that cannot asnwer your question [they just read the manual to you in the hopes you're a newbie and that will suffice] and then when all that fails, disappears completely when they realize their product is failing. I have a list twenty miles long of InDesign, illustrator and PhotoShop fails that are intolerable. It's like Microsoft took over their development. Well, we know where their development went to... Enough said.

[sztk5x]

I've made the folder public

[ClayRembert]

I was having the same issue, but hitting the "Recognize Text" button solved the problem.

[keithg10588254]

I don't believe that Microsoft Word was designed as a full screen reader either, but it works. The fact that Adobe Reader has the capability to do text-to-speech, but it's maddening to use because it's inserting something like a one-second pause between every one-second blast of text sound (changing the wpm setting just makes it speak faster, but leaves the same break between words), tells one that the capability could be tweaked to, say, not put a one-second pause between words. I didn't construe the original post's question to be looking for a full accessibility solution, just trying to get it to work as well as, say, Word, or Outlook. And I'm in that same boat, perhaps needless to say. Thanks.