No sound from Text to Speech

Problem

When you try to test Text to Speech from the Control Panel you hear no sound yet you are able to hear other forms of audio such as music when you play them.You may also not hear anything when using a screen reader such as ClaroRead.

Cause

This can be caused by problems with SAPI, which is used for text-to-speech functions. It can also be due to conflicting audio settings.

Solution

  • Disable Sound Enhancements
    1. Click the Start button.
    2. Type mmsys.cpl and press Enter.
    3. Click the correct sound device and then click Properties.
    4. Go to the Enhancements Tab.
    5. Check the “Disable all sound effects” checkbox.
    6. Click OK.
  • Install / Reinstall SAPI 5
    1. Download the SAPI 5 installer.
    2. Run the file and choose the Install or Repair option.

4 comments

  1. The person providing this information failed to mention what these direction were for which operating system. I have a windows 8 operating system and after going through these directions step by step at step 4 when stating go to Enhancement Tab there was not one. And after Downloading the SAPI 5 Installer that did not help with the sound problem either.

  2. Try “Reset all user settings to defaults” in the far right drop down by the puzzle piece (R&W 11.5)

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