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How to change the text-to-speech (TTS) settings for screen readers in Android 13

How to change the text-to-speech (TTS) settings for screen readers in Android 13

You can also change the language used in Text-to-speech and the voice you hear. To find out how, see How to change the language and voice used for Text-to-speech (TTS) in Android 13.

Short guide:

  1. Tap the Settings icon . Scroll down and tap Accessibility.
  2. Scroll down and tap Text-to-speech output.
  3. Adjust the sliders for Speech Rate and Pitch. Tap Play to preview your settings or tap Reset to return to the last saved settings.
  4. For further options tap the Settings icon  next to Preferred engine.
  5. Tap Amplify speech volume to boost the volume of the spoken text.
  6. If you use more than one language in Android, tap Language detection to set how Text-to-speech switches between them.

Before and after

Text to speech settings before and after adjustment

This section takes you step-by-step through changing the text-to-speech (TTS) settings for screen readers in Android 13, complete with pictures of the screen to help.

Find the Accessibility settings

1. To launch the Accessibility settings on your device, tap the Settings icon to open the Settings app. Scroll down and tap Accessibility.

Tap Settings then scroll down and tap Accessibility

Select Text to speech output

2. Scroll down to the General section and tap Text-to-speech output.

Scroll down and tap Text-to-speech output

Adjust the speed

3. On the Text-to-speech output screen, adjust the slider for Speech Rate to change how fast your device reads aloud. Move the slider to the left to slow down the speech or to the right to speed it up.

Adjust the Speech Rate slider to speed the speech up or slow it down

Change the pitch

4. Adjust the slider for Pitch to alter the pitch and tone of the spoken voice. Move it to the left for a deeper, lower voice, or to the right for a high-pitched voice. Tap Play to preview the new voice or Reset to return to the last saved setting.

Adjust the bottom slider to change the Pitch. Tap Play to preview the voice or Reset to reset it

Make more adjustments

6. To customise the text-to-speech output further, tap the Settings icon next to Preferred engine.

Tap the Settings icon next to Preferred engine

Make text-to-speech sound louder

7. Tap Amplify speech volume to boost the volume of the spoken text so that it is easier to hear above any other audio playing on your device. 

Tap Amplify speech volume to boost the sound level of Text to speech

Adjust language switching

8. If you use more than one language in Android, tap Language detection to set how Text-to-speech switches between them. Select Aggressive if it's not switching fast enough, or Conservative if it's switching too fast.

Tap Language detection to adjust how quickly Text-to-speech switches between languages

Note: we have written these instructions for devices running the standard version of the Android operating system. You may find some minor presentation differences if the manufacturer has customised the theme.

Created on: September-22-2022

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