Microsoft continues to emphasize accessibility in new Windows 11 features and has just introduced two new, more natural-sounding voices called Jenny and Aria.
These new voices are part of Microsoft’s accessibility features for Windows 11’s built-in Narrator screen reader app, which can be used to read text from websites, emails and documents. This feature builds on Microsoft’s work on neural text-to-speech synthesis for on-device processing.
The two new voices, Jenny and Aria, will be offered when Narrator is first launched, which can be done by pressing Windows key + Ctrl + Enter. It can also be configured to launch automatically on startup.
Availability on the Dev channel
The new Windows 11 voices add to improvements made last week to Voice Access, another accessibility feature for Microsoft’s distribution that offers a set of voice commands to replace keyboard, touch and the mouse.
The new Narrator voices can be tested in Windows 11 Insider Preview build 22543, which Microsoft just released to the Dev channel.
Users can install Narrator’s new modern voices through a dialog box that offers “Add Natural Voices”. Users can install both voices but must install them separately. Microsoft notes that users may need to restart Narrator if voice is not automatically enabled after downloading Aria.
Global overhaul
Microsoft has also made it easier to switch between voices for tasks like reading and navigation with new, updated key combinations. The new Narrator + Alt + Minus hotkey allows users to revert to the previous voice in the Narrator voice settings combo box. Another shortcut, Narrator + Alt + the Plus key, switches to the next voice in Narrator’s voice settings combo box.
Microsoft continues to integrate Windows 11 features and applications for the overall design overhaul of this release. Microsoft also continues to make taskbar improvements for hardware indicators, like volume controls, and has a refreshed progress ring animation for settings updates and designs.
This update refreshes the media controls that appear on the lock screen when playing music in supported apps. Volume flyout now also shows level.
New design, new life?
In keeping with the Windows 11 design scheme, flyouts have rounded edges and obey the dark theme system settings. Also, the keyboard shortcut WIN + ALT + K to mute a call now displays a confirmation window.
The updated look of System > Storage > Disks & Volumes and Storage Spaces in Settings looks more like Windows 11 settings. “Some disk, volume, and space options, such as properties, are now available directly inline on these pages as buttons, without having to click on this entry first,” Microsoft notes.
Microsoft also lists several fixes for outages affecting Windows Task Manager and OneNote. There are fixes for File Explorer, Inputs, Taskbar, Settings app, and Windowing. Microsoft is also working on a fix for taskbar widgets, which fails to show temperature and other details if the taskbar is aligned to the left.
Source: ZDNet.com