Read Page - Text To Speech Problem

[Lisa_lee]

Hello all,

we have released a newer version of Foxit PhantomPDF 7.3 and Foxit Reader 7.3 in which the problem"text to speech 'read' function pausing at the end of each line"has already been rectified already. Users could always download the newest version from our official download center below:

https://www.foxitsoftware.com/downloads/

[SuperFlons]

Bump. Would be amazing if this problem gets resolved

[[email protected]]

You have to remove the space in the 'Technology' part of the url.
Still, all lines end with pauses using the read alout function on my windows 8.1 laptop.

[3feet]

Hi Cherry, i have sent you and email with the file attached.

[[email protected]]

You have to remove the space in the 'Technology' part of the link


Still, both pages have pauses at the end of each line on my Windows 8.1 laptop, when read aloud ..

[cherry]

@3feet, Thanks for the update. But I got no luck to download the mentioned PDF files from the provided dropbox link. The error says "We can't find what you're looking for." Is it possible to email the PDF documents to [email protected] (Attn: Cherie)? Thank you.

[3feet]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/oaqd8ephjzz0w12/Extracted%20pages%20from%20Immersed%20in%20Technology.pdf?dl=0

[3feet]

Sorry for the late reply i don't appear to get notification on this thread.(now fixed)

I am using Windows 7.
Today my listening experience was, within the first 50 pages of the document being read there are a few pages that have the pause behaviour.
I will attach below, two extracted pages, one that works(1st page) and the other with the pause problem.

[cherry]

@3feet, I'm also interested in your OS type and the PDF document that we could replicate the pause problem with. Thank you.

[[email protected]]

Hi 3feet. I'm interested to know what OS you are using. All my pdfs read well in Windows 7 but I haven't been able to read any documents without pauses in 8.1 (using the same version of phantompdf).
If you're using windows 8.1, can you maybe attach one (just a page will do) that reads well on your system for me to try on mine...

[3feet]

Apologies.
I have found my 'fix' of changing the rate and pitch may have been coincidence.

While the Read function works on most documents that i have tried now, there are a couple of pdf documents that display the pause problem only in the starting pages.
It just happens that it was one of these files i was playing with when trying to find a solution.

I still can't work out why it pauses on these particular pages and not others.

[cherry]

Hi Dirk,

Thanks for the update. I've forwarded your comments to Report ID#57396 for QA team and Dev team's processing reference. Thank you again.

[[email protected]]

I did try various combinations but they didn’t help. It would be a worry if they did really since the rate and pitch settings should not affect the end of line issue.

I guess the SW team is using the Microsoft Speech API (SAPI). And I can imagine the SAPI re-formats the text for reading. It probably is adding a full stop at the end of each line to be able to control slight pauses at the end of each line which would then be adjustable. I’m just guessing here, but since other SW is having the same issue, the common denominator seems to be that API.

Cheers,
Dirk

[cherry]

@3feet, Thanks for your sharing. I've forwarded your comments to Foxit Internal bug tracking system for processing. Report ID#: 57396.
@[email protected], Thank you as well for the info. May I encourage you to try with "3feet" solution mentioned and see if it helps? BTW, I've forwarded your discovery to QA team for testing reference as well. Report ID#: 57396.

[[email protected]]

Hope the following information may help your programmers (being a programmer myself)

I get different results from both my computers:
- Desktop: 64 bit - Windows 7 Home Premium Service pack 1
- Laptop: Asus G550JK - 64 bit - Windows 8.1

I have the same version of Phantom Pdf Standard (6.2.1.0618) running on both my windows 7 desktop and my Windows 8.1 Laptop, though the desktop version's trial has run out.

The read out loud function works on the windows 7 desktop and not on the windows 8.1 laptop (i.e. it pauses at the end of each line on the laptop).

Having opened the same pdf file on both systems I noticed the following:
1 - the error does not depend on the pdf file but on the system it is running on.
2 - It is not the edit > preferences > speech settings. The same settings on both systems still results in the same condition.
3 - If the line ends on a word that is split with a hyphen to continue on the next line, it doesn't pause on the laptop.
4 - I noticed the same problem with text to speech SW such as Balabolka. Looks like the problem may be related to changes in the Microsoft Speech API from SAPI4 to SAPI5?