VoiceOver Speech Output Spontaneously Stops

Category
VoiceOver Speech/Voices
Severity
Moderate

Description

VoiceOver speech output spontaneously stops and requires a wait of about 30 seconds to resume. The issue is not specific to certain apps or actions and occurs without any clear pattern. Restarting VoiceOver can help, but it may take a couple of cycling of VoiceOver for this to work. The issue only affects the VoiceOver voice and not other VoiceOver audible feedback. The issue appears to affect many VoiceOver voices, including Alex, Eloquence, Ava, and Siri.

This issue has been reported by multiple users on the AppleVis forum: https://www.applevis.com/forum/ios-ipados/voiceover-crashing-ios-164

Based on our experience, it seems that the frequency of the issue is not consistent and appears to be influenced by the VoiceOver voice being used and the intensity of usage. Using the Alex voice, we have observed that this issue typically arises 2-3 times a day. However, based on the comments shared in the forum topic mentioned above, it appears that some users encounter this problem more frequently than others. Some users have suggested that this issue is most prevalent when using an Eloquence voice.

Steps to reproduce

  1. Turn on VoiceOver
  2. Use the device as normal
  3. Observe that the VoiceOver speech output stops spontaneously

Bug First Encountered

iOS/iPadOS 16.4

Device(s) bug has been encountered on

iPhone

How often the bug occurs

Sometimes

Workaround

Wait for about 30 seconds for speech output to resume or try restarting VoiceOver.

Apple feedback #

FB12186146

Status

Active

Options

Comments

By Morgan Watkins

2 weeks ago

Member of the AppleVis Blog Team

VoiceOver still goes silent a few times a day. I'm guessing it stays unresponsive for 20 to 30 seconds before it begins to talk again. No obvious pattern leading to problem, so it is difficult to reproduce at will. This is happening on my iPhone 13 mini with hearing aids, Oticon Opn S 1 miniRITE. Alex is VoiceOver voice of choice.