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This chapter gives an overview of how to use Emacspeak; for a full listing of Emacspeak keybindings, see See emacspeak. Note: This documentation should be used in conjunction with the online Emacs info pages that extensively document Emacs itself. These sections briefly describe the speech-enabling extensions. However, they should not be considered a substitute for reading the Emacs manual. How successfully you use Emacspeak will depend on how well you learn your Emacs.
All Emacs navigation and editing commands have been speech enabled. Thus, moving to the next or previous word, line or paragraph results in the text around point being spoken. Exactly how much text is spoken is determined by the amount by which you moved.
In addition, Emacspeak provides basic reading functions that can be invoked to listen to chunks of text without moving.
| 6.1 Overview of Emacspeak | Basic Overview. | |
| 6.2 Working In Emacs Buffers. | Working in Emacspeak. | |
| 6.3 Reading Without Moving The Cursor. | Reading chunks of information. | |
| 6.4 Speech System Commands | Controlling Speech Output. | |
| 6.5 Voice Lock Mode | Audio Formatting. | |
| 6.6 Commands For Speaking Status Information. | Speaking Status Information. |
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Emacspeak provides a small number of core services around which the remainder of the audio interface is constructed. These essential features of the software are briefly outlined in the following paragraphs; the commands by which they can be controlled will be described later in the manual.
Apart from providing a fluent spoken interface to all of Emacs’ basic editing functions, Emacspeak also includes software modules which add speech feedback to a range of applications that can be run from within Emacs. In this sense, Emacspeak amounts to much more than a talking text editor; indeed, it can more aptly be characterized as a true “audio desktop”, in which speech is treated as a first-class output modality.
Emacspeak implements a special minor mode, known as “voice lock mode”
(see Voice Lock Mode) which uses distinct speech characteristics to
provide aural highlighting of specific textual constructs, such as
comments in program code, quoted strings and reserved words See Voice Lock. This facility is further extended when Emacspeak is used with the
EWW and W3 Web browsers, to enable the semantic and
structural distinctions captured by the HTML markup to be communicated
efficiently See Web Browsing..
It is often desirable to exercise control over the pronunciation of a word (E.G. a technical term or a reserved word in a programming language) within specific contexts. Emacspeak maintains pronunciation dictionaries for this purpose, which may be customized by the user. Moreover, individual dictionaries can be activated selectively, depending for example on the current major mode or the name of the file which is being visited See emacspeak-pronounce.
In addition to spoken feedback, Emacspeak can generate “auditory icons” — short sound cues which alert the user to significant events, for example the opening or deletion of a file, the completion of an action, the arrival of an electronic mail message or the creation of a completion buffer. Sound cues act as a supplement to the spoken interface, and are especially valuable to the experienced user in facilitating rapid interaction. Note that in order to support auditory icons, the computer must be equipped with sound hardware for which the operating system has been correctly configured See emacspeak-sounds.
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While typing in an Emacs buffer, hitting space speaks the recently typed
word. I use completion all the time; so Emacspeak will speak the
completion just inserted as well as the next possible completion.
In Emacs, use load-library ret completion ret for loading
the completion package.
The standard Emacs prompting functions have also been speech-enabled. Emacs prompts with available lists of completions in response to partial input wherever appropriate — all forms of completion provide speech feedback.
In addition, Emacspeak provides a number of commands for reading portions of the current buffer, getting status information, and modifying Emacspeak’s state.
All of the commands are documented in the subsequent sections. They can be classified into types:
emacspeak-speak-. All Emacspeak commands are bound to the
keymap emacspeak-keymap and are accessed with the key
Control e2. Thus,
the Emacspeak command emacspeak-speak-line is bound to l in
keymap emacspeak-keymap and can be accessed with the keystroke
Control-e l. If for some reason you wish to use some key other
than control-e as the common keyboard prefix for all Emacspeak
commands, set the variable emacspeak-prefix.
dtk- and are bound in keymap
emacspeak-dtk-submap.
You can access these commands via the prefix Control-e d3.
Thus, the command dtk-set-rate is bound to r
in keymap emacspeak-dtk-submap and can be executed by
pressing Control e d r.
Emacs has extensive online help; so does emacspeak. Please use it.
This info manual is only to get you started. You can get a summary of Emacspeak’s features by pressing Control-h Control-e
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Emacspeak speaks information as you move around within a buffer. How much text is spoken depends on how you move, thus, when you move by words, you hear the current word; when you move by paragraphs, you hear the current paragraph spoken. In addition, the following commands allow you to listen to information without moving point (point is emacs terminology for the editing cursor).
Reading without moving point:
emacspeak-speak-char Speak character under point. Pronounces character phonetically unless called with a PREFIX arg.
emacspeak-speak-word Speak current word. With prefix ARG, speaks the rest of the word from point. Negative prefix arg speaks from start of word to point. If executed on the same buffer position a second time, the word is spelled instead of being spoken.
emacspeak-speak-line Speaks current line. With prefix ARG, speaks the rest of the line from point. Negative prefix optional arg speaks from start of line to point. Voicifies if option ‘voice-lock-mode’ is on. Indicates indentation with a tone or a spoken cue if audio indentation is in use. Indicates position of point with an aural highlight if option ‘emacspeak-show-point’ is turned on — see command ‘emacspeak-show-point’ bound to M-x emacspeak-show-point. Lines that start hidden blocks of text, e.g. outline header lines, or header lines of blocks created by command ‘emacspeak-hide-or-expose-block’ are indicated with auditory icon ellipses.
emacspeak-read-previous-line Read previous line, specified by an offset, without moving. Default is to read the previous line.
emacspeak-read-next-line Read next line, specified by an offset, without moving. Default is to read the next line.
emacspeak-speak-paragraph Speak paragraph. With prefix arg, speaks rest of current paragraph. Negative prefix arg will read from start of current paragraph to point. If voice-lock-mode is on, then it will use any defined personality.
emacspeak-speak-region Speak current region delimited by point and mark. When called from a program, argument START and END specify region to speak.
emacspeak-speak-rectangle Speak a rectangle of text. Rectangle is delimited by point and mark. When call from a program, arguments specify the START and END of the rectangle.
emacspeak-speak-buffer Speak current buffer contents. With prefix ARG, speaks the rest of the buffer from point. Negative prefix arg speaks from start of buffer to point. If voice lock mode is on, the paragraphs in the buffer are voice annotated first, see command ‘emacspeak-speak-voice-annotate-paragraphs’. This provides the auditory equivalent of dropped caps from visual typography.
emacspeak-speak-rest-of-buffer Speak remainder of the buffer starting at point
emacspeak-speak-this-buffer-other-window-display Speak this buffer as displayed in a different frame. Emacs allows you to display the same buffer in multiple windows or frames. These different windows can display different portions of the buffer. This is equivalent to leaving a book open at places at once. This command allows you to listen to the places where you have left the book open. The number used to invoke this command specifies which of the displays you wish to speak. Typically you will have two or at most three such displays open. The current display is 0, the next is 1, and so on. Optional argument ARG specifies the display to speak.
emacspeak-speak-this-buffer-previous-display Speak this buffer as displayed in a ‘previous’ window. See documentation for command ‘emacspeak-speak-this-buffer-other-window-display’ for the meaning of ‘previous’.
emacspeak-speak-this-buffer-next-display Speak this buffer as displayed in a ‘previous’ window. See documentation for command ‘emacspeak-speak-this-buffer-other-window-display’ for the meaning of ‘previous’.
emacspeak-speak-page Speak a page. With prefix ARG, speaks rest of current page. Negative prefix arg will read from start of current page to point. If option ‘voice-lock-mode’ is on, then it will use any defined personality.
emacspeak-speak-predefined-window Speak one of the first 10 windows on the screen. In general, you’ll never have Emacs split the screen into more than two or three. Argument ARG determines the ’other’ window to speak. Speaks entire window irrespective of point. Semantics of ‘other’ is the same as for the builtin Emacs command ‘other-window’.
emacspeak-speak-next-window Speak the next window.
emacspeak-speak-previous-window Speak the previous window.
Speak contents of ‘other’ window. Speaks entire window irrespective of point. Semantics of ‘other’ is the same as for the builtin Emacs command ‘other-window’. Optional argument ARG specifies ‘other’ window to speak.
emacspeak-owindow-previous-line Move to the next line in the other window and speak it. Numeric prefix arg COUNT specifies number of lines to move.
emacspeak-owindow-next-line Move to the next line in the other window and speak it. Numeric prefix arg COUNT can specify number of lines to move.
emacspeak-owindow-scroll-up Scroll up the window that command ‘other-window’ would move to. Speak the window contents after scrolling.
emacspeak-owindow-scroll-down Scroll down the window that command ‘other-window’ would move to. Speak the window contents after scrolling.
Speak current sexp. With prefix ARG, speaks the rest of the sexp from point. Negative prefix arg speaks from start of sexp to point.
emacspeak-speak-spaces-at-point Speak the white space at point.
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This section documents Emacspeak’s various user commands for controlling the text to speech (TTS) system.
| 6.4.1 Character, Word And Line Echo. | Character, Word and Line Echo. | |
| 6.4.2 Setting Various Characteristics Of Speech Output. | Indicating case, capitalization and indentation. | |
| 6.4.3 Miscellaneous Speech Commands | Miscellaneous TTS Commands. |
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By default, Emacspeak speaks characters as they are typed — this is called character echo; Words are spoken as they are completed — this is called word echo. Emacspeak can also optionally speak each line as it is typed — this is called line echo.
Character, word and line echo can be toggled — either in the current buffer — or for all buffers (globally). To toggle the specific echo functionality for all buffers, precede the specific command with C-u. Note that in the documentation below, this use of C-u is indicated using the common Emacs terminology of prefix arg or interactive prefix arg.
emacspeak-toggle-character-echo Toggle state of Emacspeak character echo. Interactive PREFIX arg means toggle the global default value, and then set the current local value to the result.
emacspeak-toggle-word-echo Toggle state of Emacspeak word echo. Interactive PREFIX arg means toggle the global default value, and then set the current local value to the result.
emacspeak-toggle-line-echo Toggle state of Emacspeak line echo. Interactive PREFIX arg means toggle the global default value, and then set the current local value to the result.
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Emacspeak user commands can set different characteristics of the speech output such as speech rate and punctuations mode.
Emacspeak provides a number of settings that affect how attributes of the text such as capitalization are conveyed. These include settings that produce a short tone for each upper case letter, as well as a smart mode for speaking mixed case words which is especially useful when programming. These settings can be made locally in a given buffer or be applied to all buffers by preceding these commands with C-u.
dtk-set-rate Set speaking RATE for the tts. Interactive PREFIX arg means set the global default value, and then set the current local value to the result.
dtk-set-character-scale Set scale FACTOR for speech rate. Speech rate is scaled by this factor when speaking characters. Interactive PREFIX arg means set the global default value, and then set the current local value to the result.
This function is advised.
Before-advice ‘emacspeak-auto’: Automatically defined advice to speak interactive prompts.
dtk-set-predefined-speech-rate Set speech rate to one of nine predefined levels. Interactive PREFIX arg says to set the rate globally.
dtk-set-punctuations Set punctuation mode to MODE. Possible values are ‘some’, ‘all’, or ‘none’. Interactive PREFIX arg means set the global default value, and then set the current local value to the result.
dtk-set-pronunciation-mode Set pronunciation MODE. This command is valid only for newer Dectalks, e.g. the Dectalk Express. Possible values are ‘math, name, europe, spell’, all of which can be turned on or off. Argument STATE specifies new state.
dtk-toggle-split-caps Toggle split caps mode. Split caps mode is useful when reading Hungarian notation in program source code. Interactive PREFIX arg means toggle the global default value, and then set the current local value to the result.
dtk-toggle-capitalization Toggle capitalization. when set, capitalization is indicated by a short beep. Interactive PREFIX arg means toggle the global default value, and then set the current local value to the result.
dtk-toggle-allcaps-beep Toggle allcaps-beep. when set, allcaps words are indicated by a short beep. Interactive PREFIX arg means toggle the global default value, and then set the current local value to the result. Note that allcaps-beep is a very useful thing when programming. However it is irritating to have it on when reading documents.
In addition, Emacspeak can convey the indentation of lines as they are spoken — this is relevant when programming and is the default when working with program source.
emacspeak-toggle-audio-indentation Toggle state of Emacspeak audio indentation. Interactive PREFIX arg means toggle the global default value, and then set the current local value to the result. Specifying the method of indentation as ‘tones’ results in the speech-server producing a tone whose length is a function of the line’s indentation. Specifying ‘speak’ results in the number of initial spaces being spoken.
Indentation feedback style is set by option emacspeak-audio-indentation-method
The default value is "speak"
See variable ‘emacspeak-audio-indentation-methods’ for possible values. Automatically becomes local in any buffer where it is set.
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Speech can be stopped using command dtk-stop
— though in normal use,
the action of moving the cursor will stop ongoing speech.
The speech server can be stopped and restarted for cases where the user
wants to switch to a different server — or in the rare case to nuke a
runaway speech server.
dtk-stop Stop speech now.
dtk-toggle-quiet Toggle state of the speech device between being quiet and talkative. Useful if you want to continue using an Emacs session that has emacspeak loaded but wish to make the speech shut up. Optional argument PREFIX specifies whether speech is turned off in the current buffer or in all buffers.
dtk-emergency-restart Use this to nuke the currently running dtk server and restart it. Useful if you want to switch to another synthesizer while emacspeak is running. Also useful for emergency stopping of speech.
Finally, here are the remaining commands available via the TTS related keymap C-e d.
dtk-add-cleanup-pattern Add this pattern to the list of repeating patterns that are cleaned up. Optional interactive prefix arg deletes this pattern if previously added. Cleaning up repeated patterns results in emacspeak speaking the pattern followed by a repeat count instead of speaking all the characters making up the pattern. Thus, by adding the repeating pattern ‘.’ (this is already added by default) emacspeak will say “aw fifteen dot” when speaking the string “...............” instead of “period period period period ”.
dtk-select-server Select a speech server interactively. This will be the server that is used when you next call either M-x dtk-initialize or C-e C-s. Argument PROGRAM specifies the speech server program.
dtk-toggle-splitting-on-white-space Toggle splitting of speech on white space. This affects the internal state of emacspeak that decides if we split text purely by clause boundaries, or also include whitespace. By default, emacspeak sends a clause at a time to the speech device. This produces fluent speech for normal use. However in modes such as ‘shell-mode’ and some programming language modes, clause markers appear infrequently, and this can result in large amounts of text being sent to the speech device at once, making the system unresponsive when asked to stop talking. Splitting on white space makes emacspeak’s stop command responsive. However, when splitting on white space, the speech sounds choppy since the synthesizer is getting a word at a time.
dtk-set-chunk-separator-syntax Interactively set how text is split in chunks. See the Emacs documentation on syntax tables for details on how characters are classified into various syntactic classes. Argument S specifies the syntax class.
emacspeak-dial-dtk Prompt for and dial a phone NUMBER with the Dectalk.
emacspeak-dtk-speak-version Use this to find out which version of the TTS firmware you are running.
emacspeak-zap-dtk Send this command to the TTS engine directly.
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The status of voice lock mode can be toggled on and off in the current buffer by issuing the command C-e d v (M-x voice-lock-toggle).
Voice-lock is turned on automatically in all buffers that support it when Emacspeak is started.
Emacspeak can be set to disable voice lock in all of the major modes that support it. To do so, insert the following statement into your Emacs initialization file:
(global-voice-lock-mode -1)
Note that the list of major modes in which
global-voice-lock-mode will provide automatic activation is
specified in the variable voice-lock-global-modes
See Voice Lock.
The characteristics of the different voice personalities used by voice lock mode vary according to the capabilities of the speech synthesizer. The definitions applicable to the Dectalk family of synthesizers are contained in dectalk-voices.el, which is supplied as part of the Emacspeak distribution. The Emacspeak distribution also contains voice definitions for many other synthesizers.
Using voice lock mode, Emacspeak also supports many of the aural style properties defined in level 2 of the World Wide Web Consortium’s Cascading Style Sheet specification (see http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/. Thus, when Emacspeak is running in conjunction with a cooperating user agent, such as William Perry’s Emacspeak/W3 web browser, the rendering of HTML documents can be regulated by style sheets. Examples of style rules which employ the CSS audio properties can be found in the default style sheet which is supplied in the Emacs/W3 distribution.
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The following commands provide miscellaneous information.
emacspeak-speak-message-again Speak the last message from Emacs once again.
emacspeak-speak-mode-line Speak the mode-line.
emacspeak-speak-minor-mode-line Speak the minor mode-information.
emacspeak-speak-header-line Speak the header-line.
emacspeak-speak-window-information Speaks information about current windows.
emacspeak-speak-time Speak the time.
emacspeak-speak-version Announce version information for running emacspeak.
emacspeak-speak-buffer-filename Speak name of file being visited in current buffer. Speak default directory if invoked in a dired buffer, or when the buffer is not visiting any file.
emacspeak-speak-help Speak help buffer if one present. With prefix arg, speaks the rest of the buffer from point. Negative prefix arg speaks from start of buffer to point.
emacspeak-speak-current-kill
Speak the current kill entry.
This is the text that will be yanked in by the next C-y.
Prefix numeric arg, COUNT, specifies that the text that will be yanked as a
result of a
C-y followed by count-1 M-y
be spoken.
The kill number that is spoken says what numeric prefix arg to give
to command yank.
emacspeak-view-register Display the contents of a register, and then speak it.
emacspeak-speak-current-mark Speak the line containing the mark. With no argument, speaks the line containing the mark — this is where ‘exchange-point-and-mark’ C-x C-x would jump. Numeric prefix arg ’COUNT’ speaks line containing mark ’n’ where ’n’ is one less than the number of times one has to jump using ‘set-mark-command’ to get to this marked position. The location of the mark is indicated by an aural highlight achieved by a change in voice personality.
emacspeak-speak-line-number Speak the line number of the current line.
emacspeak-speak-current-column Speak the current column.
emacspeak-speak-current-percentage Announce the percentage into the current buffer.
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