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Reading aloud stops periodically - system or 3rd party apps like Brevent kill apps
Could be several different things, hard to say which one: - If it stops when @Voice is reading aloud with the screen turned off, or @Voice is in background, it could be that the Android system is killing background processes to "save battery". Press here to read more on how to configure your phone to prevent such killing.
- For newer Samsung phones: I made the following notes to myself when I had Galaxy Flip 3 with Android 12 (the damn thing broke quickly, 70% of the folding screen went dead), but they may apply to other Samsung phones too:
- Under Android system settings – press on "Battery and device care", then press on "Battery". Turn off the "Power saving" option. Next on the same screen press "Background usage limits'. Turn off the option "Put unused apps to sleep". Also on the same screen press on "Never sleeping apps", + button at top-right, then find "@Voice Aloud Reader" and press to add a mark there, finally press "Add" button at the bottom.
- Go back to the main screen of System settings and press on "Apps", then press on "@Voice Aloud Reader". Scroll if necessary and find "Battery", press on it. Then select the option "Unrestricted".
- There are also 3rd party, user installed apps, like Brevent or similar, which stop or kill background app for the same purpose. Please examine them and remove @Voice Aloud Reader and/or @Voice Sync Plugin from their lists, or otherwise prevent them from stopping apps that you need running in background.
- Did you maybe enable the “sleep timer” feature and forgot about it? Please open the Settings menu in @Voice, press “Screen and sleep timer settings”, look near the bottom where it says “Sleep after” – set selection to “Never”.
- The Bluetooth headset periodically disconnects, and @Voice is set to stop playback when connection is lost. Please test by playing only through the device speaker to confirm or rule out this possibility.
- It could be that you have turned on the option “Start/stop speech on horizontal shakes” under menu – Settings – Speech settings, so if you move the phone or carry it on you, it could stop due to shaking. Check it and turn off this options if it was on.
- You could be using Google TTS voice that requires network connection, and your network is slow or gets disconnected when you go far from the router or use cellular signal that is slow or weak. Expand the bottom control panel in @Voice app by pressing the round button at bottom right, then press “Change voice or language” button. Turn off the option to “Also show voices that need network connection” and select one of the local voices that works without using network.
ALSO IMPORTANT: if you select one of the local Google TTS voices, it may still use network to generate speech if you did not install local speech data for it. Go to Android system settings – Language & Input – Text to speech output – press gear icon next to “Google TTS” speech engine, then press “Install voice data” and download the voice data for all the languages you use.
post edited by Admin - 2023/03/18 08:52:44
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emeyada
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Re: Reading aloud stops periodically
2021/01/25 09:31:21
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That delay has always happened with me as well but it's no concern. It seems to happen only when var swallows more than usual amount of text. Like in the below, var selects and reads the text I have quoted, then selects the remainder of the paragraph but waits longer than usual before reading it. "for he has come to his people and brought about their redemption." He has raised up the sign of salvation in the house of his servant David, as he promised through the mouth of the holy ones, his prophets through the ages: to rescue us from our enemies and all who hate us, to take pity on our fathers, to remember his holy covenant and the oath he swore to Abraham our father, that he would give himself to us, that we could serve him without fear – freed from the hands of our enemies – in uprightness and holiness before him, for all of our days. And you, child
post edited by emeyada - 2021/01/25 11:04:25
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Admin
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Re: Reading aloud stops periodically
2021/01/27 04:45:00
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I don't understand your message. Where exactly is the delay and how long it is? Also which TTS voice you are using, what are all the settings on the "Change voice or language" screen? Please press the round button with up arrow near bottom-right, then press the “Change voice or language” button to see them.
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emeyada
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Re: Reading aloud stops periodically
2021/01/27 07:26:59
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Thanks for your patience. I've inserted all caps to indicate where the delay is and included info to assist. for he has come to his people and brought about their redemption. THERE'S AN UNCOMMON FIVE SECOND DELAY HERE BEFORE VAR READS THE REMAINDER OF THE PARAGRAPH IN ONE GO He has raised up the sign of salvation in the house of his servant David, as he promised through the mouth of the holy ones, his prophets through the ages: to rescue us from our enemies and all who hate us, to take pity on our fathers, to remember his holy covenant and the oath he swore to Abraham our father, that he would give himself to us, that we could serve him without fear – freed from the hands of our enemies – in uprightness and holiness before him, for all of our days. THE USUAL ONE SECOND DELAY HERE BETWEEN PARAGRAPHS And you, child Preferred engine Google Text-to-Speech Engine Language English (United States) @voice Use our Voice Manager English Google, United States, en-us-x-sfg-local
post edited by emeyada - 2021/01/27 07:48:06
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Admin
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Re: Reading aloud stops periodically
2021/01/27 14:10:03
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First open the Settings menu in @Voice app, press Speech settings there, then PAUSES tab. Look at the "Additional pause at sentence end" field - what is entered there? The default value is just 20 milliseconds, maybe you have changed it to something longer? Also look at the "Pause at paragraph end" - the default value here is 300 ms, did you change it to 1 sec. or 1000 ms? Please set these pauses to the default values, if they are too long.
If that does not help, then again I would have to ask you to tell me ALL the settings under "Change voice or language" button. Without having this info, it's hard to advise more.
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emeyada
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Re: Reading aloud stops periodically
2021/01/27 15:19:28
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I opened the app, pressed the cog wheel, pressed Speech settings, and pressed PAUSES... all were set to 0 (zero). I changed them to 20, 300, and 600 for article/chapter change and it was no help. I then tried pressing Reset TTS, it too was no help.
In Change Voice or Language, I only see three selectable drop down menus. Mine are set as:
1. Use our Voice Manager
2. English
3. Google, United States, en-us-x-sfg-local
Voices that need a connection is not selected.
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Re: Reading aloud stops periodically
2021/01/27 16:18:04
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Most probably the data that Google Text-to-speech system needs for generating speech locally on your phone is not downloaded. Therefore they send the text of each sentence to their servers, generate speech there and send the data back. On a slow connection it takes a long time.
Google TTS will download the data for local speech generation when you connect to a good, fast WiFi network and start speech with this TTS system in @Voice or any other app. After that data is downloaded, the connection won't be needed at all for speech generation and it should be fast. So please connect the phone to a good WiFi network, start speech. Then wait at least several minutes connected to WiFi to let them download the data they need.
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emeyada
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Re: Reading aloud stops periodically
2021/01/27 19:56:22
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I connected to Xfinity and checked to see my download speed is about 69 mbps and upload is about 6 mbps. I selected the text we've been working with and pressed Read aloud, surely the data needed is completely downloaded by now, VAR opened and read it with the exact same 5 second delay there. I left everything as is, 5 minutes later, I placed the cursor at the beginning and pressed the play button, there's no change. I disconnected and tried it offline, still no change. Sorry for the trouble, I hope we can pin point the cause.
post edited by emeyada - 2021/01/28 02:09:14
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Admin
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Re: Reading aloud stops periodically
2021/01/28 04:57:14
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I really don't know what else could cause such delay. Please try to restart you phone, then also in Android system settings - Apps - @Voice app - press Storage, then "Clear cache" and confirm if necessary. Try again. If this does not fix the problem, please try to do the same for Google Text-to-speech app: Android settings - Apps - Google Text-to-speech - Storage - clear cache. If even that does not help, try another Text-to-speech system, non-Google, for example download Vocalizer TTS, then start their app and download some English voices (they have a 1 week free trial). Then start @Voice, press the round button with up arrow near bottom-right, then press the “Change voice or language” button, select one of the downloaded Vocalizer TTS voices. If Vocalizer voices work correctly, but Google voices not, somehow Google TTS app is damaged on your phone (you could try to uninstall it, or uninstall its updates, then reboot device, download or update it back).
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