CSS Aural Media (Speech)

Aural media sheets allowed control over the quality of synthetic speech (volume, pitch, speed, etc.). NOTE: Many of these properties are now part of the CSS Speech Module.

Common Speech Properties (Conceptual)

1. speak: Specifies whether text will be rendered aurally and, if so, how.

• auto: Default.
• none: Suppresses aural rendering.
• normal: Uses normal pronunciation rules.

1. volume: Controls the volume of the speech.

• silent, x-soft, soft, medium, loud, x-loud.

1. voice-family: Specifies the specific voice or generic voice family to be used.

1. pitch: Applies a pitch to the speaking voice.

• x-low, low, medium, high, x-high.

1. rate: Specifies the speaking rate.

Example (CSS Speech)

h1 {
  speak: always;
  volume: loud;
  pause-before: 200ms;
  pause-after: 200ms;
}

Use Case: These styles are primarily used for accessibility tools (Screen Readers) to improve the experience for visually impaired users.