MS Word Read Aloud voice changes tone

I have been having problems with “READ ALOUD” for 3-4 months and have made many request for help and have even made 7-8 responses… i have as of yet not received any direct help. It appears that our responses are not being read by anyone other than the group of people who are having the same problem.

This is so sad!!

Richard

I like the "valley girl" description some people have mentioned. We'll I've got her and she needs to go away. I like the inflection where she seems to understand sentences with question marks, but the breathy excited parts are over the top. It's distracting from my proof reading.

Yes! I have had to do without read aloud for 3/4 months now. No one has been able to help me. I get this voice that no one could listen to for even one minute. I really need it for proofreading.

There should be a way to select at least adjust the voice. I shoudnt have to…. But id be willing to pay to get the voice corrected properly.

Richard

Laura,

I have Windows version Windows 11 Version 23H2. I believe that's the most recent. And Microsoft 365. In using Read Aloud, I only can access a female or male voice. The female voice is like that described in earlier responses to this question - a valley girl dramatic voice. I don't like it. I, too, write short stories and working on a novel - this voice is very annoying.

I don't believe I have any version now on Read Aloud that accesses Zira, Mark and David. I use Narrator which is an extension on Word. It has Zira's voice - the one I prefer along with many other options.

I'm hoping that Microsoft gets this updated in the capacity that everyone would prefer. It seems like it would be easy to add more voices to the Read Aloud than just a male and a female voice. I reported to Microsoft quite a few months back.

Teresa

I've been writing a short story using Word and I use the Read Aloud feature to make sure what I've written makes sense and flows. I like the older version of Read Aloud with just the male and female voice option - the 'reader' reads with a natural rhythm, using appropriate pronunciations and inflections. However the newer version (with Zira, Mark and David) has a distinctive computer generated quality to it, and lacks a natural sound and rhythm of speech - very stilted at times. Is there a way to override the newer version and use the, in my opinion, the better of the two.