[NFBCS] Screen reader talking to everybody on Zoom

Sun Mar 26 17:41:34 UTC 2023

Hello all, I promised to post more on the mystery of screen reader output being heard by other Zoom participants when I learned something. The guess I made below appears to be incorrect - I have checked Zoom settings and find no evidence that any are set "wrong". The new theory, suggested by Dan Gardner but hard to test, is that a Zoom meeting following a Teams meeting may result in screen reader being heard. Even though I have not shared my screen in some time, the fact that I left the Teams meeting with my microphone unmuted somehow results in all my audio being heard by others in some, but not all, Zoom sessions. It will take some time before I can thoroughly test this hypothesis, but for now it is the only one on the table that has not been shown to be wrong. More to come I hope.

John

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of John Gardner via NFBCS
Sent: Wednesday, March 8, 2023 3:36 PM
To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
Cc: John Gardner <john.gardner at viewplus.com>
Subject: Re: [NFBCS] Screen reader talking to everybody on Zoom

Thanks all for this interesting discussion. Since I started this thread I have had a teams meeting and nobody could hear my screen reader, then a Zoom meeting on a government zoom session, and nobody could hear my screen reader. My guess now is that somehow that first Zoom session is set so that screen sharing includes computer audio (not unreasonable for that meeting) but that the audio sharing is active even when not sharing screen. It cannot be my own zoom settings, because those would be same for all Zoom (or should be!), so it must be the way that particular Zoom session is set up. I will post results in a week or so when I participate in that meeting again. 

John

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Lewis Wood via NFBCS
Sent: Wednesday, March 8, 2023 2:24 PM
To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List' <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Lewis Wood <lewislwood at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [NFBCS] Screen reader talking to everybody on Zoom

I imagine you can also just start a meeting of 1 (yourself) and start recording it.  Do your thing and save meeting and then play it back.

As long as you do not share your computer audio, their should only be your voice.

Lewis Wood

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Louis Maher via NFBCS
Sent: Wednesday, March 8, 2023 12:49 PM
To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Louis Maher <ljmaher03 at outlook.com>
Subject: Re: [NFBCS] Screen reader talking to everybody on Zoom

Hello John,

One way to test your Zoom meeting is to start a Zoom meeting on your computer, and join the meeting with your phone. You can test how you appear audibly to others.

Regards
Louis Maher
Phone: 713-444-7838
Email: ljmaher03 at outlook.com

-----Original Message-----
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Sent: Wednesday, March 8, 2023 11:47 AM
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Cc: John Gardner <john.gardner at viewplus.com>
Subject: Re: [NFBCS] Screen reader talking to everybody on Zoom

Thanks to Justin, Curtis, Brian, and Jim for suggestions. I should have been more clear. I am using a headset and using the headset microphone. I believe that my screen reader (NVDA actually, not Jaws) volume is set so that direct bleed into the microphone is negligible. I am fairly sure that in some other Zoom sessions, others do not hear my screen reader. Or maybe they are being just too polite to tell me?? I do know that when in ViewPlus Teams meetings, nobody hears my screen reader. They are for sure not that polite!

But I intend to ask from now on when in a Zoom session whether my screen reader can be heard. My computer has a bad habit of moving focus to some other window - maybe it is something I do to cause that but I have no idea what. In any case I often need to use my screen reader to find that Zoom window again. And since I often have a dozen windows open, my screen reader could be really annoying for others. I guess I could just get in the habit of muting myself and then expecting others to be patient occasionally if input from me is needed.

This is a strange problem, and it will take a few days to be sure that it is not more ubiquitous than I think. If it turns out that people are all hearing my screen reader in Zoom, I'll be pretty embarrassed by all this.

Anyhow, thanks for all your help!

John

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Jim Denham via NFBCS
Sent: Wednesday, March 8, 2023 8:47 AM
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Cc: Jim Denham <jdenham at wcblind.org>
Subject: Re: [NFBCS] Screen reader talking to everybody on Zoom

John:

I work with many screen reader users who use Zoom, this is a common problem.
A couple of questions. First, are you using a good set of headphones? If you are just relying on your system speakers and built-in microphone, your fellow Zoom participants are going to hear your screen reader. Microsoft Teams does a nice job of suppressing system audio from meetings, but Zoom does not yet do this. If you are looking for a good headset, I highly recommend the V7. You can purchase either a USB or USBC version from AT Guys for around $40.
If you are using a headset and still getting speech bleed, check your Zoom audio settings. Do this from the audio settings menu in a meeting next to the mute/unmute button. Make sure your microphone and speakers are set correctly. Even if things are set to use the system microphone and speakers, sometimes setting this to your headphone microphone can help. You can also test your audio using this menu.
Finally, and this sounds a bit silly, but check your system volume. Many screen reader users have the volume of the speech set quite high. Even with a headset, this high volume still causes speech bleed in a meeting. Try turning down the volume of your speech and see if this helps. Ideally, turn off your speech. I use a braille display and find this incredibly helpful in Zoom meetings.
I hope these tips help. Feel free to get in touch if you need additional info.
Thanks.
Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of John Gardner via NFBCS
Sent: Wednesday, March 8, 2023 10:36 AM
To: Bryan Schulz via NFBCS <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
Cc: John Gardner <john.gardner at viewplus.com>
Subject: [NFBCS] Screen reader talking to everybody on Zoom

Hello all, sometimes when I am on Zoom others can hear my screen reader and sometimes they do not. I just do not understand why, and I cannot find any information on how to suppress the screen reader without muting me as well.
Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

John Gardner
President
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