GeoffKnagge.com

Aural Media

These properties accomodate for people with visual impairments, who may use aural aids to access documents.

volume

Specifies the loudness at which text is read.
Valuenumber | percentage | silent | x-soft | soft | medium | loud | x-loud | inherit
Initialmedium
Inherityes
percentagesrelative to inherited value
Used withall elements
Example P { volume: 45 }
number is a number between 0 and 100 which give the loudness from minimum to maximum respectively. 0 does not mean silent, it means x-soft and other values follow in steps of 25.

speak

Determines how text is spoken.
Valuenormal | none | spell-out | inherit
Initialnormal
Inherityes
Used withall elements
Example ACRONYM { speak:spell-out }

pause-before, pause-after

Sets time to pause before or after speaking an element
Valuetime | percentage | inherit
Inheritno
Used withall elements
ExampleH1 { pause-after: 100ms }
Percentages are relative to the average time-per-word of the speach rate. Pauses are placed between the element and any cue properties.

pause

Sets time to pause before and after speaking an element
Valuepause-before | pause-after | inherit
Inheritno
Used withall elements
ExampleH1 { pause: 0 100ms }
This combines be pause-before and pause-after properties. If only one value is specified, it is used both before and after.

cue-before, cue-after

Plays a sound before or after an element is spoken.
Valueaddress | none | inherit
Initialnone
Inheritno
Used withall elements
ExampleH1 { cue-before: url("ding.wav") }

cue

Plays a sound before or after an element is spoken.
Valuecue-before | cue-after | inherit
Inheritno
Used withall elements
ExampleH1 { cue: url("ding.wav") none }
If only one value is given, it applies to both before and after

play-during

Plays a sound while the element is being spoken.
Valueaddress [mix] [repeat] | auto | none | inherit
Inheritauto
Used withall elements
Example DIV.lyrics { play-during: url("technobeat.wav") repeat}
mix combines the specified sound with the inherited sound. repeat causes the sound to be looped if it is too short. none creates silence during that element.

azimuth

Determines the horizontal position where the voice appears to come from.
Valueangle | left-side | far-left | left | center-left | center | center-right | right | far-right | right-side || [behind] | leftwards | rightwards |
Initialcenter
Inherityes
Used withall elements
Example DIV.lyrics { azimuth: right behind }
The values can either be an angle (-360deg to 360deg, 0deg=center; 90deg=right), an absolute direction coupled with the optional behind code, or the relative leftwards or rightwards directions, which adjust the inherited value by 20 degrees.

elevation

Determines the vertical position where the voice appears to come from.
Valueangle | below | level] | above | higher | lower | inherit
Initiallevel
Inherityes
Used withall elements
Example DIV.lyrics { elevation: 10deg }
angle is between -90deg and -90deg, with 0 being level (in front). Positive values indicate upwards position. Higher and lower adjust the inherited value by 10 degrees.

speech-rate

Specifies the speech rate in words per minute.
Valuenumber | x-slow | slow] | medium | fast | x-fast | faster | slower | inherit
Initialmedium
Inherityes
Used withall elements
Example H1 { speech-rate: 150 }
The value is either a number of words per minute, or the above keywords, which correspond to 80, 120, 200, 300, 500 words per minute respectively. Faster and slower adjust the inherited value by 40.

voice-family

Specifies the type of voice to use.
Valuevoicetype | inherit
Inherityes
Used withall elements
Example H1 { voice-family: announcer, male }
voicetype is a comma seperated list of voices in priority order. They can be specific types (e.g., comedian, carlos, etc), or a generic family (male, female, child). Values should be quoted if they contain spaces.

pitch

Specifies the voice pitch.
Valuefrequency | x-low | low | medium | high | x-high | inherit
Initialmedium
Inherityes
Used withall elements
Example H1 { pitch: 200Hz}

pitch-range

Specifies the variation in voice pitch.
Valuenumber | inherit
Initial50
Inherityes
Used withall elements
Example H1 { pitch-range: 60Hz}
numbers are values between 0 and 100, with 0 creating a monotone.

stress

Specifies the pitch in stressed parts of the language.
Valuenumber | inherit
Initial50
Inherityes
Used withall elements
Example H1 { stress: 60Hz}

richness

Specifies the richness of the voice.
Valuenumber | inherit
Initial50
Inherityes
Used withall elements
Example H1 { richness: 60Hz}
"richer" voices are those that carry easily. The value is a number between 0 and 100, with higher values being richer.

speak-punctuation

Specifies the richness of the voice.
Valuecode | none | inherit
Initialnone
Inherityes
Used withall elements
Example H1 { speak-punctuation: none}
code causes punctuation to be spoken, and none places pauses at punctuation points.

speak-numeral

Specifies how numbers are handled.
Valuedigits | continuous | inherit
Initialcontinuous
Inherityes
Used withall elements
Example H1 { speak-numeral: none}
digits makes each digit be spoken individually, continous is the natural form of speaking numbers.

speak-header

Determines how often headers are spoken in aural presentation of tables : before every cell, or only when the cell has a different header to the previous one.
Valueonce | always | inherit
Initialonce
Used withelements with table headers
Inheritedyes
Exampletable {speak-header: always}
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