1613721 - Narrate feature in reader mode uses different volumes for different paragraphs seemingly at random

Status: UNCONFIRMED

(Core :: Web Speech, defect, P5)

Description

[Daniel Adaszak]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:74.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/74.0

Steps to reproduce:

Gotta point out first that I'm currently using Firefox Nightly and I have not tried to find this bug in regular Firefox. Whenever I use Reader View (VK_19) it randomly changes the volume of the "Narrate".

Actual results:

The volume changes when I use narrate. When it read some paragraphs it could get really low and then it changes again to regular volume (the setting that I use) and then it gets really loud.

Expected results:

There shouldn't be any changing in the volume.

Comment 1

[:Gijs (away/busy until Mar 10)]

Can you provide step-by-step indications of what you do and what happens? Is there any pattern to what happens to the volume? And has this always been the case on nightly, or is it a recent regression (and if so, any idea how recent) ?

Comment 2

[Daniel Adaszak]

(In reply to :Gijs (he/him) from comment #1)

Can you provide step-by-step indications of what you do and what happens? Is there any pattern to what happens to the volume? And has this always been the case on nightly, or is it a recent regression (and if so, any idea how recent)?

I began to use Nightly for the first time a couple of days ago.

Step 1: Click on Reader View (for example it could be on the SCP website)

Step 2: Click on the "Narrate" button.

Step 3: Start listening.

Step 4: At random paragraphs, I notice that the volume changes.

Step 5: Report bug.

Comment 3

[:Gijs (away/busy until Mar 10)]

(In reply to Daniel Adaszak from comment #2)

(In reply to :Gijs (he/him) from comment #1)

Can you provide step-by-step indications of what you do and what happens? Is there any pattern to what happens to the volume? And has this always been the case on nightly, or is it a recent regression (and if so, any idea how recent)?

I began to use Nightly for the first time a couple of days ago.

Step 1: Click on Reader View (for example it could be on the SCP website)

Can you provide a URL?

Step 2: Click on the "Narrate" button.

Step 3: Start listening.

Which language is the text and which voice are you using? And just to confirm, you're seeing this on Windows 10, right?

Comment 4

[Daniel Adaszak]

(In reply to :Gijs (he/him) from comment #3)

(In reply to Daniel Adaszak from comment #2)

(In reply to :Gijs (he/him) from comment #1)

Can you provide step-by-step indications of what you do and what happens? Is there any pattern to what happens to the volume? And has this always been the case on nightly, or is it a recent regression (and if so, any idea how recent)?

I began to use Nightly for the first time a couple of days ago.

Step 1: Click on Reader View (for example it could be on the SCP website)

Can you provide a URL?

Step 2: Click on the "Narrate" button.

Step 3: Start listening.

Which language is the text and which voice are you using? And just to confirm, you're seeing this on Windows 10, right?

This is the link I discovered the problem on https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/saturn/in-depth/
The website text is in english and I'm using "Microsoft Zira Desktop - English (United States)" and yes I'm on Windows 10.

Comment 5

[Jared Wein [:jaws] (please needinfo? me)]

I'm having trouble reproducing this issue on that webpage using Windows 10 and the Microsoft Zira Desktop voice.

Can you reproduce this easily? Are there specific paragraphs that are higher volume than others? Is it always the same paragraphs? What speed are you using?

Comment 6

[Daniel Adaszak]

(In reply to Jared Wein [:jaws] (please needinfo? me) from comment #5)

I'm having trouble reproducing this issue on that webpage using Windows 10 and the Microsoft Zira Desktop voice.

Can you reproduce this easily? Are there specific paragraphs that are higher volume than others? Is it always the same paragraphs? What speed are you using?

it's sort of like this. I start the narrate mode. Then the volume is to low. I upped the volume on my computer to about 25% then it's perfect on Narrate. Then at the next paragraph the volume gets even louder. So I turn down the volume yet again to the perfect amount. Then it continues to read everything but it changes from really loud to extremely quiet.

Comment 7

[:Gijs (away/busy until Mar 10)]

(In reply to Daniel Adaszak from comment #6)

(In reply to Jared Wein [:jaws] (please needinfo? me) from comment #5)

I'm having trouble reproducing this issue on that webpage using Windows 10 and the Microsoft Zira Desktop voice.

Can you reproduce this easily? Are there specific paragraphs that are higher volume than others? Is it always the same paragraphs? What speed are you using?

it's sort of like this. I start the narrate mode. Then the volume is to low. I upped the volume on my computer to about 25% then it's perfect on Narrate. Then at the next paragraph the volume gets even louder.

This growth in volume...

So I turn down the volume yet again to the perfect amount. Then it continues to read everything but it changes from really loud to extremely quiet.

And this last change to be quiet again - do you see them reflected in the volume levels? That is, is the Windows volume indicator also changing? Or is it just that the narration is comparatively loud/quiet within the range allowed by the current Windows/device volume settings?

Sorry for all the dumb questions, it's just hard to figure out what's going on here without being able to reproduce. :-(

On the whole, reader mode relies entirely on the web speech API for this, and doesn't change volume settings itself. So I think the issue is in our web speech Windows APi interactions or even further down the pipeline. Eitan, do you know who's the expert on the Windows APIs we use for web speech, and who would therefore maybe have idea about what's going on here?

Comment 8

[Daniel Adaszak]

(In reply to :Gijs (he/him) from comment #7)

(In reply to Daniel Adaszak from comment #6)

(In reply to Jared Wein [:jaws] (please needinfo? me) from comment #5)

I'm having trouble reproducing this issue on that webpage using Windows 10 and the Microsoft Zira Desktop voice.

Can you reproduce this easily? Are there specific paragraphs that are higher volume than others? Is it always the same paragraphs? What speed are you using?

it's sort of like this. I start the narrate mode. Then the volume is to low. I upped the volume on my computer to about 25% then it's perfect on Narrate. Then at the next paragraph the volume gets even louder.

This growth in volume...

So I turn down the volume yet again to the perfect amount. Then it continues to read everything but it changes from really loud to extremely quiet.

And this last change to be quiet again - do you see them reflected in the volume levels? That is, is the Windows volume indicator also changing? Or is it just that the narration is comparatively loud/quiet within the range allowed by the current Windows/device volume settings?

Sorry for all the dumb questions, it's just hard to figure out what's going on here without being able to reproduce. :-(

On the whole, reader mode relies entirely on the web speech API for this, and doesn't change volume settings itself. So I think the issue is in our web speech Windows APi interactions or even further down the pipeline. Eitan, do you know who's the expert on the Windows APIs we use for web speech, and who would therefore maybe have idea about what's going on here?

Nothing wrong with your question. It's just that I'm bad at explaining things. I'll try to do an extremely precise explanation now, sorry.

I open narration mode on any site. I start listening to one of the voices that are reading. It seems like it doesn't matter what voice it is because I have the exact same problem with every voice.

Now it starts to read the first paragraph. At first, it's usually really low, yes I checked and every other program or whatever that I have on are on the exact same volume as my PC and headphones are set in. Then once it is reading the first paragraph I increase the volume WHILST it is reading the first paragraph. The volume then increases in sync with everything else on my computer including narration mode. So during the increased volume change, I can get it to the perfect volume that I want (again, whilst it is reading). Then I check with the volume mixer and everything is on the same volume level. THEN once it starts reading the next paragraph that's when narration mode makes a weird switch. Yes, I checked in the volume mixer and it is not the entire Firefox that changes the volume. I even ran a YouTube video in the background and did these exact steps and only narration mode gets loud as hell as soon as the next paragraph begins. So then I pause narration mode and then I start it again in the same paragraph as I paused it on, and the volume was still much louder than what I increased it to from the beginning.

So now I try to decrease the volume on my PC (turning everything down including Firefox) from let's say 50% to 48% in the volume bar. The volume of narration mode gets slightly reduced WHILST it is reading a whole paragraph. Pay close attention to the WHILST. But as soon as it goes to the next paragraph the same problems occur again. This time reducing the volume way under than what I put it on.

So there is no problem when I change the volume WHILST it is reading. But when it changes paragraphs then the problem occurs.

Gonna try to explain it in a simpler form.

Go from 20% to 30% when narration mode is reading a paragraph. No problem. I get the exact volume that I want.

When it changes paragraph it somehow increases the volume way over that what I put it on. I even did it with a YouTube video. The video didn't change at all, it stayed in the same volume. Only narration mode got incredibly loud. Same with decreased volume. YouTube follows with it and gets quieter. But when narration mode changes paragraph then it starts to whisper instead of staying in the same decreased volume I set it in.

Comment 9

[Eitan Isaacson [:eeejay]]

Hi!

I'm not a Windows expert, so will be short on answers, but I have a question:

Do you have any service or application running that uses speech as well?

Can you reproduce this issue with no other apps and servkces running? Maybe safe mode or something of the sort?

Comment 10

[Daniel Adaszak]

(In reply to Eitan Isaacson [:eeejay] from comment #9)

Hi!

I'm not a Windows expert, so will be short on answers, but I have a question:

Do you have any service or application running that uses speech as well?

Can you reproduce this issue with no other apps and servkces running? Maybe safe mode or something of the sort?

Don't use any reading programs. Did it with safe mode and still got the same problem.

Comment 11

[Eitan Isaacson [:eeejay]]

Sorry, I don't have a clue why this is happening. I tried reproducing locally here - no luck.

Comment 12

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

The priority flag is not set for this bug.
:anatal, could you have a look please?

For more information, please visit auto_nag documentation.