Web reader on Chromebook stopping spontaneously

[Kate Owen]

Hi all - 

We just rolled out 1-1 with Chromebooks for our Middle School. I have introduced the web reader to our qualifying students but received several reports from students using it that the playback just spontaneously stops after a few sentences. 

Does anyone know how I can begin to troubleshoot this problem? 

Thanks

Edited September 24, 2020 by Kate Owen
Edit to add: haven't tried on a Mac to see if it also is stopping.

[Heather Collins]

Hello Kate,

We have had reports from many of our members that, after a recent Chromebook update, there have been problems with using the Web Reader. Our engineering team is aware of the issue and we hope to have it resolved soon. In the mean time, we have found that many members are able to avoid the problem by using a different voice. The Chrome OS US English Female HQ voice seems to have the most problems resulting from the update at this time. If you use a default voice for the device instead, or purchase an Acapela voice from the Chrome Web Store, you should not encounter the same issue. 

[Amber Bartlein]

Hi,

We are having the same issue in some of our accounts using the embedded Chrome US English voice as well.  Any tips for how to improve the experience on the Chromebook.  

 

Thank you,

Amber 

[Heather Collins]

Hello Amber,

These issues persist even after trying another voice option, it could be resulting from another installed Chrome extension is interfering with Web Reader's text-to-speech.

You can disable your extensions, test your Web Reader to see if the audio sounds better, and then re-enable your extensions one-by-one to see which stops the text-to-speech from working.

1. Type chrome://extensions into the address bar within Chrome
2. Remove the check next to "Enable" for any extensions that are not Google and may be interfering.
3. Return to Booksahre and open your book again using the Read Now link.

If your students continue to have problems after trying these troubleshooting options, or you think it would be simpler to direct them to another service, you could try setting up accounts for them on another ebook reader called Capti Voice. This reader service integrates with Bookshare so that members can access and search the Bookshare library within the Capti Voice reader. You can learn more about this option on this page of our website: https://www.bookshare.org/cms/getting-started-capti-voice-online

[Cathy Stakey]

We are having the same issue with Bookshare stopping.  We are using the embedded Chrome US English voice as well and cannot switch to another voice because there are no other US English voices provided.  

 

We are also not allowed to just disable extensions because they are managed extensions by our tech department.  They are not able to disable them or remove them from a specific student's device since they are assigned by usergroups.

Other suggestions?