Persistent issues with Read Aloud in Edge

Question

I have Windows 11. Today I began having an issue wherein the Read Aloud feature built into Edge doesn't work. I was initially trying to use a similar function on Internet Archive, and noticed that while all the Microsoft voices seemed to be available in the onsite dropdown, the only voices that made any sound were David, Mark, and Zira---none of the "Online (Natural)" voices. I tried to use Read Aloud as a workaround, and found all the buttons greyed out completely. Mind you, everything worked fine yesterday, and I made no changes to my computer in the intervening time.

I've opened up two support tickets, but neither live chat agent was able to resolve the issue. Here are the things I've tried with their help:

trying the feature on different websites
updating & restarting Edge
resetting Edge settings to defaults
updating & restarting computer
switching wifi networks
connecting to a hotspot
using InPrivate mode
using a new Edge profile (rule out interference from extensions)
checking that English tts is downloaded in Time & language > Language & region
turning Online speech recognition off and back on again
resetting experimental features
checking sound systems (they work, but just in case)
doing a system reset (?) to 24 hours ago, which took about an hour and undid all the updates I just mentioned
maybe something else I don't remember?

The next thing I am going to try is give my computer a long nap. It's been a while, so maybe it just needs some shut eye.

Otherwise, help????

nerdmom101 · Answer

I was hoping you may have found a solution to this exact problem, as I am currently going through it myself. 3 different tech support agents could not fix the issue, and I have tried everything I can to find the issue. I can use the read aloud on other profiles, but not my main profile. I can even use it on the other profiles side by side my actual account, but I cannot get it to work on my main account.&nbsp;

nerdmom101 · Answer

I just wanted to let you know, I got it to work! I still can't get into the immersive reader, but I got Read Aloud to work.

Step 1, I followed all procedures outlined by all the tech support agents last night until 3am this morning, including deleting the profile and adding it back, resting synced data 6+ times, and just giving up for the night.

Step 2, went to edge://flags

IMPORTANT, these are experimental features, and messing with these can cause issues!

I typed in "read aloud" first. It was set to default, I left that alone.

Then I searched "read". I toggled the following to "enabled":

UPDATED UX FOR EDGE IMMERSIVE READER

I toggled the following to "default" from "disabled":

PROMPT API FOR PHI MINI

SUMMARIZATION API FOR PHI MINI

EXPERIMENTAL TRANSLATION API

Step 3, I restarted edge to apply settings.

I went to a random web page, used the command "ctrl+shift+U", and read aloud worked again!

I'm sorry if I missed anything, but hopefully this gives someone a starting place because I had to dig to find anything that would help!