How to help VoiceOver say it correctly

VoiceOver normally does a great job of pronouncing even quite difficult words but occasionally things go very wrong. Sometimes, it's just mildly annoying or amusing but in some cases, it can be impossible to work out what VoiceOver is speaking. One solution is to turn the rotor to characters and swipe vertically to have VoiceOver speak a word letter by letter but if there are words that frequently turn up on your screen which VoiceOver mangles you may prefer to teach VoiceOver how to speak the words correctly. Here's how you can do that.

Go to Settings / Accessibility / VoiceOver.

Swipe right to the speech, button and then double tap.

Swipe right to the pronunciations, button and then double tap.

This will bring up a list of any pronunciations that you have already entered which will probably be empty if you are reeding this.

There is an add, button at top right. Locate this and double tap.

You will find yourself editing the phrase. This is the word or words that you need to teach VoiceOver to pronounce correctly. Enter the phrase using the keyboard, handwriting or perhaps dictation. Be aware, though, that dictation may misinterpret text that VoiceOver speaks incorrectly, so it's probably best to use the keyboard or handwriting for this job.

For an example, you might try Blaby, a Leicestershire town which is spelt B L A B Y. This is often spoken incorrectly by VoiceOver voices. Many VoiceOver voices speak Blabby instead of the correct pronunciation which is more like Blayby.

After typing Blaby (capitals aren't important unless you want to distinguish between spellings with and without capitals), feel near the top of the screen for the phrase again and then swipe right.

This takes you to the substitution, text field.

This is the first of two optional ways to enter the correct pronunciation. The second option allows you to speak your preferred pronunciation and I suggest that this is likely to be the easiest option for most people with sight loss. I'll describe the substitution option briefly later.

Swipe right once more to the dictate replacement, button and double tap.

You will hear a tone and you should now speak the correct pronunciation and pause.

VoiceOver will then speak the word back to you if it has only one suggestion. If you like that, then just check the remaining settings. If you don't like it, try speaking the correct pronunciation again, perhaps a little differently.

Alternatively, if VoiceOver has several suggestions, these will be shown on screen. Swipe through these and double tap the one you like best.

After selecting your preferred pronunciation find the done, button at top right and double tap to set the new pronunciation.

Swipe right through the screen past phrase, substitution, dictate replacement and languages.

Next comes voices. I suggest that you set this to all. This will ensure that the pronunciation you have just provided will be spoken bye all voices, not just the one you are currently using.

Next comes ignore case and I suggest you set this to on.

Next is Apply to all apps; I suggest you set this on.

Finally, find the pronunciations, back button at top left to return to your list of pronunciations, which will now include Blaby.

Let's look now at the first method for giving VoiceOver a new pronunciation.

In the substitution, text field,, you can type an alternative spelling of the word or phrase that you think will persuade VoiceOver to speak correctly. For example, you might like to try Blayby, spelt B L A Y B Y. Double tap to start editing the substitution text field and type Blayby, spelt B L A Y B Y.

To check if this has worked, locate the Play button at top right of the screen and double tap.

That will probably be good enough.

Swipe through the remaining settings to check they are as you wish and then locate the rponunciations, back button and double tap to return to your list of pronunciations.

I think the list can be quite long if you wish. I have over 20 items in my pronunciations.

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