Xbox is testing accessible chat options such as transcription and speech synthesis

Microsoft has announced New text-to-speech and speech-to-text features for Xbox party chat, intended to help make communication on the platform more accessible. The features are currently being tested through the Xbox Insider program.

The speech-to-text feature puts a window on the screen indicating what people are saying in the voice chat, as well as indicating whether the message was typed or spoken aloud. This can help those who are hard of hearing to participate in a chat, even if other participants are speaking instead of typing.

The window at the top right shows the text from the voice chat.
Picture: Microsoft

The text-to-speech feature goes the other way, which reads a user’s typed messages to the rest of the party to listen to. The user is also able to choose from a list of voices so as to better customize what their messages like to others.

Microsoft has recently been rolling out accessibility with Xbox: developers launched a program earlier this year to help make their games more accessible, and it allowed Xbox Adaptive Controllers to build gamers’ motor capabilities Designed to help with a wide range. It is good to see them continuing that work, especially around voice chat.

If you are an Xbox Insider, you can enable the features by going to Settings> Easy Access> Games and Chat Transcription, or by going to Options> Access Settings while in Chat.

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