Speech Display Bar (SDB)

The Speech Display Bar (SDB) displays text that you enter or generate in the app.

Auto Clear the SDB after Speaking

Use the Auto Clear setting to clear the SDB automatically after speaking.

Select Menu > Settings and scroll to the Speak section.
Select Auto Clear. The Auto Clear options are listed.
Off: The SDB does not clear automatically after speaking.
Immediate: The SDB clears automatically after you speak the text displayed in the SDB.
After Next Activation: The SDB clears automatically after you speak the text displayed in the SDB and then enter additional text.
Select Done in the top left of the Settings menu.

Highlight Spoken Words

To help with literacy, the Highlight Spoken Word setting allows users to see the words highlighted in the SDB as they are spoken. When you select a color, words will be highlighted in that color one at a time in the SDB as they are spoken.

Notes:
The Highlight Spoken Word setting is only available with Apple voices.
Highlighting is disabled when scanning prompts are spoken; but it is enabled when scanned button actions add text to the SDB.

Select Menu > Settings and scroll to the Speech Display Bar section.
Select Highlight Spoken Word. The setting “OFF” and a list of colors opens. OFF is the default setting.
Select a color.
Select the checkmark .
As you select words from a page, they are highlighted one at a time in the SDB in the color you selected.
- To change the highlight color, select Menu > Settings, scroll to the Speech Display Bar section, select Highlight Spoken Word, select a different color, and select .
- If you pause speech, the last spoken word will remain highlighted.
- To turn highlighting off, select Menu > Settings, scroll to the Speech Display Bar section, select Highlight Spoken Word, select OFF, and select .

Highlight Spoken Words during Phone Calls/FaceTime

To help with literacy, the Highlight Color Phone/FaceTime setting allows users to see words highlighted as they are spoken during a telephony call. This feature helps the device user know their message was spoken and received by their partner on the call.

Note: The Highlight Color Phone/FaceTime setting is only available with Apple voices.

Go to Menu > Settings and scroll to the Speech Display Bar section.
Select Highlight Color Phone/FaceTime. The setting “OFF” and a list of colors opens.
Select a color.
Select .
As you select words during a call, they are highlighted one at a time in the SDB in the color you selected.
- To change the highlight color, go to Menu > Settings, scroll to the Speech Display Bar section, select Highlight Color Phone/FaceTime, choose a different color, and select .
- To turn highlighting off, go to Menu > Settings, scroll to the Speech Display Bar section, select Highlight Color Phone/FaceTime, select OFF, and select .

Speak a Combination of Voices/Languages

For example, you could speak English, Spanish, and Canadian French in the same sentence.

Open an English vocabulary and enter a few words in the SDB.
Open a Spanish vocabulary and enter a few words in the SDB.
Open a French (Canada) vocabulary and enter a few words in the SDB
Select the SDB. The English, Spanish, and Canadian French words will be spoken. Words of the same language will flow like a sentence and there will be a slight pause between words of different languages.

Editing All Text in the SDB

After you enter the text you want to edit, press and hold on the SDB to open the Available Actions menu.

Edit Speech Display Bar: Set the SDB to Edit Cursor mode. See “Editing SDB text in Edit Cursor Mode”.

Copy: Copy all the text currently displayed in the SDB. When you select Copy, a Paste option will appear below “Copy”.

Paste: Paste the text copied from the SDB.

Share: Open a list to apps to share the text.

Cancel: Close the Available Actions menu without editing the text in the SDB.

Editing SDB Text in Edit Cursor Mode

With text displayed in the SDB, select and hold on the SDB to open the Available Actions menu.
Select Edit Speech Display Bar to set the SDB to Edit Cursor mode.
Note: In Edit Cursor mode, you are editing individual words, not the entire content of the SDB.
Edit the text using the options listed below.
When you finish, select Done to exit Edit Cursor mode.

Move the cursor:

Hold and drag the cursor to move it.
Tap the cursor to move it to the beginning or end of the word.
Press and hold the cursor to move it within a word.

Highlight words:

Double-tap a word to highlight it in light blue and put brackets around it. Cut, Copy, Paste, and Select options will appear below the highlighted word. These options only affect the highlighted word.
Clicking a button while it is highlighted will replace the highlighted word

Add words:

Adding a word to the logical beginning of a word will insert the word followed by a space.
Adding a word to the logical end of a word will append the word to the previous word followed by a space.
Adding a word to the middle of a word will append the added word to the sub-word before the cursor followed by a space, effectively splitting the word.

Delete words and characters:

Deleting a word while at the logical beginning of a word will delete the previous word and the space following it.
Deleting a word from the end of the word will delete the word preceding the cursor.
Deleting a word while the cursor is in the middle of a word will delete the entire word.
Deleting a character anywhere always results in the previous character being removed.

Use Your Vocabulary to Answer in a Text Field

Blank text fields display two symbols:

You can choose to use your vocabulary SDB to add text or you can enable the iOS dictate text feature.

Select the vocabulary symbol to use your vocabulary to add text to the field.

The SDB will be highlighted, and you will see the text “Use your vocabulary to answer” and a Back button. Add your text to the SDB and select Back to return to the screen with the text field.

Select the iOS dictate text symbol if you want to enable this iOS feature to add text instead of using your vocabulary.