How to Turn off ChromeVox on Chromebook

ChromeVox is an accessibility feature that allows users to navigate the interface through verbal prompts. It’s basically an advanced screen reader in the form of a narrator for blind people that reads everything on the screen and helps them in using Chrome OS. If your Chromebook is reading out every small detail that is displayed on the screen, this could be the feature that you need to turn off to make Chromebook stop talking. Use the following steps to disable ChromeVox.

  1. Open Settings on your Chromebook.
  2. Click on Advanced in the left panel and select Accessibility. Hit the Manage accessibility features in the right panel.
  3. Turn off Enable ChromeVox (spoken feedback) under Text-to-Speech. Tip: You can use Ctrl + Alt + Z keyboard shortcut to disable ChromeVox.

How to Turn off Text to Speech on Chromebook

Chromebook offers another screen reader in the form of Select to speak. This feature, as expected, reads the selected text on the screen. You need to manually activate it when you need to read some text as opposed to ChromeVox, which is always active. To turn off Select-to-speak on Chromebook, follow these steps:

  1. Open Settings on your Chrome OS.
  2. Go to Advanced > Accessibility > Manage accessibility features.
  3. Turn off the toggle next to Enable Select to Speak.

How to Turn off Voice Assistant on Chromebook

If you aren’t satisfied with the native voice assistant i.e., Google Assistant on your Chromebook, you can easily disable it as shown below.

  1. Open Settings on your Chromebook.
  2. Click on Search and Assistant from the left sidebar followed by Google Assistant on the right side.
  3. Turn off the toggle next to On to completely disable Google Assistant. Alternatively, if you want to turn off the Hey Google voice command only, then select Off under the Hey Google drop-down box.

How to Turn off Speak to Type on Chromebook

Do you dislike the native voice typing feature on Chromebook? Generally, voice typing is active only when you use the Search + D command or click on the Dictation (Microphone) icon on the Shelf. But you can turn it off completely as shown below.

  1. Launch Settings on Chromebook.
  2. Open Advanced > Accessibility > Manage accessibility.
  3. Scroll down to the Keyboard and text input section and turn off the toggle next to Enable dictation.

Bonus: Turn off Extensions

If your Chromebook is still talking even after disabling the above voice control features, it could be due to a third-party Chrome extension. Open Chrome browser and go to chrome://extensions. Turn off any voice control extension.

Tips to Use Chromebook

I hope you were able to turn off voice on Chromebook using the above methods. Once everything is fine, know about the best games and note-taking apps for Chromebook. Also, check out 10+ tips to make Chromebook faster.