I can confirm that this does not work in any version of Ubuntu. For example, it does not work in 16.04, 19.04, and it even doesn't work via the snap package installation forced by Ubuntu 19.10: https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/call-for-testing-chromium-browser-deb-to-snap-transition/11179
If you need to test this, go to any of the articles listed here: http://www.howtoadvice.com/ If you open an article in Firefox, the browser will read the article to you. If you open an article in Chromium, it will not. ** Tags added: snap -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to chromium-browser in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1792300 Title: Chromium Speech Synthesis Not Working Status in chromium-browser package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Bug description: In Ubuntu 16.04.5, Firefox supports Speech Synthesis by utilizing Text-To-Speech voices provided by default from the operating system. In Windows 10, both both Firefox and Chrome support Speech Synthesis by utilizing Text-To-Speech voices provided by default from the operating system. However,in Chromium 68 and 69, although the API is supported, Chromium cannot speak, because it doesn't seem to know how to load those Text- To-Speech voices that Firefox is successfully utilizing. Here's what users said at Ask Ubuntu, regarding the issue: https://askubuntu.com/questions/761975/ For example, this page should speak the text is shows: http://www.lonniebest.com/CardTrick/ The link above does not work in Chromium 69 on Ubuntu, however it does work in the following browser/os combinations: - Firefox (Ubuntu 16.04.5) - Chrome (Windows 10) - Firefox (Windows 10) ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04 Package: chromium-browser 69.0.3497.81-0ubuntu0.16.04.1 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-34.37~16.04.1-generic 4.15.18 Uname: Linux 4.15.0-34-generic x86_64 NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_uvm nvidia_drm nvidia_modeset nvidia ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.18 Architecture: amd64 CurrentDesktop: Unity Date: Thu Sep 13 00:38:53 2018 Desktop-Session: 'ubuntu' '/etc/xdg/xdg-ubuntu:/usr/share/upstart/xdg:/etc/xdg' '/usr/share/ubuntu:/usr/share/gnome:/usr/local/share:/usr/share:/var/lib/snapd/desktop' DetectedPlugins: Env: 'None' 'None' InstallationDate: Installed on 2018-09-12 (0 days ago) InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04.5 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20180731) Load-Avg-1min: 0.51 Load-Processes-Running-Percent: 0.1% MachineType: System76 Bonobo WS ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-34-generic root=UUID=c57c4be3-fe0f-4162-804e-627e28920546 ro acpi_backlight=vendor quiet splash vt.handoff=7 SourcePackage: chromium-browser UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install) dmi.bios.date: 12/12/2017 dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc. dmi.bios.version: 1.05.04RSA5 dmi.board.asset.tag: Tag 12345 dmi.board.name: Bonobo WS dmi.board.vendor: System76 dmi.board.version: bonw13 dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag dmi.chassis.type: 10 dmi.chassis.vendor: System76 dmi.chassis.version: N/A dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr1.05.04RSA5:bd12/12/2017:svnSystem76:pnBonoboWS:pvrbonw13:rvnSystem76:rnBonoboWS:rvrbonw13:cvnSystem76:ct10:cvrN/A: dmi.product.family: Not Applicable dmi.product.name: Bonobo WS dmi.product.version: bonw13 dmi.sys.vendor: System76 modified.conffile..etc.default.chromium-browser: [deleted] To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/chromium-browser/+bug/1792300/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp