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How to Get Your Mac to Announce Incoming Notifications?

Set Up Alert Announcements on Your Mac

Apple's virtual assistant Siri is integrated with Accessibility features that can help people with various disabilities. One of the great features Siri offers is notification announcement. This feature is great for users with vision impairment.

How to Get Your Mac to Announce Incoming Notifications?

The Speak Announcements feature will announce every notification you get. That way, you won't miss anything and be updated all the time, even if you're away from the Mac.

This Siri feature is also beneficial for busy people. For example, if you're running a business, you don't want to miss an important email or message. With Siri notification announcements, you won't stress about notifications slipping through your eyes.

Video on How to Get Your Mac to Announce Incoming Notifications?

Table of Contents:

How to Turn On Speak Announcements on macOS Big Sur and Monterey

If you want to hear, all incoming notifications enable the Speak Announcements feature.

To turn on Speak Announcements on macOS Big Sur and Monterey, follow the steps below:

1. Click on the Apple logo.
2. Then, select "System Preferences".
3. Go to "Accessibility" settings.

Go to Accessibility

4. From the left side menu, select "Spoken Content".
5. Check the box next to "Speak announcements".

Enable Speak Announcements

Now all the notifications will be announced by your Mac.

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How to Manage Speak Announcements on macOS Big Sur and Monterey

You turned on the Speak Announcements feature, but how to manage it? Let's find out in this step.

To manage notification announcements on macOS Big Sur and Monterey, follow the steps below:

1. Click on the Apple logo.
2. Then, select "System Preferences".
3. Go to "Accessibility" settings.

Go to Accessibility

4. From the left side menu, select "Spoken Content".
5. Next to "Speak announcements", click on "Options".

Click on Options

6. Next to "Voice", click on the drop-down menu and select the voice you prefer to hear when announcing notifications. Or you can choose "Customize" and explore more options.

Click on Customise

6. Then, next to "Phrase", click on the drop-down menu and select what you want Siri to say before announcing the message. For example, if you choose "Application name", Siri will state the app name the notification is coming from and then say its content. You can also click on "Edit Phrase List" and add your own.

Click on Edit Phrase List

7. Next to "Delay", set how long Siri should wait until announcing notification. When done, click on "OK".

Set Delay time

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How to Turn Off Speak Announcements on macOS Big Sur and Monterey

If you decide to disable the notification announcement feature, you can do that the same way you turned it on.

To turn off Speak Announcements on macOS Big Sur and Monterey, follow the steps below:

1. Click on the Apple logo.
2. Then, click on "System Preferences".
3. Go to "Accessibility" settings.

Go to Accessibility

4. From the left side menu, select "Spoken Content".
5. Uncheck the box next to "Speak announcements".

Disable Speak announcements

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How to Turn On Speak Announcements on macOS Mojave and Catalina

The notification announcement feature is named slightly different in the older macOS version, but the enabling process is the same.

To turn on Speak Announcements on macOS Mojave and Catalina, follow the steps below:

1. Click on the Apple logo.
2. Then, select "System Preferences".
3. Go to "Accessibility" settings.
4. From the left side menu, select "Speech".
5. Check the box next to "Enable announcements".

How to Manage Speak Announcements on macOS Mojave and Catalina

Managing the speech announcement feature is the same as in the newer macOS versions. Set speech voice, phrase, and delay time according to your preferences.

To access speech settings, follow the steps below:

1. Click on the Apple logo.
2. Then, select "System Preferences".
3. Go to "Accessibility" settings.
4. From the left side menu, select "Speech".
5. Next to "Enable announcements", click on "Options" and adjust everything as you please.

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How to Turn Off Speak Announcements on macOS Mojave and Catalina

To turn off speech announcements, follow the same steps as turning on the feature.

To disable Speak Announcements on macOS Mojave and Catalina, follow the steps below:

1. Click on the Apple logo.
2. Then, select "System Preferences".
3. Go to "Accessibility" settings.
4. From the left side menu, select "Speech".
5. Uncheck the box next to "Enable announcements".

The feature will be disabled, and you will no longer hear notification announcements.

We hope you found the information you were looking for and learned how to turn on and manage the notification announcement feature.

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About the author:

Karolina Peistariene

Author of how-to guides for Mac users. Responsible for collecting, analyzing, and presenting problem-solving solution articles related to macOS issues. Years of macOS experience combined with solid research and analyzing skills help Karolina provide readers with working and helpful solutions as well as introduce various features Mac has to offer. Contact Karolina Peistariene.

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