Add ability to ONLY echo keys

[Qchristensen]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

We get requests from time to time from people who would like to ONLY have keys they press read to them.

These users would like no other information read or reported.

Describe the solution you'd like

In issue #15521 I proposed a configuration profile, which was deemed not technically feasible. After a quick discussion, this may be possible as a speech mode. This would also fit as "On-Demand" is now also a speech mode from NVDA 2024.1, and users also have the ability to control which speech modes are toggled with NVDA+s.

Describe alternatives you've considered

Happy to entertain other alternatives. All of the requests we've had have been for the functionality (only read the keys I type, nothing else), not the implementation.

I did have the idea that a "key echo" speech mode might be able to echo whatever is specified between NVDA+2 (echo characters), NVDA+3 (echo words) and NVDA+4 (echo command keys), but happy to go with whatever is most technically feasible.

Additional context

[Adriani90]

@Qchristensen could you please elaborate more on the practical use case of this? Do people want to learn the keyboard? Or what is the aim of this? I understand the benefits of such an issue, but still it would be interesting to know what users report when they request this.

I think an additional speech mode is best suited in my view. We could simply call it "speech mode Keyboard".

[CyrilleB79]

I expect to understand better the use case.

Anyway, I have the feeling that the use case is not the one of a screen reader. If this is confirmed, I would recommend that this feature be implemented in an add-on rather than in core, so that the GUI is not cluttered by an option which is useless for a vast majority of the users. Considering that the request is coming from time to time, it may be worth to include in core the code to facilitate the creation of this add-on, e.g. extension points, etc.

[XLTechie]

@Adriani90 You may see https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/issues/15521#issuecomment-1865384451 for one possible use case.

[XLTechie]

I like Quentin's "echo only mode" idea, where you could choose the echo type from words, characters, both. However, I think this may need more than a speech mode could provide.

A speech mode has at its core, the idea that you're still using NVDA. Since the only use case I know of for this is the one referenced in @LowieB2727's comment referenced above, I suspect that users of this feature may not want other screen reader features to be active during its use.

Put another way, I believe this would need to start with sleep mode as its base.

This is not the only "radical access need" we've seen. I recall a few recent issues (e.g. #15624, #15626, #15336) of users asking for only text selected (normally or by mouse) to be read, with no other screen reader features active. This is an access feature iOS and probably others provide.

As I see it, that leaves us with two options:

1. Force such unusual accessibility paradigms into add-on land. That has the additional side-effect of requiring some pretty radical add-on work, though this one may be easier than that one would be.
2. Accept the idea that, while strange, both such needs fall under the spirit of "Non-Visual Desktop Access", and implement significant built-in alternate usage modes such as these. I tend to favor that idea, as while being far outside the normal usage of a screen reader, they do provide Non-Visual Desktop Access to some smaller segment of the global population. As a blind computer user, I'm pretty used to being a part of a smaller segment of the global population, and as such I don't have trouble imagining that others may have even more obscure needs than mine.

As an aside, the "word echo" part of this, may be effective for those with dyslexia, who otherwise don't need screen reading. Though I am ignorant of dyslexic variability or requirements, and thus can't speak with any authority about that.

[Nael-Sayegh]

I don't understand the feature request, currently in NVDA, we can already enable echo by word, character, and even command keys. What would this option be? Could you elaborate on what?

[XLTechie]

@Nael-Sayegh Please see the comment linked in one of my above comments.

The idea is to echo only characters or words, and perform no other screen reading functions. No notifications, no key interception, no reading of windows when the screen changes, etc.

See my final comment (alternative 2) above, for why I think this might have some Merritt within NVDA, if we are serious about providing "non-visual desktop access" as broadly as possible.