The 'Read-Out-Loud' functionality inside Internet Explorer was dropped in Reader version 8 (last version containing 'Read-Out-Loud' I have is Adobe Reader 7.09).
Why was this important accessibility feature dropped and will it return in an update to Adobe Reader?
Read-Out-Loud functionality
2007-09-11 08:13:49
My Product Information:
Reader 8.0999999999999996447286321199499070644378662109375, Windows
Reader 8.0999999999999996447286321199499070644378662109375, Windows
In Adobe Reader 8 / Acrobat 8 you first need to activate read out loud. If you were accustomed to using the keyboard shortcuts to listen to your PDF files, (Ctrl + Shift + V for current page or Ctrl + Shift + B for entire document) you must now precede that with a Ctrl + Shift + Y to "activate" read out loud. Then those keystrokes should work.
Activation also has another advantage. Once Read Out Loud is activated, you can place your cursor in the PDF document and use the up / down arrow to navigate and listen to discrete "chunks" of the file.
A box is drawn around the component currently being vocalized. It varies depending upon the preparation applied to the PDF file. It might be a line at a time. Tagged PDFs would chunk these items into headings and paragraphs in most instances.
Greg
Greg Pisocky
Adobe Accessibility