Speak Items Under the Pointer

@SoYoung; I'm surprised more low vision users aren't crying out to Apple for this simple but extremely useful feature.

Though Apple has resisted, there is a current workaround to toggle this feature, though not intuitive to set up.

After reaching out to the Freelance.com developer community, I finally broke down and paid a developer for an AppleScript that does exactly what we need, a script to toggle "Speak item under the pointer."

Here is how I've implemented it.

First determine which MacOS version you are on.

==>> AppleScript for MacOS Ventura 13 or later ==>>
do shell script "open -b com.apple.systempreferences " & ¬
"/System/Library/PreferencePanes/UniversalAccessPref.prefPane"

tell application "System Events"
tell its application process "System Settings"
repeat until UI element 4 of group 1 of scroll area 1 of group 1 of ¬
group 2 of splitter group 1 of group 1 of window "Accessibility" exists
delay 0.1
end repeat
click UI element 4 of group 1 of scroll area 1 of group 1 of group 2 ¬
of splitter group 1 of group 1 of window "Accessibility"
repeat until checkbox 3 of group 2 of scroll area 1 of group 1 of group ¬
2 of splitter group 1 of group 1 of window "Spoken Content" exists
delay 0.1
end repeat
click checkbox 3 of group 2 of scroll area 1 of group 1 ¬
of group 2 of splitter group 1 of group 1 of window "Spoken Content"
end tell
end tell

tell application "System Settings" to quit
<<== End of Script <<==

==>> for MacOS versions prior to Ventura ==>>
tell application "System Preferences"
reveal anchor "TextToSpeech" of pane id "com.apple.preference.universalaccess"
end tell

tell application "System Events" to tell process "System Preferences"
repeat while not (exists of checkbox "Speak items under the pointer" of group 1 of window "Accessibility")
delay 0.01
end repeat
set theCheckbox to checkbox "Speak items under the pointer" of group 1 of window "Accessibility"
tell theCheckbox
# If the checkbox is not checked, check it to turn speech on
if not (its value as boolean) then
set checked to true
click theCheckbox
else # else turn speech off
set checked to false
click theCheckbox
end if
end tell
end tell

tell application "System Preferences"
quit
end tell
<<== End of Script <<==

How to use:
1. I use an app called "BetterTouchTool" to create custom shortcut macros to trigger, in this case applescripts. (https://folivora.ai)
2. I then Crete and assign my desired trigger action to toggle the script. I personally use two methods.
- keyboard: CTRL+Z
- trackpad: swipe left with 3 fingers

Though it is not as ideal as Apple's accessibility keyboard shortcuts in System Settings>Keyboard>Keyboard Shortcuts, it does work for me.
It is not instant. It takes about 1 second to toggle. But it is much quicker and far easier than the alternative.

You may find other methods for running applescripts. If anyone finds a better way please post here.

I hope this helps...

@PaulMartz
Thanks so much for your tip. However, if VO wasn't so buggy, and if there were simple shortcut keys to mute VO, I would also recommend VO.
But due to the lag in toggling VO on and off, and the cumbersome way to mute speech, the best alternative right now is using the Speak item under the pointer in Spoken Content.

@SoYoung
Here is how I use the AppleScript using BetterTouchTool (well worth the money IMHO)
1. create new keyboard shortcut.
2. in the "Click here to record a shortcut" window, perform the shortcut combination you desire to use to toggle the feature. (I use fn+Z.)
3. Click the + under the Assign First Action to Selected Trigger."
4. In the search field to the right, type "AppleScript" and select "Run Apple Script (blocking"
5. Paste the desired AppleScript in the window which now appears.
*For Ventura or later use the following. (See above for earlier MacOS versions)
6. Now click "Run Script" to execute the AppleScript for the first time. (Note: It may ask for you to grant security access. Simply accept and proceed.)

If you were successful, you will notice System Settings quickly opens and closes. This is needed due to the fact that this script simply performs the steps to open the preference pane and toggles the feature on or off.)

Congratulations. You should now have your own keyboard shortcut to toggle Speak item under the pointer.

Apple could have made our lives much easier by offering user assignable shurttcuts. But no!

Again, I pray this is helpful to you or anyone else.

@Jonathan Shapiro
I'm not familiar with LaunchBar. But I am glad the Ventura code worked as desired. Thanks for the update!

Hello all,
I want to share an amazing update.
We all know how challenging it generally is to get Apple Accessibility to listen to the low vision community with suggestions and feedback.
But I would love to report that, after many attempts for a user assignable shortcut, Apple has, in THIS case, responded!
So now, simply head to MacOS Settings/Keyboards/Keyboard Shortcuts, you'll now find a few new shortcut options you can easily toggle by assigning your own key combination.
I personally use BetterTouchTool to link a trackpad gesture to any key combination to be able to effortlessly toggle this and other options.
THANK YOU APPLE for FINALLY LISTENING to us on this item.
Now would you PLEASE focus on the other very challenging bugs we still face?
Hope this helps!
Be blessed all...