Can't hear Toggle Keys beeps through system speakers

[lynnstony]

Hello,

Since my latest build (Asus P5W-DL Deluxe, 2 GB RAM, ATI 1950, onboard
Realtek sound, XP Pro, RAID 1 OS RAID 5 Data) I have not been able to
hear my Toggle Keys beep through my headphones plugged directly into
the speaker output. All other sounds are fine. I am slightly
disabled and hard of hearing so this feature is a must for me and
worked fine on my last build as well as my XP laptop. It does beep
through the case speaker but that is so low I cannot hear it plus with
headphones on it is even more difficult to hear. I have asked others
to try this too and their results were the same: case speaker only.

It seems to me if Microsoft were serious about Accessibility this
issue should be addressed, the Toggle Keys beep should be loud & clear
through the system speakers. If there is a workaround I would
appreciate knowing about it.

Tony

 

[Swifty]

It seems to me if Microsoft were serious about Accessibility this

issue should be addressed, the Toggle Keys beep should be loud & clear
through the system speakers. If there is a workaround I would
appreciate knowing about it.

There are some systems which implement the system speaker sounds through
the onboard soundcard. In my years with IBM I've had two such systems,
but I'm sure that it was designed into the hardware, and not under
control of any BIOS setting (that I ever found).

I come across this, because my usual programming language, REXX, has a
beep() function which plays tones through the system speaker, and on a
couple of systems I found that it used the soundcard instead. Even
though my hearing is as normal as is usual in someone approaching 60, I
prefer the soundcard option.

I agree totally that ToggleKeys should have an option to use the soundcard.

I wonder if there is a program which could intercept software calls to
the system speaker and emulate them via the soundcard?

 

[lynnstony]

There are some systems which implement the system speaker sounds through
the onboard soundcard. In my years with IBM I've had two such systems,
but I'm sure that it was designed into the hardware, and not under
control of any BIOS setting (that I ever found).

I come across this, because my usual programming language, REXX, has a
beep() function which plays tones through the system speaker, and on a
couple of systems I found that it used the soundcard instead. Even
though my hearing is as normal as is usual in someone approaching 60, I
prefer the soundcard option.

I agree totally that ToggleKeys should have an option to use the soundcard.

I wonder if there is a program which could intercept software calls to
the system speaker and emulate them via the soundcard?

Thanks for the reply Swifty. I've tried with a sound card, no
difference. Out of desperation I've thought of making a jumper wire
to go from from the case speaker header OUT to the AUX IN of the sound
system, I know there would be hideous ohmage mismatches but maybe I
could control them with input/output sliders. Still, I shouldn't have
to jump through these hoops...tell me, when you enable Toggle Keys
does the sound come from the case speaker or the mains? Look here:
http://www.microsoft.com/enable/training/windowsxp/togglekeys.aspx
BTW same same w/ Vista...

Tony

 

[Swifty]

tell me, when you enable Toggle Keys

does the sound come from the case speaker or the mains? Look here:
http://www.microsoft.com/enable/training/windowsxp/togglekeys.aspx

The togglekeys sounds always come from my system unit (I'm a desktop
user). I have had a couple of IBM desktops where the system speaker was
somehow routed through the soundcard. I suspect that this configuration
is much more common in laptops, where the system speaker can know that
there is an integral soundcard with speakers attached.

I had hoped that the routing of the system speaker through the sound
system would become a standard, but my newer IBM systems have all
reverted to a real speaker inside the system unit.

If you want to route the internal speaker to the AUX IN then look into
getting a cheap audio isolation transformer (the audio quality doesn't
really matter). You can get these very cheaply at
RadioShack/Tandy/Maplin (I cannot work out where you're from). This way
you won't have to worry about earth problems. If I were doing this, I'd
probably route the speaker through a mini jack socket in the PC case,
and build all the "stuff" outside the PC itself.