Inconsistent speech interrupt when focus changes without keyboard input

[Acer B-T]

Hi,

I've been meaning to ask about this for a while, but just now am getting around to it. A while ago, i found out that nvda has inconsistent speech interrupt behavior when the focus changes but there's no keyboard input, such as when navigating an app using a game controller and not keyboard. Particularly, stuff like buttons, tabs, sections, etc will interrupt, but text fields, tab controls, and crucially links will not. My question is, is there any possible way to get around this? i ask because I like using the big picture mode ui in steam on my hand held to navigate and manage games, and the semi recent (within the last few months) updates that made it more accessible made the grid of games use links and not buttons, which means as I navigate using my device's controller, I have to wait for nvda to catch up since it doesn't interrrupt for links, and thus has to read all the games that I arrow over. I know my use case might be a very particular one, but I think an interrupt mode that interrupts more things might be helpful for other instances as well.

[Quentin Christensen]

I'm not sure there is a workaround, but partly that is perhaps because no one has asked or suggested a use case for it.  Would you be able to write up a feature request on our tracker here please: https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/issues (A feature request asks fewer questions than a bug report, and I believe this would be a "new" feature or at least a new way of doing things - as opposed to a feature we have documented but which doesn't do what we say it will).

Kind regards

Quentin.

On Sun, Nov 23, 2025 at 6:46 AM Acer B-T <jac...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi,

I've been meaning to ask about this for a while, but just now am getting around to it. A while ago, i found out that nvda has inconsistent speech interrupt behavior when the focus changes but there's no keyboard input, such as when navigating an app using a game controller and not keyboard. Particularly, stuff like buttons, tabs, sections, etc will interrupt, but text fields, tab controls, and crucially links will not. My question is, is there any possible way to get around this? i ask because I like using the big picture mode ui in steam on my hand held to navigate and manage games, and the semi recent (within the last few months) updates that made it more accessible made the grid of games use links and not buttons, which means as I navigate using my device's controller, I have to wait for nvda to catch up since it doesn't interrrupt for links, and thus has to read all the games that I arrow over. I know my use case might be a very particular one, but I think an interrupt mode that interrupts more things might be helpful for other instances as well.

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[Acer B-T]

Hi,

I posted a feature request last night on the issue tracker. This is my first time filling out the new form so hopefully it's helpful and formatted properly.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/a/nvaccess.org/d/msgid/nvda-users/CAKsDpFiXv%2BoDdLVyG%2BGVRNKJ7mUOKC7xjiLzxgDp2LPMad78vQ%40mail.gmail.com.