Ubuntu includes a powerful, built-in screen reader called Orca, designed to assist visually impaired users by reading the contents of the screen aloud. However, Orca is tied to a global keyboard shortcut: Alt + Super (Windows Key) + S.
If you are a heavy keyboard user—perhaps utilizing complex shortcuts in an IDE, navigating a terminal multiplexer, or just mashing keys during a game—it is incredibly easy to accidentally trigger this combination. Without warning, a robotic voice will start aggressively narrating every single mouse movement, key press, and window change, completely disrupting your workflow. Furthermore, simply pressing the shortcut again often fails to reliably shut the daemon down.
If you do not require accessibility features, you can permanently unbind this keyboard shortcut to ensure the screen reader never accidentally activates.
How to Disable the Orca Screen Reader Shortcut
You can remove the shortcut mapping directly in the GNOME Settings.
- Open the Settings app in Ubuntu.
- In the left-hand navigation sidebar, scroll down and click on Keyboard.
- In the right pane, scroll down to the “Keyboard Shortcuts” section and click on View and Customize Shortcuts.
- Scroll down the list and click on Accessibility.
- Locate the entry labeled Turn screen reader on or off. It should currently show
Alt+Super+Sas the binding. - Click on the entry. A dialog box will appear asking you to input a new shortcut.
- Press the Backspace key. The binding will change to
Disabled. - Click the Set button to save the change.
You can now safely press any combination of the Alt and Super keys without fear of summoning the Orca screen reader.