Please Fix SpeechSynthesis in LTS Releases of Kubuntu and Ubuntu

[Lonnie Lee Best]

This bug is more the fault of the Kubuntu and Ubuntu teams than it is the fault of Mozilla. Firefox indeed supports the web standard for speechSynthesis, but it doesn't work in Kubuntu 20.04. This does work in Ubuntu 16.04 and in Window 10. Like I said, it is web standard that should work in every browser. This bug is a regression compared to 16.04.

To reproduce this bug, open up any web page using Firefox and type ctrl-shift-I (to bring up the console of Firefox). Then, copy and paste the following text into the console and press enter:

speechSynthesis.speak(new SpeechSynthesisUtterance("Hello, I can speak.");

You should hear your browser say "Hello, I can speak.", but it doesn't work in the latest LTS releases.

This bug means that all web pages, on the internet, that use speechSynthesis do not function as intended on Kubuntu 20.04 and Ubuntu 20.04.

If you'd like to hear speechSynthesis in action, go to this web page using Firefox on Windows 10 or in Ubuntu 16.04 (where the trick's instructions will be spoken to you via Speech Synthesis):
http://www.lonniebest.com/CardTrick/

20.04 is a Long Term Support release. Please fix this, or I'm going to ask for my money back! Wait, scratch that last sentence.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: firefox 78.0.2+build2-0ubuntu0.20.04.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.4.0-42.46-generic 5.4.44
Uname: Linux 5.4.0-42-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_modeset nvidia
AddonCompatCheckDisabled: False
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.4
Architecture: amd64
BuildID: 20200708170202
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
Channel: Unavailable
CurrentDesktop: KDE
Date: Sun Jul 26 03:51:21 2020
DefaultProfileExtensions: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
DefaultProfileIncompatibleExtensions: Unavailable (corrupt or non-existant compatibility.ini or extensions.sqlite)
DefaultProfileLocales: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
DefaultProfilePrefErrors: Unexpected character ',' before close parenthesis @ /usr/lib/firefox/omni.ja:greprefs.js:730
DefaultProfileThemes: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
ForcedLayersAccel: False
InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-04-26 (91 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 20.04 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Release amd64 (20200423)
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
Profile0Extensions: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
Profile0IncompatibleExtensions: Unavailable (corrupt or non-existant compatibility.ini or extensions.sqlite)
Profile0Locales: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
Profile0PrefErrors: Unexpected character ',' before close parenthesis @ /usr/lib/firefox/omni.ja:greprefs.js:730
Profile0PrefSources: prefs.js
Profile0Themes: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
Profiles:
 Profile1 (Default) - LastVersion=None/None (Out of date)
 Profile0 - LastVersion=78.0.2/20200708170202 (In use)
RunningIncompatibleAddons: False
SourcePackage: firefox
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 12/12/2017
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 1.05.04RSA5
dmi.board.asset.tag: Tag 12345
dmi.board.name: Bonobo WS
dmi.board.vendor: System76
dmi.board.version: bonw13
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: System76
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr1.05.04RSA5:bd12/12/2017:svnSystem76:pnBonoboWS:pvrbonw13:rvnSystem76:rnBonoboWS:rvrbonw13:cvnSystem76:ct10:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.family: Not Applicable
dmi.product.name: Bonobo WS
dmi.product.sku: Not Applicable
dmi.product.version: bonw13
dmi.sys.vendor: System76