Pause or mute VoiceOver on Mac
Temporarily pause VoiceOver when it’s speaking, or mute it altogether.
Note: VO represents the VoiceOver modifier.
Pause or resume speech: There are several ways to control speech:
Press the Control key.
When the VoiceOver modifier is the Caps Lock key, press that key.
When the Trackpad Commander is enabled, tap with two fingers on the trackpad.
Mute speech: You can adjust the volume of VoiceOver speech, to the point of muting it, by pressing VO-Command-Shift-Right Arrow until you hear Volume, then pressing VO-Command-Shift-Down Arrow repeatedly.
Alternatively, open VoiceOver Utility (press VO-F8 when VoiceOver is on), click the Speech category, click Voices, then select the checkbox.
If you move the VoiceOver cursor after speech is paused, VoiceOver begins speaking the item that’s in the VoiceOver cursor.