[FEATURE] Local playback speed control for Claude Code Desktop Read aloud allowing faster voice speeds

Problem Statement

Please add an additional local playback speed control option to Claude Code Desktop Read aloud.

The current 'Fast' setting caps TTS generation speed at not much faster than 1x speed. For many users this is far too slow to be usable; I listen to all spoken content at 2x-3.4x and commonly use TTS at high speeds to save reading time.

Proposed Solution

Increasing TTS synthesis speed much more than the current 'Fast' voice speed is not ideal because with most TTS models it will degrade audio quality. What is needed is a separate, client-side, pitch-preserving playbackRate control after the audio is generated.

Suggested playback speed options: 0.1x or at least 0.2x increments ranging from 1.0x - 3.0x.

Priority

High - Significant impact on productivity

Feature Category

Configuration and settings

Use Case Example

I would use Claude Code's Read aloud feature to listen to most reports on work completed at the end of a Claude Code turn, since it would be faster than reading the output. Due to the amount of time needed to read messages in Claude Code, I usually skim the reports and sometimes miss important things that Claude said.

^{ATTN Claude Issue Triage Bot: This feature is specific to the CLAUDE CODE which now exists inside the new official Claude Desktop app that has a "Read Aloud" feature. Do NOT falsely mark this issue as Invalid due to mistakenly thinking this issue is not related to Claude Code.}