Reported by kevinchao89 on 2013-10-30 19:30
There are many examples where asterisks can be used to mask information for security/privacy reasons or to provide meaningful content (as an alternative to other identifiers, e.g. numbers that may already exist). Unfortunately, with the default TTS setting of some, NVDA does not read the presence of asterisks. Instead, it's silent. asterisks are only read with most in NVDA, while in other desktop-based screen readers will read it at some.

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Open a text editor, e.g. Notepad
2. Type in the following two lines of text:

• ---

  3. Please ensure punctuation level is set to default of some.
• Review the two lines using UP/DOWN ARROWS
  Expected: star or asterisk to be read at default punctuation level of some
  Actual: asterisks are not read

Note1: asterisks are only read with punctuation level of most or higher, reviewing by characters, or spell-line.
Note2: Other desktop-based screen readers will read asterisks at default punctuation level of some.

P.S. An example where asterisks may be used instead of a numeric value (in use case #2) may be in the two notes I used above. For example, Note* and Note**, where there may be already note1 and note2 or a preference to use * instead of numeric values.