These buttons let you read back the word you have typed so far, the sentence so far, or the paragraph so far any time you like.

You can also read the contents of the Windows clipboard by clicking on the clipboard icon. This is a backup feature in case the read marked block tool doesn't work in some application you use (Read Marked Block does work in all the applications we have tested.)

If you need a little silence, the speaker icon turns Aurora Echo on and off.

If you wondered about the other tools, the wrench and lips lets you set Aurora Echo's options, the wrench and speaker let you set the speech synthesizer options, the question mark opens the online help, the happy face tells you about Aurora Echo, and the X causes Aurora Echo to close.