From feff87d79a77545af1ea7219521494a3ce2d123a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Michael Kauzmann <michael.kauzmann@colorado.edu>
Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2023 14:53:39 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] include a space in utterance for waking chromebooks,
 https://github.com/phetsims/friction/issues/328

---
 js/SpeechSynthesisAnnouncer.ts | 4 +++-
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/js/SpeechSynthesisAnnouncer.ts b/js/SpeechSynthesisAnnouncer.ts
index 4847ffe..4da7388 100644
--- a/js/SpeechSynthesisAnnouncer.ts
+++ b/js/SpeechSynthesisAnnouncer.ts
@@ -453,7 +453,9 @@ class SpeechSynthesisAnnouncer extends Announcer {
       this.timeSinceWakingEngine += dt;
       if ( !synth.speaking && this.timeSinceWakingEngine > ENGINE_WAKE_INTERVAL ) {
         this.timeSinceWakingEngine = 0;
-        synth.speak( new SpeechSynthesisUtterance( '' ) );
+
+        // This space is actually quite important. An empty string began breaking chromebooks in https://github.com/phetsims/friction/issues/328
+        synth.speak( new SpeechSynthesisUtterance( ' ' ) );
       }
     }
   }