Four questions explain the path from an application event to sound:
| Layer | Question | Example |
| Meaning | What happened or what is this? | A level-two heading was reached during navigation. |
| Presentation | What should convey that meaning? | Speak the heading in a named voice and play a section cue first. |
| Resources | Which voice and sound realise that request? | Find the named voice in the active palette and the cue in the active sound pack. |
| Output | What can this machine produce? | Route speech to an installed engine and apply supported spatial behaviour. |
An Emacs mode or integration supplies facts about an object or event. A fact can identify a role such as a heading, an event such as completion, a state such as unread, or an attribute such as heading level. Context says whether you are navigating, reading continuously, or receiving a state change. The same object can therefore receive concise feedback during continuous reading and more orientation when deliberately reached.
Presentation rules match those facts and the context. A rule can choose a voice, add speech or a cue, insert a pause or tone, request spatial placement, or suppress something unhelpful. Several rules can contribute to the same result. A stronger rule can replace just one part, such as pitch, while leaving the other contributions in place.
The configuration layers, from weakest to strongest, are:
A presentation profile is not another rule layer. It records selected options, sound pack, voice palette, and spatial choices so you can switch them together.
For example, an Org integration identifies a level-two heading. A rule requests
bolden and a section cue. The active palette supplies bolden’s settings and
physical choices; the sound pack supplies the cue. The backend plays what it
supports. Changing the rule changes which headings receive the feedback.
Editing bolden changes uses of that named entry. Switching sound packs changes
the recording of the cue while preserving its meaning.
When two rules set the same voice field, the stronger explicit value wins; values are not added. Personal rules are weaker than session rules, which are weaker than current-buffer rules. Rules can also add actions before or after content. Use Explain to inspect actual contributors rather than inferring precedence from the order in which you edited settings.
C-e H r h opens the semantic vocabulary without changing settings. C-e H r t toggles training explanations across all buffers for this Emacs session; it does not save a startup default.