diff --git a/e2e/USER_STORIES.md b/e2e/USER_STORIES.md
index 19a5b082..43f0d070 100644
--- a/e2e/USER_STORIES.md
+++ b/e2e/USER_STORIES.md
@@ -449,6 +449,7 @@ Acceptance:
   same prompt dictation uses.
 - Once a key is saved, the same menu item puts a player at the bottom of the
   app naming whose message is being read.
+- A quote, a mention or a url in the message is named rather than spelled out.
 - The player plays, pauses, scrubs, and closes, and closing it takes it away.
 
 ### US-115 — Connect a wallet while sending a zap
diff --git a/e2e/harness/net/http.ts b/e2e/harness/net/http.ts
index f424cd81..43c4b7ff 100644
--- a/e2e/harness/net/http.ts
+++ b/e2e/harness/net/http.ts
@@ -213,37 +213,23 @@ export const mockDufflepud = (context: BrowserContext, fixtures: DufflepudFixtur
     return route.fallback()
   })
 
-// Silence as a wav, built rather than inlined so a spec can ask for a length and then assert the
-// duration the player reads off it. 16 bit mono pcm is the shortest header a browser will decode.
-const silence = (seconds: number) => {
-  const rate = 8000
-  const bytes = seconds * rate * 2
-  const wav = Buffer.alloc(44 + bytes)
+// The rate the endpoint documents for raw pcm, at 16 bits a sample, which is what the app assumes
+// when it writes a wav header for one.
+const SPEECH_RATE = 24000
 
-  wav.write("RIFF", 0)
-  wav.writeUInt32LE(36 + bytes, 4)
-  wav.write("WAVEfmt ", 8)
-  wav.writeUInt32LE(16, 16)
-  wav.writeUInt16LE(1, 20)
-  wav.writeUInt16LE(1, 22)
-  wav.writeUInt32LE(rate, 24)
-  wav.writeUInt32LE(rate * 2, 28)
-  wav.writeUInt16LE(2, 32)
-  wav.writeUInt16LE(16, 34)
-  wav.write("data", 36)
-  wav.writeUInt32LE(bytes, 40)
+// Headerless silence. Nothing in it says how long it is, so the duration a spec reads off the
+// player is the one the app computed.
+const silence = (seconds: number) => Buffer.alloc(seconds * SPEECH_RATE * 2)
 
-  return wav
-}
-
-// The only two the real endpoint encodes; anything else comes back a 400 naming the pair.
-const SPEECH_FORMATS = ["mp3", "pcm"]
+// mp3 is the other format the real endpoint encodes, and the harness has no encoder for it, so
+// asking for one here is a mistake rather than a case to serve.
+const SPEECH_FORMAT = "pcm"
 
 /**
  * OpenRouter's text to speech, answering every request with the same silence. The array it returns
- * collects what the app asked to have read, in the order it asked. A request for a format the real
- * endpoint does not encode is refused the way it refuses one, since a mock that plays anything back
- * cannot tell whether the app asked for audio a browser can decode.
+ * collects what the app asked to have read, in the order it asked. Answering a decodable wav to a
+ * request for some other format would prove nothing about the container the app builds, so anything
+ * but raw pcm is refused.
  */
 export const mockOpenRouterSpeech = async (context: BrowserContext, seconds = 3) => {
   const spoken: string[] = []
@@ -251,15 +237,18 @@ export const mockOpenRouterSpeech = async (context: BrowserContext, seconds = 3)
   await context.route(`${OPENROUTER_ORIGIN}/api/v1/audio/speech`, route => {
     const {input, response_format} = JSON.parse(route.request().postData() ?? "{}")
 
-    if (SPEECH_FORMATS.includes(response_format)) {
+    if (response_format === SPEECH_FORMAT) {
       spoken.push(input)
 
-      return route.fulfill({contentType: "audio/wav", body: silence(seconds)})
+      return route.fulfill({
+        contentType: `audio/pcm;rate=${SPEECH_RATE};channels=1`,
+        body: silence(seconds),
+      })
     }
 
     return route.fulfill({
       status: 400,
-      json: {error: {message: `Invalid option: expected one of ${SPEECH_FORMATS.join("|")}`}},
+      json: {error: {message: `Invalid option: expected ${SPEECH_FORMAT}`}},
     })
   })
 
diff --git a/e2e/specs/rooms.spec.ts b/e2e/specs/rooms.spec.ts
index f94e8281..9b2b1a49 100644
--- a/e2e/specs/rooms.spec.ts
+++ b/e2e/specs/rooms.spec.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import {npubEncode} from "nostr-tools/nip19"
 import {DAY, HOUR, MINUTE, WEEK, bech32ToHex} from "@welshman/lib"
 import {getLnUrl} from "@welshman/util"
 import {MessagingRelayList, Profile, RelayList, displayPubkey} from "@welshman/domain"
@@ -871,8 +872,17 @@ test("US-119 have a message read out loud", async ({seed, as}) => {
     space.room("general", {name: "General"})
     space.join(user.alice, "general")
     space.join(user.bob, "general")
+    space.profile(user.alice, {name: "Alice Anchor"})
     space.profile(user.bob, {name: "Bob Barnacle"})
-    space.message(user.bob, "general", "the dock is closed on sunday", at(2, HOUR))
+
+    const notice = space.message(user.bob, "general", "the dock is closed on sunday", at(2, HOUR))
+
+    space.reply(
+      user.bob,
+      notice,
+      `heads up nostr:${npubEncode(user.alice.pubkey)}, the notice is at https://harbor.example/dock?ref=1`,
+      at(1, HOUR),
+    )
 
     seedChatter(space, user.alice)
   })
@@ -881,10 +891,11 @@ test("US-119 have a message read out loud", async ({seed, as}) => {
   const alice = await as(users.alice, roomPath(url, "general"))
   const spoken = await mockOpenRouterSpeech(alice.context())
 
-  await expect(message(alice, "the dock is closed on sunday")).toBeVisible()
+  // The mention has to have resolved on screen before it can be expected in what was spoken.
+  await expect(message(alice, "heads up")).toContainText("@Alice Anchor")
 
   // With no key saved, reading a message asks for one the way dictation does.
-  await openMessageMenu(alice, "the dock is closed on sunday")
+  await openMessageMenu(alice, "heads up")
   await alice.getByRole("button", {name: "Read Out Loud"}).click()
 
   const enable = dialog(alice, "Enable read out loud?")
@@ -894,16 +905,19 @@ test("US-119 have a message read out loud", async ({seed, as}) => {
 
   await expect(alice.getByRole("alert")).toContainText("Read out loud is ready to use!")
 
-  await openMessageMenu(alice, "the dock is closed on sunday")
+  await openMessageMenu(alice, "heads up")
   await alice.getByRole("button", {name: "Read Out Loud"}).click()
 
   await expect(alice.getByText("a message from Bob Barnacle")).toBeVisible()
 
-  // Only what the message says is sent, so the nostr uri wrapping bob's mention never is.
-  expect(spoken).toEqual(["the dock is closed on sunday"])
+  // The quote, the mention and the url are each named rather than spelled out, since none of them
+  // is intelligible read a character at a time.
+  expect(spoken).toEqual([
+    "another message\n\nheads up Alice Anchor, the notice is at a link to harbor.example",
+  ])
 
-  // The duration is the mock's, which is what proves the player is on audio it decoded rather
-  // than on an element that failed to load.
+  // The mock answers headerless pcm, so the duration is only right if the wav header the app put
+  // in front of it is, which is what makes the whole clip scrubbable.
   await expect(alice.getByText("/ 0:03")).toBeVisible()
 
   // Chromium decides for itself whether the autoplay is allowed, so the control is read for
diff --git a/src/app/speech.ts b/src/app/speech.ts
index 659c3824..c747f38c 100644
--- a/src/app/speech.ts
+++ b/src/app/speech.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import {get, writable} from "svelte/store"
-import {parse, renderAsText} from "@welshman/content"
+import {ParsedType, isImage, parse} from "@welshman/content"
+import type {Parsed} from "@welshman/content"
 import type {Maybe} from "@welshman/lib"
 import type {TrustedEvent} from "@welshman/util"
 import {errorMessage} from "@lib/util"
@@ -15,7 +16,18 @@ const SPEECH_MODEL = "hexgrad/kokoro-82m"
 
 const SPEECH_VOICE = "af_bella"
 
-const SPEECH_FORMAT = "mp3"
+// The endpoint encodes mp3 and raw pcm, and its mp3 carries a xing header naming a fraction of the
+// frames it holds, so a browser reads a fifth more audio than is there and the scrubber never
+// reaches the end. Raw pcm claims no length at all, so the wav header below is the only one.
+const SPEECH_FORMAT = "pcm"
+
+const SPEECH_RATE = 24000
+
+const SPEECH_CHANNELS = 1
+
+const SPEECH_BIT_DEPTH = 16
+
+const WAV_HEADER_LENGTH = 44
 
 export type Speech = {
   id: string
@@ -25,6 +37,78 @@ export type Speech = {
 
 export const speech = writable<Maybe<Speech>>(undefined)
 
+const toWav = (pcm: ArrayBuffer) => {
+  const bytesPerFrame = (SPEECH_CHANNELS * SPEECH_BIT_DEPTH) / 8
+  const wav = new ArrayBuffer(WAV_HEADER_LENGTH + pcm.byteLength)
+  const view = new DataView(wav)
+  const ascii = (offset: number, value: string) => {
+    for (let i = 0; i < value.length; i++) {
+      view.setUint8(offset + i, value.charCodeAt(i))
+    }
+  }
+
+  ascii(0, "RIFF")
+  view.setUint32(4, 36 + pcm.byteLength, true)
+  ascii(8, "WAVEfmt ")
+  view.setUint32(16, 16, true)
+  view.setUint16(20, 1, true)
+  view.setUint16(22, SPEECH_CHANNELS, true)
+  view.setUint32(24, SPEECH_RATE, true)
+  view.setUint32(28, SPEECH_RATE * bytesPerFrame, true)
+  view.setUint16(32, bytesPerFrame, true)
+  view.setUint16(34, SPEECH_BIT_DEPTH, true)
+  ascii(36, "data")
+  view.setUint32(40, pcm.byteLength, true)
+
+  new Uint8Array(wav, WAV_HEADER_LENGTH).set(new Uint8Array(pcm))
+
+  return new Blob([wav], {type: "audio/wav"})
+}
+
+// An entity or a url read a character at a time is unintelligible, so anything that is not prose
+// is named rather than spelled out.
+const speakOne = (parsed: Parsed): string => {
+  switch (parsed.type) {
+    case ParsedType.Address:
+      return "another post"
+    case ParsedType.Cashu:
+      return "a cashu token"
+    case ParsedType.Code:
+      return parsed.value
+    case ParsedType.Command:
+      return parsed.raw
+    case ParsedType.Ellipsis:
+      return "\u2026"
+    case ParsedType.Email:
+      return parsed.value
+    case ParsedType.Emoji:
+      return parsed.value.name
+    case ParsedType.Event:
+      return "another message"
+    case ParsedType.Invoice:
+      return "a lightning invoice"
+    case ParsedType.Link: {
+      const {host} = parsed.value.url
+
+      return isImage(parsed) ? "an image" : `a link to ${host}`
+    }
+    case ParsedType.LinkGrid:
+      return "some images"
+    case ParsedType.Newline:
+      return parsed.value
+    case ParsedType.Profile:
+      return profiles.get().display(parsed.value.pubkey).get()
+    case ParsedType.Room:
+      return parsed.value.room
+    case ParsedType.Text:
+      return parsed.value
+    case ParsedType.Topic:
+      return parsed.value.slice(1)
+  }
+}
+
+const speakable = (event: TrustedEvent) => parse(event).map(speakOne).join("").trim()
+
 export const synthesize = async (text: string) => {
   const response = await fetch("https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/audio/speech", {
     method: "POST",
@@ -48,7 +132,7 @@ export const synthesize = async (text: string) => {
     throw new Error(error?.message || `OpenRouter returned a ${response.status}.`)
   }
 
-  return response.blob()
+  return toWav(await response.arrayBuffer())
 }
 
 export const stopSpeech = () =>
@@ -87,7 +171,7 @@ const play = async (event: TrustedEvent, text: string) => {
 }
 
 export const readAloud = (event: TrustedEvent) => {
-  const text = renderAsText(parse(event)).toString().trim()
+  const text = speakable(event)
 
   if (getSetting("openrouter_key")) {
     if (get(isCallActive)) {