Google Maps not Talking -- No Voice for Directions

This is an answer to the above question. It took a while to find this solution.

On iPhone go to Settings. Scroll down to Maps and touch.

Scroll down to Driving and Navigation and touch.

Scroll down to Navigation and Voice Volume and ensure that Loud Volume is checked.

Push the upper volume button on the side of the iPhone to max ring volume.

Open google maps and choose your location (location services must be on) as origin and some other place as destination. Then touch Start (varies by screen, whether you have chosen the little angle arrow for directions or are on another screen -- no matter).

Now here is the key part of it. Immediately after touching Start, push the volume up button on the side of the iPhone and keep pushing. A little volume symbol will appear on the screen with ascending bar, and you'll start to hear the voice.

The problem is that the volume button works with google maps ONLY when the google maps voice is speaking (which happens for a very short time immediately after you touch Start, so you have to be quick). At other times the volume button controls ring volume, not map voice volume. Since you can't hear the google voice in the first place, you don't know when to push the volume up button to make it louder, and you can't change the volume unless the voice is speaking.

To repeat, the volume up button on the side of the iPhone usually controls the ring volume, but when (and only when) google maps is actually speaking, it controls the google maps voice volume, which somehow has been turned all the way down so you can't hear it. So you have to catch it just after you touch google maps directions Start by holding the volume up button at that precise time.

The above procedure worked for me after I tried many other things and also heard from some sites that it was the new operating system that had disabled the maps voice (which was not the case). I am using an iPhone 5C with IOS 10.3.3. This may not work with other phones. Not responsible for errors or omissions. Your results may vary. Good luck to all.