MacOS reading out voiceover even though voiceover is switched off

Hi I had this problem too updating to Sonoma, I fixed it with System Settings>Accessibility>Spoken Content and then Untick "Speak Item Under The Pointer"

Re: "MacOS reading out voiceover even though voiceover is switched off"

Wondering if a different feature than VoiceOver may also be in use on your Mac: eg: here are two examples:

Example One:

If text is selected when you press the keyboard shortcut, the selected text is spoken. Otherwise, available text items in the current window are spoken; for example, if Mail is the current window, an email message

is read.

See how to set it up / turn it off: Have your Mac speak text that’s on the screen - Apple Support

NB: 5: To stop the speaking, press the keyboard shortcut again. (the default key combination is Option-Esc)

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Example Two:

Eg: In many apps, your Mac can read aloud documents, web pages, messages and more.

In an app on your Mac, do any of the following:

• Hear an entire document: Choose Edit > Speech > Start Speaking.
• Hear part of a document: In a document, select the text you want to hear, then choose Edit > Speech > Start Speaking.
• Stop the speaking: Choose Edit > Speech > Stop Speaking.

Above is from: Hear your Mac read documents - Apple Support