I can’t get iOS simulator or my iPhone to narrate the text on iOS
here is a summary of my code:

    'import React, {useStat } from 'react';
    import { View, Text, StyleSheet, ScrollView, Image, Dimensions, Pressable           
    } from 'react-native';
    import { AntDesign } from '@expo/vector-icons';
    import * as Speech from 'expo-speech';

    const { width } = Dimensions.get('window');
    const screenWidthMinus50 = (width) - 50;

    const App = () => {
     const [isNarrating, setIsNarrating] = useState(false);

     const toggleNarration = () => {
      if (isNarrating) {
        Speech.stop();
      } else {
        narrateTextElements();
      }
      setIsNarrating(!isNarrating);
    };

      const narrateTextElements =  () => {
        const textElements = [
          "Test text"
        ]; 
        const textToNarrate = textElements.join('. ');
        Speech.speak(textToNarrate, {
          rate: 1.0,
          pitch: 1.0,
          language: 'en-AU'
         });
    };

      return (
         <ScrollView contentContainerStyle={styles.container}>
          <Pressable onPress={toggleNarration}>
            <AntDesign name="playcircleo" size={18} color={isNarrating ? 'blue' : 
     'black'} />
          </Pressable>
          <Text style={styles.description}>
           Test text
          </Text>
         </ScrollView>
      );
    };

     const styles = StyleSheet.create({
      container: {
        flexGrow: 1,
        padding: 20,
        alignItems: 'center',
        },
        image: {
        width: screenWidthMinus50,
        height: screenWidthMinus50,
        resizeMode: 'cover',
        marginBottom: 10,
       },
       description: {
         fontSize: 16,
        lineHeight: 24,
      },
    });

    export default App;
    '

tried useEffect with expo-av. with no success. I tried running an MP3 prior to the text-to-speech with no effect. I still can’t get the text to be read in my app. it seems like it’s an iOS specific problem. I also toggled silent and non silent mode with no effect