Darius,
Believe me, I am more than familiar with the HaptekSapiConfig program. It does allow me to select the Neospeech Kate voice.
I then open Hal and there is no sound at all until I do what I mentioned in my posting above.
As soon as I am finished with Hal and close the program, the next time I open it, I have to go through the same procedure again in order to be able to hear Kate's voice.
All my other TTS voices work without incident so I'm somewhat at a loss in this regard.
I appreciate your willingness to help, however. Thanks!!