Orca'sSpeech Rate

[Linux for blind general discussion]

Greetings everyone,

First I'd like to apologise if this is not the right place to ask for help. I'm relatively new, slowly getting started with both Linux and Orca. Now, here's the thing:

I've installed Ubuntu 19.10 in a virtual machine, and I'm having a problem when trying to adjust Orca's preferences, more precisely the speech rate. As soon as I press either Apply or OK, the speed goes back to the default, and the Preferences dialogue doesn't close. When I press escape, everything freezes for a few seconds. All the other changes seem to be saved, except the speed. Am I missing something here? Should I do things differently? I'll be grateful for any help. I've just tried a live session on a real computer this morning,and encountered exactly the same behaviour.

Many thanks in advance. Kind regards,

Vlad.