Following is Raman's sample code to add to ~/.emacs to start
emacspeak.  File locations are different in a Debian system.  - Jim Van Zandt

emacspeak initialization...
Anyone who copies this blindly without bothering to
understand what it does will get what they deserve:-)

    ;;{{{ Load and customize emacspeak 

    
    (unless (featurep 'emacspeak)
      (load-file
       (expand-file-name "~/emacs/lisp/emacspeak/emacspeak-setup.el")))
    
    (when (featurep 'emacspeak)
      (declare (special emacspeak-play-program emacspeak-play-args
                        emacspeak-auditory-icon-function
                        dtk-default-speech-rate))
      (if (file-exists-p "/usr/demo/SOUND/play")
          (setq
           emacspeak-play-program "/usr/demo/SOUND/play"
           emacspeak-play-args "-i"
           emacspeak-auditory-icon-function
           'emacspeak-play-auditory-icon))
      (if (file-exists-p "/usr/bin/audioplay")
          (setq
           emacspeak-play-program "/usr/bin/audioplay"
           emacspeak-play-args "-i"
           emacspeak-auditory-icon-function 'emacspeak-play-auditory-icon))
      (setq dtk-default-speech-rate 485)
      (emacspeak-pronounce-load-dictionaries "~/.emacspeak/.dictionary")
      (dtk-set-rate 480 t)
      (unless blackdog-p (emacspeak-toggle-auditory-icons t)))

    ;;}}}
