diff --git a/src/js/_enqueues/admin/edit-comments.js b/src/js/_enqueues/admin/edit-comments.js
index e7a9282d4bb6d..e007edf465c6f 100644
--- a/src/js/_enqueues/admin/edit-comments.js
+++ b/src/js/_enqueues/admin/edit-comments.js
@@ -1188,6 +1188,7 @@ window.commentReply = {
 		if ( er ) {
 			$errorNotice.removeClass( 'hidden' );
 			$error.html( er );
+			wp.a11y.speak( er );
 		}
 	},
 
diff --git a/src/wp-includes/script-loader.php b/src/wp-includes/script-loader.php
index 19d25049c40bb..dcf86309b371e 100644
--- a/src/wp-includes/script-loader.php
+++ b/src/wp-includes/script-loader.php
@@ -1397,7 +1397,7 @@ function wp_default_scripts( $scripts ) {
 		$scripts->add( 'admin-tags', "/wp-admin/js/tags$suffix.js", array( 'jquery', 'wp-ajax-response' ), false, 1 );
 		$scripts->set_translations( 'admin-tags' );
 
-		$scripts->add( 'admin-comments', "/wp-admin/js/edit-comments$suffix.js", array( 'wp-lists', 'quicktags', 'jquery-query' ), false, 1 );
+		$scripts->add( 'admin-comments', "/wp-admin/js/edit-comments$suffix.js", array( 'wp-lists', 'quicktags', 'jquery-query', 'wp-a11y' ), false, 1 );
 		$scripts->set_translations( 'admin-comments' );
 		did_action( 'init' ) && $scripts->localize(
 			'admin-comments',