[Bug]: Dropdown - Narrator does not announce collapsed state after Escape dismiss

Package

react

Package version

8.111.3

React version

16.14.0

Environment

System:
  OS: Windows 11 10.0.26200
  CPU: (16) x64 AMD EPYC 7763 64-Core Processor
  Memory: 22.30 GB / 63.95 GB
Browsers:
  Chrome: 148.0.7778.217
  Edge: Chromium (140.0.3485.81)
npmPackages:
  @fluentui/react: 8.111.3 => 8.111.3
  @types/react: 16.14.62 => 16.14.62
  @types/react-dom: 16.9.24 => 16.9.24
  react: 16.14.0 => 16.14.0
  react-dom: 16.14.0 => 16.14.0

Current Behavior

When a <Dropdown> is open and the user presses Escape to dismiss the listbox, Windows Narrator does not announce the new collapsed state of the combobox. The user is left without confirmation that the dropdown closed.

DOM focus is correctly restored to the combobox div[role="combobox"] after pressing Escape, and aria-expanded does transition from true to false. Narrator simply does not vocalize the change, so this is an announcement-side defect, not a focus-loss bug.

Expected Behavior

After pressing Escape to dismiss the open listbox, Narrator should announce that the combobox has collapsed — e.g. ", combo box, collapsed, ", consistent with the ARIA Combobox pattern and Narrator's built-in combobox handler behavior for native <select> and other ARIA comboboxes.

Without this announcement, screen reader users have no way to confirm that the dropdown closed and that focus has returned to the combobox, which fails WCAG 2.1 / 2.2 SC 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (the state of the combobox is not programmatically determined/exposed to AT after the dismiss).

Reproduction

https://vitejs-vite-duplicat-8pih.bolt.host

Steps to reproduce

1. Go to repro link
2. Start Narrator (Win + Ctrl + Enter) in Edge or Chrome on Windows 11.
3. Tab to the dropdown.
4. Press Enter to open the listbox.
5. Press Down Arrow to highlight a different option.
6. Press Escape to dismiss.

Narrator is silent. The combobox is visually collapsed and focus has returned to it, but no audible cue is produced. The same flow with Tab (commit + dismiss) and clicking outside also yields no collapsed announcement.

Are you reporting an Accessibility issue?

yes

Suggested severity

Medium - Has workaround

Products/sites affected

account.microsoft.com

Are you willing to submit a PR to fix?

no

Validations

• Check that there isn't already an issue that reports the same bug to avoid creating a duplicate.
• The provided reproduction is a minimal reproducible example of the bug.