Hi
This isn't a Xerte problem. I could be wrong but I don't think 'Read Aloud' in Microsoft Edge can be set to read standard Alt text. It isn't meant as a tool for users who require a full screen reader. For that you can use Windows Narrator. As an example visit this page about Read Aloud settings
www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge/learning-ce...-read-aloud-settings
If you use Read Aloud it will not read the Alt Text attached to the Images.
If you then try Narrator (Ctrl + Windows Logo + Enter to start and stop Narrator) you can then use the tab and arrow keys to access the images and read the Alt text. And obviously you can do the same to check the Alt text in your Xerte resource.
But if you are doing this to test accessibility you really do need to learn and become familiar with all the relevant keyboard commands for whatever screen reader you plan to test with. Narrator is relatively easy to learn the most important keyboard combinations but you do have to invest some time into that.
HTH
Ron