Still attempting to kill off this delay.

src/fenrirscreenreader/core/outputManager.py

@@ -133,16 +133,16 @@ class OutputManager:
         """
         if not text:
             return text
-        
+
         # Handle dots at the beginning of words (like .local, .bashrc, .config)
         # Look for non-word character (or start of string), dot, then word characters
-        text = re.sub(r'(?<!\w)\.(\w+)', r'dot \1', text)
-        
-        # Replace dots that appear between word characters with spoken form
-        # Use a loop to handle multiple consecutive dots like www.example.com or a.b.c.d
-        while re.search(r'\b\w+\.\w+\b', text):
-            text = re.sub(r'\b(\w+)\.(\w+)\b', r'\1 dot \2', text)
-        
+        text = re.sub(r"(?<!\w)\.(\w+)", r"dot \1", text)
+
+        # Replace dots between word characters in one pass. The old loop
+        # rescanned the full speech string once per remaining dotted word,
+        # which made large directory listings block the event loop for seconds.
+        text = re.sub(r"(?<=\w)\.(?=\w)", " dot ", text)
+
         return text
 
     def speak_text(