diff --git a/src/material-experimental/mdc-select/select.scss b/src/material-experimental/mdc-select/select.scss
index ec28ceed0594..367f4b5ab029 100644
--- a/src/material-experimental/mdc-select/select.scss
+++ b/src/material-experimental/mdc-select/select.scss
@@ -170,8 +170,9 @@ $scale: 0.75 !default;
   content: ' ';
   white-space: pre;
   width: 1px;
-
-  // Prevents some browsers from rendering the element in high contrast mode.
   display: inline-block;
-  opacity: 0;
+
+  // Prevents some browsers from rendering the element in high contrast mode. Use `visibility`
+  // instead of `opacity` since VoiceOver + Chrome still reads out the space with the latter.
+  visibility: hidden;
 }
diff --git a/src/material/select/select.scss b/src/material/select/select.scss
index b4e3c70c17df..f8e902fee6be 100644
--- a/src/material/select/select.scss
+++ b/src/material/select/select.scss
@@ -168,8 +168,9 @@ $placeholder-arrow-space: 2 * ($arrow-size + $arrow-margin);
   content: ' ';
   white-space: pre;
   width: 1px;
-
-  // Prevents some browsers from rendering the element in high contrast mode.
   display: inline-block;
-  opacity: 0;
+
+  // Prevents some browsers from rendering the element in high contrast mode. Use `visibility`
+  // instead of `opacity` since VoiceOver + Chrome still reads out the space with the latter.
+  visibility: hidden;
 }