Text-to-speech

Extracted Attributes

Speech synthesis

Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware products. A text-to-speech (TTS) system converts normal language text into speech; other systems render symbolic linguistic representations like phonetic transcriptions into speech. The reverse process is speech recognition. Synthesized speech can be created by concatenating pieces of recorded speech that are stored in a database. Systems differ in the size of the stored speech units; a system that stores phones or diphones provides the largest output range, but may lack clarity. For specific usage domains, the storage of entire words or sentences allows for high-quality output. Alternatively, a synthesizer can incorporate a model of the vocal tract and other human voice characteristics to create a completely "synthetic" voice output. The quality of a speech synthesizer is judged by its similarity to the human voice and by its ability to be understood clearly. An intelligible text-to-speech program allows people with visual impairments or reading disabilities to listen to written words on a home computer. The earliest computer operating system to have included a speech synthesizer was Unix in 1974, through the Unix speak utility. In 2000, Microsoft Sam was the default text-to-speech voice synthesizer used by the narrator accessibility feature, which shipped with all Windows 2000 operating systems, and subsequent Windows XP systems. A text-to-speech system (or "engine") is composed of two parts: a front-end and a back-end. The front-end has two major tasks. First, it converts raw text containing symbols like numbers and abbreviations into the equivalent of written-out words. This process is often called text normalization, pre-processing, or tokenization. The front-end then assigns phonetic transcriptions to each word, and divides and marks the text into prosodic units, like phrases, clauses, and sentences. The process of assigning phonetic transcriptions to words is called text-to-phoneme or grapheme-to-phoneme conversion. Phonetic transcriptions and prosody information together make up the symbolic linguistic representation that is output by the front-end. The back-end—often referred to as the synthesizer—then converts the symbolic linguistic representation into sound. In certain systems, this part includes the computation of the target prosody (pitch contour, phoneme durations), which is then imposed on the output speech.

Web Search Results

• From Text to Speech: A Deep Dive into TTS Technologies

  ### Understanding Text-to-Speech (TTS) Text-to-Speech is an AI-driven technology that converts written text into natural-sounding spoken words. Unlike Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), which translates spoken language into text, TTS works in the opposite direction by transforming text into speech. Modern TTS systems typically follow a two-stage architecture: first, a text analysis frontend that converts text into linguistic and prosodic features, and second, a speech synthesis backend that generates the actual audio. First Stage: Frontend [...] Text-to-Speech (TTS) technology has come a long way, evolving from basic mechanical systems to the advanced neural networks of today. These innovations have significantly improved the naturalness of synthetic voices, making them more human-like and easier to understand. TTS is now widely used in applications such as virtual assistants, accessibility tools, and content generation, offering greater convenience and interaction for users. [...] Today, TTS technology has become indispensable across a wide range of sectors. Virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant rely on text-to-speech (TTS) technology) to deliver spoken responses, while accessibility tools help visually impaired individuals by convert text into audible speech to understand the written text. Content creators, too, leverage this technology for audiobooks, automated news reading, and synthetic voices for podcasts and videos. Furthermore, the ability to generate realistic, customizable voices has opened up exciting possibilities, such as voice cloning and multilingual speech synthesis.

• What is text-to-speech technology (TTS)?

  Skip to content # What is text-to-speech technology (TTS)? Written by Expert reviewed by Expert Text-to-speech (TTS) is a type of assistive technology that reads digital text aloud. It’s sometimes called “read aloud” technology. With a click of a button or the touch of a finger, TTS can take words on a computer or other digital device and convert them into audio. TTS is very helpful for kids and adults who struggle with reading. But it can also help with writing and editing, and even with focusing. TTS works with nearly every personal digital device, including computers, smartphones, and tablets. All kinds of text files can be read aloud, including Word and Pages documents. Even online web pages can be read aloud. ## How does text-to-speech work?

• Using Text-to-Speech Assistive Technologies to Support Students

  ### Description 9753 views Posted: 20 Aug 2020 Text-to-speech is an assistive technology that reads the text on a screen out loud and provides both visual and audio supports for students who struggle with reading, writing and spelling. Most text-to-speech programs provide visual highlighting in-sync with the audio reading of the text. Text-to-speech is a Universal Design for Learning strategy that benefits many diverse learners in a variety of settings. Text-to-speech programs are available on many commonly used programs and devices and don’t require additional software. Macs, iDevices, Chromebooks, Microsoft Word, Office 365/Immersive Reader, and iBooks /Kindle Readers all have readily available text-to-speech options for students. [...] a similar rate as their peers. Text-to-speech is a Universal Design for Learning strategy that provides multiple means of accessing content and benefits many diverse learners. Many cellphones and tablets, desktop computers and laptops have built-in text-to-speech tools that students can use without requiring additional software. Let’s take a look at some of the built-in text-to-speech tools. Macs, iPhones and iPads, have built-in text-to-speech with Speak Selection and Speak Screen which can be turned on in the Accessibility Settings. On an iPad or iPhone, go to Settings > Accessibility and select Spoken Content. Use the slider bar to turn on Speak Selection or Speak Screen. You can select from multiple voices— Screen Reader: Hello. My name is Nicky. Narrator: —adjust [...] ### Transcript: [screen reader reading screen] Narrator: Many students benefit from text-to-speech including students with cognitive and learning disabilities, students with processing disorders and ADHD, students with memory and focusing problems, and students who struggle with reading, writing, and spelling. Most text-to-speech applications provide visual highlighting in-sync with the audio, and this can help students focus and increase comprehension. [screen reader reading article] Other benefits include improved word recognition and vocabulary development. Students using text-to-speech may choose more challenging content and may stick with it longer, and students using text-to-speech report feeling more independent and able to complete tasks at

• What is Text to Speech? | IBM

  # What is text to speech? Rear view of female computer programmer coding on computer at desk in office Authors IBM Content Contributor Staff Editor IBM Think Text to speech (TTS) is a type of technology that converts text on a digital interface into natural-sounding audio. It can also be referred to as “read aloud” technology, computer-generated speech or speech synthesis. Most companies offer text to speech technology as an application programming interface (API). [...] Step 1: The model transforms the text into time-aligned features such as a spectrogram, which is used to map the variation of frequencies over time. This captures the detailed characteristic in speech and factors in context-dependent pronunciations, stresses and timings of words. Step 2: A voice encoding (vocoder) network can turn the time-aligned features into audio waveforms, which computers can convert into natural sounding speech. Certain text to speech models allows users to alter volume, pitch, speed, and choose between different languages, accents and speaking styles. Many devices like smartphones have text to speech systems built in. Text to speech is also available as a software program, a browser extension, a web-based tool or downloadable apps. [...] ### Education Text to speech features can help students pay attention and read along to written text, allowing them to associate words with pronunciations. It can also improve reading comprehension and engagement as students get exposed to new grammar structures or vocabulary. It can also assist those with visual difficulties or learning disabilities such as dyslexia. Text to speech can also read aloud written works produced by students to help them with proofreading essay assignments. ### Chatbots and virtual assistants

• Text-to-Speech | Idaho State University

  # Text-to-Speech Text-to-Speech (TTS) is a technology that converts written text into spoken words. It works by processing the text and using a synthesized voice to "read" it aloud. TTS is used in various applications such as virtual assistants, audiobooks, navigation systems, accessibility tools for people with visual impairments, and more. The goal of TTS is to make information more accessible and provide a human-like auditory experience. Some TTS systems can produce voices with various tones, accents, and languages to make the speech sound more natural. ## Built-in TTS Features