Speech Synthesis
Speech Synthesis
A technology that analyzes text and artificially generates sounds that closely resemble a human voice.
In Simple Terms
Speech synthesis reads text and outputs it as voice data. It's used in smartphone read-aloud features and turn-by-turn navigation guidance. Apps even exist that learn a specific person's voice using AI and generate speech in that voice for any text you provide. It's also used to automatically read news scripts aloud and to create audiobooks from written content.
Behind the Name
The term Speech Synthesis breaks down into two parts: 'Speech,' meaning spoken language, and 'Synthesis,' meaning to combine or create artificially. A key feature of modern speech synthesis is its use of AI to reproduce natural pronunciation and intonation that can rival a real human voice.
Take a Closer Look!
Speech synthesis is a technology that uses computers to generate human-sounding speech. When you input text, the system analyzes it and produces natural-sounding pronunciation and intonation. Simply put, it converts written text into sound.
There are two main approaches. The first stitches together pre-recorded audio fragments to form words and sentences. The second trains an AI on a large audio dataset, then uses that model to calculate how new words should sound.
This technology benefits people in many areas of daily life. For example, it helps people with visual impairments access web content by ear and assists people who cannot speak to communicate. It's also widely used for video narration, game dialogue, conversational AI character voices, and much more.