Text to Speech: What It Is And How It Works

What is Text-to-Speech

The conversion of text into audio output is known as text-to-speech technology or TTS. TTS wasn’t really successful initially, but the introduction of artificial intelligence and deep learning completely changed the situation. A TTS software is software made for the conversion of text to audio output using artificial intelligence. The speech from diverse databases can currently be concatenated by sophisticated computers. This language or audio output reacts to pitch, pronunciation, frequency, and other factors, just like natural sounds do. Businesses frequently use text-to-speech assistive technology to improve the user experience since it does a great job of interpreting the text and the accompanying voice limitations

How Text-to-speech software works

Typically, you download and install a TTS browser extension or a speech recognition app on your device. The TTS software will have to scan the text on the page or file and then carefully convert it into audio output. You can add accents, switch between languages, change the default voice, and even alter the speech rate. With artificial voices, it has advanced significantly. Structured text may be recognized, and the tone can be changed accordingly. TTS is compatible with almost all personal electronic devices such as laptops, cell phones, and tablets. It can read aloud any type of text file, including Word and Pages documents. It is also possible to read out texts on web pages.

What can Text-to-speech software be used for ?

Eliminates Learning Barriers

Text-to-speech Applications were first made to remove the barriers to learning. That remains true. For example, text-to-speech opens opportunities for older folks who have problems with increasingly complex user interfaces, those with disabilities, and second-language learners. The advantages of TTS, however, goes beyond ethical behavior or even regulatory compliance. Voice technology is also essential for expanding your clientele, and TTS makes voice technology more accessible than you might imagine.

Social Media Content Creation

Text-to-speech has gained popularity over videos in recent years. All thanks to social media content creators. It has been frequently used for years on sites like TikTok and YouTube. Text-to-speech software is also ideal for anyone who wants to remain anonymous online or for people who are uncomfortable speaking out loud.

Furthermore, producing a superb text-to-speech voiceover is simpler than re-recording vocal performances, which is frequently time-consuming, necessitates numerous takes, and may require the use of special software.

For Promotional Videos

Text-to-speech is ideal for making promotional videos. The ideal method to approach a promotional video is to incorporate as many interactive aspects as you can because humans are complex creatures who interact with the world in different ways.

If your video just displays text on a screen, it’s likely that some viewers won’t be able to read it and that a large portion of viewers won’t participate because they will find it boring. However, when you add a voice, they immediately pay attention to you

For Website Translations.

Similar to promotional videos, not everyone has the patience or time to read through a website, especially in today’s fast-paced world where too many things fight over our attention. People want to be able to multitask,  and integrating a text-to-speech functionality into your website will help your website visitors save time while listening to your articles

Additionally, adding voiceovers to your articles can increase their impact, especially if the voice chosen uses a tone that interprets the text perfectly. If you allow the reader to select a speaker they are comfortable with, they are more likely to bookmark the website.

Best Text-to-Speech Software

MURF

Murf creates voiceovers by converting text input into audio output. The application turns your text into realistic AI voices, whether you type it or upload a voice recording.  The voices offered by Murf are those of skilled professional voice actors. It does a number of checks on the voices. Murf can be used to represent a brand, item, company, presentation, etc.

Features

  • Murf allows you to convert text input into voice-over. It also enables you to turn your speech into editable text.
  • With Murf Studio you can sync the voice-over timing with the visuals in real-time
  • Murf provides more than 100 believable voices in 19 different languages.
  • It also has options for pausing, altering the narration’s tempo, emphasizing certain points, etc.
  • Additional features include adding free background music, editing video and music, verifying the script using a grammatical checker, and many more.
  • Murf offers advanced team collaboration options, access control, a pronunciation library, and Service level agreement for businesses wishing to produce voiceovers at scale.

SPEECHIFY

Using high-quality AI voices, Speechify can convert text in any format (doc, PDF, email, etc.) into speech. You can use the software to add a “play button” to portions of your web page or mobile application. You can adjust the reading speed to suit the tone of your text.

Features

  • Speechify provides High-Quality AI Voices with Natural Tones.
  • You can change the reading pace as you wish.
  • Multi-device audio storage for converted audio.
  • Speechify has more than 30 voices, both male and female, that seem natural to choose from
  • Supports more than 15 languages
  • Scans written text and turns it into an audio output

SPEECHELO

Speechelo can be used for sales videos, training videos, educational videos, etc. It offers a variety of features like breathing, pauses, voice tones, changing speed & pitch, support for 23 languages, etc. This makes voiceovers more engaging for people.

Features

  • The text-to-speech engine on Speechelo can change the voice’s inflection.
  • It contains over 30 human-like voices.
  • It has Both male and female voices.
  • Three reading modes are available: a standard tone, a happy tone, and a formal tone.
  • It works with practically all video editing programs, including Camtasia, Adobe, Premier, iMovie, and others.

Other text-to-speech websites worthy of mention are

Wideo

Voice Dream

Nuance Dragon

Notevibes

Azure text-to-speech

Conclusion

While searching for text-to-speech software in the market, you must first consider your need.  Different TTS software has its unique selling points. Some have a more realistic voice tone, while some are better at attaching emotions to voice outputs.

Developers looking to embed text-to-speech functionality in the Applications can use either  Microsoft Azure, Google, or Amazon text-to-speech services.

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