language technology

Back to basics – What is a text to speech technology?

Text-to-Speech technologies are methods of converting written text into spoken words.

TTS systems use a combination of natural language processing, speech synthesis, and voice modeling to generate spoken speech from written text.

 

There are several popular platforms for text-to-speech, including:

  1. Google Text-to-Speech: a free service available on Android devices.
  2. Amazon Polly: a service offered by Amazon Web Services.
  3. Microsoft Azure Text-to-Speech: a cloud-based service that can be integrated into a variety of applications and services.
  4. IBM Watson Text-to-Speech
  5. Apple Text-to-Speech: a service built into Apple devices and can be used with Siri and other Apple apps and services.
  6. OpenAI GPT-3 TTS: a Pre-trained model available via OpenAI API.
  7. Festival TTS: an Open-source software which runs on multiple platforms and can be integrated into various applications and services.

Text-to-speech (TTS) technology is used in a wide range of applications, including:

  1. Assistive technology for individuals with disabilities, such as screen readers for visually impaired individuals.
  2. Virtual assistants, such as Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant, which use TTS to generate speech responses to user queries.
  3. Educational tools, such as language learning apps, which use TTS to help users practice pronunciation.
  4. Automated customer service systems, which use TTS to generate speech responses to customer inquiries.
  5. Navigation and GPS systems, which use TTS to provide turn-by-turn directions to drivers.
  6. Audio books, which use TTS to provide an alternative to traditional books for individuals with visual impairments or reading difficulties.
  7. Broadcasting and podcasting, where TTS can be used to generate news updates or weather reports.
  8. Automotive Industry, where TTS can be used to provide voice commands, read out notifications and messages, etc.

Overall, TTS technology has a wide range of potential applications, and it is likely to be increasingly integrated into various systems and devices in the future.

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