Text to Speech facts for kids

Text to speech (TTS) is a cool technology that turns written words into spoken words. Imagine your computer or phone reading out loud to you! This is what TTS does. It uses special computer programs to change text you see on a screen into a voice you can hear.

What is Text to Speech?

Text to Speech, often called TTS, is like having a robot friend who can read any text for you. It takes words from a document, a website, or an app, and then speaks them out loud. This is super helpful for many reasons, like making computers more accessible for everyone.

How Does TTS Work?

TTS systems work by first breaking down the written text into smaller parts. Then, they use a special computer program called a "speech engine" to figure out how each part should sound. This engine knows how to pronounce words, where to pause, and even how to change the tone of the voice. It's a bit like a digital brain that understands language and can speak it.

From Text to Sound

The process usually involves a few steps:

• Text analysis: The system first reads the text and understands its structure, like sentences, paragraphs, and punctuation.
• Linguistic analysis: It then figures out how to pronounce each word. This includes knowing about different accents or how words change their sound depending on the sentence.
• Waveform generation: Finally, it creates the actual sound waves that you hear as a spoken voice. This is like creating the audio file that plays through your speakers.

Who Uses Text to Speech?

Lots of people use TTS technology every day, sometimes without even realizing it!

Helping People Communicate

One of the most famous examples of someone using TTS was Stephen Hawking. He was a brilliant scientist who couldn't speak because of an illness. He used a special computer system with a text-to-speech engine to communicate his thoughts and ideas to the world. This showed how powerful TTS can be in helping people connect.

Everyday Uses

You might also find TTS in:

• Navigation apps: When your GPS tells you to "turn left in 200 feet," that's often TTS!
• Smart speakers: Devices like smart home assistants use TTS to answer your questions and give you information.
• Audiobooks and e-readers: Some apps can read books aloud, which is great for people who prefer listening or have trouble reading small text.
• Learning tools: TTS can help kids learn to read by highlighting words as they are spoken. It can also help people with learning difficulties.
• Translators: When you translate text from one language to another, TTS can read the translated text out loud, which is useful for learning new languages.

Images for kids

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  Computer and speech synthesiser housing used by Stephen Hawking in 1999

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  Stephen Hawking was one of the most famous people using a speech computer to communicate

See also

In Spanish: Síntesis de habla para niños