A voice font is a computer-generated voice that can be controlled by specifying parameters such as speed and pitch and made to pronounce text input. The concept is akin to that of a text

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

or a

MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...

instrument in the sense that the same input may easily be represented in several different ways based on the design of each font. In spite of current shortcomings in the underlying technology for voice fonts,

screen readers A screen reader is a form of assistive technology (AT) that renders text and image content as speech or braille output. Screen readers are essential to people who are blind, and are useful to people who are visually impaired, illiterate, or hav ...

and other devices used to enhance accessibility of text to persons with disabilities, can benefit from having more than one default voice font. This happens in the same way that users of a traditional computer

word processor A word processor (WP) is a device or computer program that provides for input, editing, formatting, and output of text, often with some additional features. Word processor (electronic device), Early word processors were stand-alone devices ded ...

benefit from having more than one text font.

Shortcomings

The synthesized voice created by using a voice font tends to have a slightly unnatural tone. Human voices are very prone to change with the speaker's mood and several other factors that aren't programmed into computerized voices. Voice font software on the Macintosh system tries to get around this by providing tags to change some components of the voice, such as pitch. The Natural Voices software in the sources section allows defining acronym pronunciation and speech rate, as well as other things. Even though speech synthesis has existed since around 1930, according to that source, and the

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 languag ...

article, it is difficult to fool experienced listeners into believing that the voice is indeed human. This may be similar to the difficulty in achieving true

Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

that can actually pass a

Turing Test The Turing test, originally called the imitation game by Alan Turing in 1950, is a test of a machine's ability to artificial intelligence, exhibit intelligent behaviour equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human. Turing propos ...

by presenting spectators with something indistinguishable from what it is trying to simulate.

Common uses

Like its text counterpart, each voice font can supply a different experience and provide a selection for different purposes. The simplest one is to select a voice font from a group in order to get the clearest one, or to choose the one with a speed that is appropriate for different settings. For people who are hard of

hearing Hearing, or auditory perception, is the ability to perceive sounds In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psycholog ...

in the upper range of the hearing

spectrum A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of colors i ...

, for example, selecting a voice that uses a lower pitch will deliver deeper sounds. Another use for voice fonts is in

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

. A commonly available set of synthetic voices from

Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...

computers can be used to enhance the mood of certain music pieces that need a voice but where the composer feels that providing a human voice is not in their interests. Here, male voices can be combined in a choir to provide the tenor and bass for a particular piece, and female voices can be added to fill in other parts of the ensemble—resulting in a choir that consists of speech synthesis rather than human singers, or to utilize a female voice when none are available. Certain Macintosh clients of

instant messaging Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of online chat allowing real-time text transmission over the Internet or another computer network. Messages are typically transmitted between two or more parties, when each user inputs text and trigge ...

services such as

AOL Instant Messenger AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) was an instant messaging and presence computer program created by AOL, which used the proprietary OSCAR instant messaging protocol and the TOC protocol to allow registered users to communicate in real time. AIM w ...

had the option of reading incoming messages using the system's voice fonts. When message receiver has stepped away from the computer, or temporarily put away the part of the screen showing the incoming text, the computer reads the message out loud. This allows the user to continue with their other tasks without needing to view the incoming text.

Sources

dot-font: Voice Fonts Speak VolumesProject: AT&T Natural Voices Text-to-SpeechTone changes using dictionaries

External links

Web-based example of different voice fonts
{{Speech synthesis Speech synthesis

Shortcomings

Common uses

See also

Sources

External links