SpeechSynthesizer Class

Definition

public ref class SpeechSynthesizer sealed : IClosable

/// [Windows.Foundation.Metadata.Activatable(65536, Windows.Foundation.UniversalApiContract)]
/// [Windows.Foundation.Metadata.ContractVersion(Windows.Foundation.UniversalApiContract, 65536)]
/// [Windows.Foundation.Metadata.MarshalingBehavior(Windows.Foundation.Metadata.MarshalingType.Agile)]
class SpeechSynthesizer final : IClosable

/// [Windows.Foundation.Metadata.ContractVersion(Windows.Foundation.UniversalApiContract, 65536)]
/// [Windows.Foundation.Metadata.MarshalingBehavior(Windows.Foundation.Metadata.MarshalingType.Agile)]
/// [Windows.Foundation.Metadata.Activatable(65536, "Windows.Foundation.UniversalApiContract")]
class SpeechSynthesizer final : IClosable

[Windows.Foundation.Metadata.Activatable(65536, typeof(Windows.Foundation.UniversalApiContract))]
[Windows.Foundation.Metadata.ContractVersion(typeof(Windows.Foundation.UniversalApiContract), 65536)]
[Windows.Foundation.Metadata.MarshalingBehavior(Windows.Foundation.Metadata.MarshalingType.Agile)]
public sealed class SpeechSynthesizer : System.IDisposable

[Windows.Foundation.Metadata.ContractVersion(typeof(Windows.Foundation.UniversalApiContract), 65536)]
[Windows.Foundation.Metadata.MarshalingBehavior(Windows.Foundation.Metadata.MarshalingType.Agile)]
[Windows.Foundation.Metadata.Activatable(65536, "Windows.Foundation.UniversalApiContract")]
public sealed class SpeechSynthesizer : System.IDisposable

function SpeechSynthesizer()

Public NotInheritable Class SpeechSynthesizer
Implements IDisposable

Inheritance

Object Platform::Object IInspectable SpeechSynthesizer

Attributes

ActivatableAttribute ContractVersionAttribute MarshalingBehaviorAttribute

Implements

IClosable IDisposable

Windows requirements

Examples

The following example shows how to generate a speech audio stream from a basic text string.

// The media object for controlling and playing audio.
MediaElement mediaElement = this.media;

// The object for controlling the speech synthesis engine (voice).
var synth = new Windows.Media.SpeechSynthesis.SpeechSynthesizer();

// Generate the audio stream from plain text.
SpeechSynthesisStream stream = await synth.SynthesizeTextToStreamAsync("Hello World");

// Send the stream to the media object.
mediaElement.SetSource(stream, stream.ContentType);
mediaElement.Play();

// The object for controlling the speech synthesis engine (voice).
synth = ref new SpeechSynthesizer();
// The media object for controlling and playing audio.
media = ref new MediaElement();
// The string to speak.
String^ text = "Hello World";

// Generate the audio stream from plain text.
task<SpeechSynthesisStream ^> speakTask = create_task(synth->SynthesizeTextToStreamAsync(text));
speakTask.then([this, text](SpeechSynthesisStream ^speechStream)
{
    // Send the stream to the media object.
    // media === MediaElement XAML object.
    media->SetSource(speechStream, speechStream->ContentType);
    media->AutoPlay = true;
    media->Play();
});

This example shows how to generate a speech audio stream from an SSML string, which includes some modulation elements that control the pitch, speaking rate, and volume of the speech output.

// The string to speak with SSML customizations.
string Ssml =
    @"<speak version='1.0' " +
    "xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2001/10/synthesis' xml:lang='en-US'>" +
    "Hello <prosody contour='(0%,+80Hz) (10%,+80%) (40%,+80Hz)'>World</prosody> " + 
    "<break time='500ms'/>" +
    "Goodbye <prosody rate='slow' contour='(0%,+20Hz) (10%,+30%) (40%,+10Hz)'>World</prosody>" +
    "</speak>";

// The media object for controlling and playing audio.
MediaElement mediaElement = this.media;

// The object for controlling the speech synthesis engine (voice).
var synth = new Windows.Media.SpeechSynthesis.SpeechSynthesizer();

// Generate the audio stream from plain text.
SpeechSynthesisStream stream = await synth.synthesizeSsmlToStreamAsync(Ssml);

// Send the stream to the media object.
mediaElement.SetSource(stream, stream.ContentType);
mediaElement.Play();

// The object for controlling the speech synthesis engine (voice).
synth = ref new SpeechSynthesizer();
// The media object for controlling and playing audio.
media = ref new MediaElement();
// The string to speak.
String^ ssml =
    "<speak version='1.0' "
    "xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2001/10/synthesis' xml:lang='en-US'>"
    "Hello <prosody contour='(0%,+80Hz) (10%,+80%) (40%,+80Hz)'>World</prosody>"
    "<break time='500ms' /> "
    "Goodbye <prosody rate='slow' contour='(0%,+20Hz) (10%,+30%) (40%,+10Hz)'>World</prosody>"
    "</speak>";

// Generate the audio stream from SSML.
task<SpeechSynthesisStream ^> speakTask = create_task(synth->SynthesizeSsmlToStreamAsync(ssml));
speakTask.then([this, ssml](SpeechSynthesisStream ^speechStream)
{
    // Send the stream to the media object.
    // media === MediaElement XAML object.
    media->SetSource(speechStream, speechStream->ContentType);
    media->AutoPlay = true;
    media->Play();
});

Remarks

Only Microsoft-signed voices installed on the system can be used to generate speech.

Windows includes various Microsoft-signed voices that can be used for a number of languages. Each voice generates synthesized speech in a single language, as spoken in a specific country/region.

By default, a new SpeechSynthesizer object uses the current system voice (call DefaultVoice to find out what the default voice is).

To specify any of the other speech synthesis (text-to-speech) voices installed on the user's system, use the Voice method (to find out which voices are installed on the system, call AllVoices).

If you don't specify a language, the voice that most closely corresponds to the language selected in the Language control panel is loaded.

Use a SpeechSynthesizer object to:

• Generate speech from plain text using SynthesizeTextToStreamAsync, or Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) Version 1.1 using SynthesizeSsmlToStreamAsync (
• The generated audio stream is played through a MediaElement object), which lets you manage all media playback.
• Control the speech output with the various SpeechSynthesizerOptions settings exposed through SpeechSynthesizer.Options.

Version history

Constructors

Properties

Methods

Applies to

See also

• Windows.Media.SpeechSynthesis
• IClosable
• VoiceInformation
• Speech interactions
• Speech recognition and speech synthesis sample
• Holographic voice input sample