Nuance Text-to-Speech Voices Now Active in OS X Lion Beta

I've never really been sold on the usefulness of text-to-speech functionality. What are scenarios where it would bring some advantage? Maybe I just havent seen it implemented in a good way.

Peteman100 said:

I've never really been sold on the usefulness of text-to-speech functionality. What are scenarios where it would bring some advantage? Maybe I just havent seen it implemented in a good way.

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I have used it to proof read documents to me, it is really quite a good way to spot mistakes or odd turns of phrase.

Also very useful for those with limited eyesight.

Peteman100 said:

I've never really been sold on the usefulness of text-to-speech functionality. What are scenarios where it would bring some advantage? Maybe I just havent seen it implemented in a good way.

Click to expand...

I hear it works pretty nicely for the blind YMMV of course

What are the names of the new voices (from Nuance)? any to recommend in english?

Peteman100 said:

I've never really been sold on the usefulness of text-to-speech functionality. What are scenarios where it would bring some advantage? Maybe I just havent seen it implemented in a good way.

Click to expand...

I'm a new father. So now on weekends, my hands (and eyes) are pretty tied up with lil' man. Where I used to sit and read on those mornings, I now use TTS to read to me whilst my hands/eyes are needed elsewhere. And it's actually pretty nice. Completely usable. Sure, improved voices (more natural?) are welcomed. But overall, I find it an effective use of TTS.

Curious to hear others' uses...

xUKHCx said:

I have used it to proof read documents to me, it is really quite a good way to spot mistakes or odd turns of phrase.

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Hmm, interesting.


Thanks, Doc, for the merge.

Peteman100 said:

I've never really been sold on the usefulness of text-to-speech functionality. What are scenarios where it would bring some advantage? Maybe I just havent seen it implemented in a good way.

Click to expand...

Some major uses, from most important to least important:

* Prank calls

* Hearing the actual error dialog from the next room, instead of just hearing a chime and wondering what’s wrong until you can break away and go check (I love this ability)

* Vision-impaired users

* Any app that gives instructions while you do something: driving directions, obviously, but also reading a recipe or set of steps

* Pretending you are on Star Trek

* Hearing pronunciation for a language you do not speak

* Pretending you have human contact in your life

* Enabling it on a friend’s machine to scare them

* Making little voice clips for home-made games, videos, songs or ringtones (I’ve done that, usually with a cheap mic, but I think OS X may have a way—screen recorder?—to dump straight to audio file without third-party tools)

* Showing off

* Hearing something you’ve written for proofing (never thought of that until someone just posted it!)

nagromme said:

Some major uses, from most important to least important:
* Pretending you are on Star Trek

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That's basically why everyone I know who uses voice to text or text to voice on their computers....cause they want to be like Star Trek. I have one friend who just got an iPhone 4 and he no longer makes phone calls like normal people. Yanno with numbers and buttons. He holds down that home button and says "Call..." and then he makes some stupid Jean Luc Picard joke....it's embarassing.

Peteman100 said:

I've never really been sold on the usefulness of text-to-speech functionality. What are scenarios where it would bring some advantage? Maybe I just havent seen it implemented in a good way.

Click to expand...

What about the ability to listen to long text documents while you're driving the car? Seems like improved versions of this functionality could inspire new apps specifically for hands free navigation of content like RSS and other news.

There's also the Service that can send text as speech to iTunes as a track (not on my Mac so I can't give the exact verbiage or screenshot). This can make all kinds of uses such as those mentioned already even more useful because you can sync them to your iDevice and not need your Mac to play them. Especially useful for making your own audiobook or new program.

Peteman100 said:

I've never really been sold on the usefulness of text-to-speech functionality. What are scenarios where it would bring some advantage? Maybe I just havent seen it implemented in a good way.

Click to expand...

I have a throat disorder and couldn't speak for about a year and a half, during which time my MBP and the built-in text-to-speech doing a Stephen Hawking impression was the only way I could functionally communicate without someone looking over my shoulder and reading what I was typing, which doesn't work at all with a group of people. I only wish these voices had been built-in at the time; I didn't have the money to pay for the better voices, and that was before even the current best built-in voices, so I really did sound like Stephen Hawking.

And then of course there's the famous scientist himself, who has been relying on the same technology to communicate with the world for years.

So that when you're driving, instead of trying to type a text message, you can just talk and it'll turn what you say into text. Fewer accidents that way.

Peteman100 said:

I've never really been sold on the usefulness of text-to-speech functionality. What are scenarios where it would bring some advantage? Maybe I just havent seen it implemented in a good way.

Click to expand...

In the future, singing text-to-speech synthesizers embedded in your OSX/iOS devices will let you know that someone is at the door. It'll be way cooler than a door bell.

Sms

milo said:

What about the ability to listen to long text documents while you're driving the car? Seems like improved versions of this functionality could inspire new apps specifically for hands free navigation of content like RSS and other news.

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In states where texting is illegal while driving, an enhancement would be to have incoming text message converted to voice. And then respond to the text message by dictating into the phone or a bluetooth mic and have that converted to text to send out. This doesn't need to be another app; it can be incorporated into the Messages app.

kindle's text to speech is pretty good, makes for a good listen to books, but os x's native one is pretty sub far for sure.

First, I think the reason we didn't see more speech stuff in the keynote is because those features of iOS 5 won't be available on current hardware.

So, can I use the German voices to speak English with an accent? That would be awesome!

As to the debate about the value of text-to-speech, I think people are too caught up in the "text" part-- this isn't about selecting a bunch of text and choosing "speak selection". That ability is critically important as an assistive technology, but there are many other uses that the majority of users could reap from this that require better voices to make tolerable.

Nagromme had a good list, but it has the potential to change how we interact with our devices. I'd like my computers to be able to tell me who an incoming email is from so I don't need to go and look. It would be nice if my computer could nicely remind me of an upcoming appointment. There are a number of applications I'd like to be able to interact with by voice, ranging from iTunes, to home automation, to office applications.

Most of this requires both speech recognition and voice feedback, and one of the main reasons I don't even try the existing voice capabilities is that I find the computer voices really unpleasant to listen to. Apple needs to make improvements on both ends of the system in my opinion.

In regards to iOS

I noticed a somewhat better sounding computer voice using VoiceOver on my iPhone 4 after installing iOS 5. I don't need to use it for anything other than I'm lazy and don't like to find my contacts or I'm driving and I don't want to look down to find someone's name to call.

It pronounces words better and sounds somewhat better. Also, it can even simulate punctuation better such as when I just say a name and it has multiple numbers, and it asks me which one to use.

Looking forward to see what else VoiceOver can do in the near future and in the future of both iOS and OS X.

Peteman100 said:

I've never really been sold on the usefulness of text-to-speech functionality. What are scenarios where it would bring some advantage? Maybe I just havent seen it implemented in a good way.

Click to expand...

Blind/Vision Impaired.
Free audiobooks of your eBooks!
Imagine having your own personal news anchor read you the daily news articles while you do other things, like make a meal, etc.
Proofreading, as someone else said, would be invaluable.

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Apart from the blind I though that this was just a feature you fired up once or twice after you installed a new OS for fun, then left it to gather dust.

Is there any of this on iOS 5?

When I lost my voice (really bad sore throat), I downloaded SpeakIt for iOS, and it was a lifesaver.

So text-to-speech has tremendous use

xUKHCx said:

I have used it to proof read documents to me, it is really quite a good way to spot mistakes or odd turns of phrase.

Also very useful for those with limited eyesight.

Click to expand...

Same for me on the proof reading but the existing voices are very irritating after a while. looking forward to the updates.

RaggieSoft said:

When I lost my voice (really bad sore throat), I downloaded SpeakIt for iOS, and it was a lifesaver.

So text-to-speech has tremendous use

Click to expand...

Nice one.
Off course, the next step is for those who cannot talk. My daughter has brain damage and has no speech. She uses an iPad with http://www.proloquo2go.com/
This has superb voice reading

The only thing I ask is to put GLaDOS as an option for a Text-to-Speech voice.

Don't have a use for this?

No one is required to use all the features of the operating system, just like you are not required to watch all the television shows on your cable. Those features increase the number of people who can use the operating system, which increases its market share, which increases the variety of software that is available to you. You benefit from this feature even if you never use it.