What is SSML?
The technique popularly known as text-to-speech (TTS) transforms written text into spoken language. There are several uses for it, including accessibility, education, entertainment, and more. Not every text, nevertheless, is acceptable for TTS in its current form. You might occasionally want to alter the way the text is delivered, perhaps by altering the voice’s emotion, speed, loudness, or pronunciation. SSML is useful in this situation.
Speech Synthesis Markup Language is known as SSML. A text-to-speech (TTS) system may read aloud material that has been marked up with additional information. It is a common practice to annotate or tag text in order to tell a TTS engine how to speak the text.
TTS systems can employ the additional information provided by SSML, such as emphasis, prosody, and pauses, to produce speech that sounds more natural. SSML can be used, for instance, to flip between languages or voices, accent a sentence, insert a pause, or make a word sound like a question.
Why Use UberTTS?
SSML is supported by most TTS platforms and applications, such as Google Cloud Text-to-Speech, Amazon Polly, Microsoft Azure Speech Services, and more. To use SSML, you need to write your text in XML format and include the SSML tags within the <speak> element.
If you are not familiar with the SSML code then it becomes a bit challenging to achieve the desired results, this is where UberTTS SSML Text To Speech comes in handy. Using UberTTS it’s only a matter of selecting a Drop Down for achieving your desired result. No need to manually write or know any of the SSML tags or XML formats, just select the option from the drop-down and then place your text in between the XML code that was automatically created based on the selection.
For example:
<speak>
Hello, <break time="500ms"/> world!
</speak>
This SSML code will make the TTS engine say “Hello” and then pause for half a second before saying “world”. You can use different attributes and values to customize the SSML tags according to your needs.
For example:
<speak>
<prosody rate="slow" pitch="+10st">Wow</prosody>, this is <emphasis level="strong">amazing</emphasis>!
</speak>
This SSML code will make the TTS engine say “Wow” slowly and with a higher pitch, and then say “amazing” with a strong emphasis.
You can create a free account with UberTTS and try using SSML Text To Speech options.
SSML can help you create more natural and expressive speech output from your text. It can also help you overcome some of the limitations or challenges of TTS, such as dealing with abbreviations, acronyms, numbers, dates, or foreign words. By using SSML, you can enhance your TTS experience and make it more engaging and effective for your audience.
Try UberTTS today to see what SSML can achieve with Text to Speech
How Does SSML Text-to-Speech Work?
Text is transformed into an audio file that may be played back to users via SSML Text-to-Speech. The first step of the procedure is sending the text to a TTS system, which analyzes it and turns it into speech.
To provide the TTS system with more information and enable it to produce speech that sounds more natural, SSML tags are used. The audio file can then be played back to users via a variety of tools, including a web page or mobile app after the TTS system has prepared it.
Benefits of SSML Text-to-Speech
There are several advantages to using SSML Text-to-Speech over other TTS systems. First, it enables more control over the TTS system’s output, resulting in speech that sounds more natural.
Second, it can be applied to the production of more interesting content, like interactive voice response (IVR) systems or audiobooks. Last but not least, it can be used to provide material that is more accessible, enabling access for those who have visual impairments or other disabilities.
How to Implement SSML Text-to-Speech
Manual SSML
Implementing SSML Text-to-Speech is relatively simple. First, you’ll need to choose a TTS system that supports SSML, such as Google Cloud Text-to-Speech or Amazon Polly. Once you’ve chosen a TTS system, you can start adding SSML tags to your text to create more natural-sounding speech. To get started with SSML, you can refer to the TTS system’s documentation or find tutorials online.
Automatic SSML
Best Practices for SSML Text-to-Speech
It’s crucial to adhere to recommended practices while using SSML Text-to-Speech in order to produce the most realistic-sounding speech possible. A few suggestions are to utilize the proper emphasis and pause, refrain from using SSML tags excessively, and use the appropriate language and voice settings for your audience.
In order to make sure that your SSML Text-to-Speech output is understandable and clear, it’s also crucial to test it with actual users.
Final Thoughts
SSML Text-to-Speech is a potent technology that may be utilized to produce dynamic and interesting material, to sum up. You can produce speech that sounds more natural and is simpler for consumers to comprehend by using SSML tags. SSML Text-to-Speeches, like UberTTS, is a fantastic tool to have in your toolkit whether you’re designing an IVR system, an audiobook, or just want to add some personality to your material.
