[linux-audio-user] Piping multiple text documents into Audio

[Janina Sajka]

mark at kfm.co.za writes:
> Hello Everybody
> 
> I have a lot of text documents that I wish to output into speech 
> audio. Firstly I wanted to know if there is any software that would 
> allow one to do this. 

You probably have, or could easily get, Festival on your Linux system.
It's engineered specifically for such tasks. The man page should get you
started.

If you want another, look at:

http://freetts.sf.net

Both Festival and FreeTTS support the Mbrola plugins, so you can get
utterance in various languages.

There are other, higher quality but proprietary, Text To Speech (TTS)
engines that might meet your needs better, especially if you or your
users are new to understanding the mechanical utterance characteristics
of synthetic speech engines. Take a look at:

http://www.cepstral.com
http://www.fonix.com

Both of these companies offer Linux TTS engines, as does AT&T for whom I
have only their demo URL:

http://www.research.att.com/projects/tts/demo.html

Also, look at:

http://trace.wisc.edu/docs/speechsamples/index.htm

> This could be likened to an educational tool 
> of sorts that reads a file. 
> 

Hardly. Reading from beginning to end is just the first step in turning
TTS into a tool. There's much much more to it. If you're interested in
the state of the art, however, you should look at DAISY:

http://www.daisy.org


> Secondly I was hoping to change the output of audio by the 
> actual content of the text/html page. The actual reading of text 
> would be at quite a speed (not necessarily comprehendible) but 
> in essence the content itself would create the music - according 
> to an adjustable tempo/spec? Maybe each letter could represent 
> a music note? 

You can certainly create any kind of mapping you might want. Perhaps the
SSML spec might help you?:

http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-speech-synthesis-20040907

> 
> I am not sure if this makes sense but if possible I would like to 
> hear if there are any comments?
> 
> MAny thanks for your time and have a good week!
> 
> CheersRegards
> Mark
> 
> Mark McBride
> 0844146809
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
	
				Janina Sajka, Chair
				Accessibility Workgroup
				Free Standards Group (FSG)

janina at freestandards.org	Phone: +1 202.494.7040