What is the text to speech on android

Android — Text To Speech

Android allows you convert your text into voice. Not only you can convert it but it also allows you to speak text in variety of different languages.

Android provides TextToSpeech class for this purpose. In order to use this class, you need to instantiate an object of this class and also specify the initListener. Its syntax is given below −

In this listener, you have to specify the properties for TextToSpeech object , such as its language ,pitch e.t.c. Language can be set by calling setLanguage() method. Its syntax is given below −

The method setLanguage takes an Locale object as parameter. The list of some of the locales available are given below −

Sr.No	Locale
1	US
2	CANADA_FRENCH
3	GERMANY
4	ITALY
5	JAPAN
6	CHINA

Once you have set the language, you can call speak method of the class to speak the text. Its syntax is given below −

Apart from the speak method, there are some other methods available in the TextToSpeech class. They are listed below −

addSpeech(String text, String filename)

This method adds a mapping between a string of text and a sound file.

This method returns a Locale instance describing the language.

This method checks whether the TextToSpeech engine is busy speaking.

This method sets the speech pitch for the TextToSpeech engine.

This method sets the speech rate.

This method releases the resources used by the TextToSpeech engine.

This method stop the speak.

Example

The below example demonstrates the use of TextToSpeech class. It crates a basic application that allows you to set write text and speak it.

To experiment with this example , you need to run this on an actual device.

Sr.No	Method & description
1

Steps	Description
1	You will use Android studio to create an Android application under a package com.example.sairamkrishna.myapplication.
2	Modify src/MainActivity.java file to add TextToSpeech code.
3	Modify layout XML file res/layout/activity_main.xml add any GUI component if required.
4	Run the application and choose a running android device and install the application on it and verify the results.

Here is the content of src/MainActivity.java.

Here is the content of activity_main.xml

In the following code abcindicates the logo of tutorialspoint.com

Here is the content of Strings.xml.

Here is the content of AndroidManifest.xml

Let’s try to run your application. I assume you have connected your actual Android Mobile device with your computer. To run the app from Android studio, open one of your project’s activity files and click Run icon from the toolbar. Before starting your application, android studio will display following window to select an option where you want to run your Android application.

Select your mobile device as an option and then check your mobile device which will display following screen.

Now just type some text in the field and click on the text to speech button below. A notification would appear and text will be spoken. It is shown in the image below −

Now type something else and repeat the step again with different locale. You will again hear sound. This is shown below −

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Android Speech to Text Tutorial

In this article, we will learn how to implement speech to text functionality in android. To enable our app to use speech to text we have to use the SpeechRecognizer class.

Let’s see what is written in the official documentation:

This class provides access to the speech recognition service. This service allows access to the speech recognizer. Do not instantiate this class directly, instead, call SpeechRecognizer#createSpeechRecognizer(Context) . This class’s methods must be invoked only from the main application thread.

The implementation of this API is likely to stream audio to remote servers to perform speech recognition. As such this API is not intended to be used for continuous recognition, which would consume a significant amount of battery and bandwidth.

Let’s implement this to understand it better.

First of all, create a new Android Studio project and in the manifest file add the following user-permissions:

Now in the activity_main.xml file, we will add an EditText and an ImageView.I will not explain the layout file as I don’t want to waste anybody’s time who is here to learn the Speech to Text.You can see the code below.

Let’s dive into the MainActivity.java file.

First, we will check for the permissions:

If the permission is not granted then we will call the checkPermission method.

Now here comes the important part first which will initialize the SpeecRecognizer object and then create the intent for recognizing the speech.

As you can see we have added some extras let me explain what are they.

The constant ACTION_RECOGNIZE_SPEECH starts an activity that will prompt the user for speech and send it through a speech recognizer.

EXTRA_LANGUAGE_MODEL: Informs the recognizer which speech model to prefer when performing ACTION_RECOGNIZE_SPEECH.

LANGUAGE_MODEL_FREE_FORM: Use a language model based on free-form speech recognition.

EXTRA_LANGUAGE : Optional IETF language tag (as defined by BCP 47), for example, “en-US”.

Now we will set a speechRecognitionListener to our speechRecognizer object using the setRecognitionListener() method.

You can see after setting the listener we get several methods to implement. We will go the onResults method and add the following code

We get an ArrayList of String as a result and we use this ArrayList to update the UI (EditText here).

Build better voice apps. Get more articles & interviews from voice technology experts at voicetechpodcast.com

In the onBeginningOfSpeeh() method we will add the following code to tell the user that his voice is being recognized.

Now, lets set up the imageView. We will add a touchListener to the image view to know when the user has pressed the image.

When the user taps the imageView the listener starts listening and the imageView source image is also changed to update the user that his voice is being listened to.

You can find the full source code below:

Let’s run the app.

Now you are capable of adding a cool functionality to your app. What are you waiting for start coding…

You can get the full source code from my GitHub.

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Android Text to Speech Tutorial

Android is providing a cool feature (from Android 1.6) called Text to Speech (TTS) which speaks the text in different languages. This tutorial explains how to work with android text to speech or android speech synthesis. In this tutorial i also explained changing the language type, pitch level and speed level.

Below i provided video of the ouput.

I developed a simple interface with one input field and a button to trigger a event that will take text from input field and speaks out.

1. Create a new project by going to File ⇒ New Android Project. and fill required details.
2. Implement your main Activity class from TextToSpeech.OnInitListener

3. Now add following code your class.

4. Now run your project and test your app by entering some text in input filed.

You can change language to speak by using setLanguage() function. Lot of languages are supported like Canada, French, Chinese, Germany etc.,

Changing Pitch Rate

You can set speed pitch level by using setPitch() function. By default the value is 1.0 You can set lower values than 1.0 to decrease pitch level or greater values for increase pitch level.

Changing Speed Rate

The speed rate can be set using setSpeechRate(). This also will take default of 1.0 value. You can double the speed rate by setting 2.0 or make half the speed level by setting 0.5

Ravi is hardcore Android programmer and Android programming has been his passion since he compiled his first hello-world program. Solving real problems of Android developers through tutorials has always been interesting part for him.

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Android SDK: Using the Text to Speech Engine

This tutorial will teach you to give your applications a voice with the Android SDK text to speech engine!

The Android text to speech engine still seems to be a pretty underused resource in Android apps. However, implementing it in your own applications is straightforward. There are a few potential issues and choices you need to consider, but for most purposes, the process is not a complex one. In this tutorial we jump around a bit within one Android Activity, but don’t worry, the complete code is listed at the end. The aim is to give you a clear idea of the what’s going on at each processing stage so that you can successfully use the function in any app.

Step 1: Start or Open an Android Project

If you already have an application you want to implement Text To Speech with, open it in your IDE. Otherwise, create a new Android project. You can use the code in this tutorial with any Activity class. For demonstration, we will first create some user interface elements. Again, if you already have your own UI, you can use it instead.

Step 2: Create User Interface Elements

Add some user interface elements to your application, allowing the user to enter text and initiate speech playback using a button. In the XML layout file for your Activity, which will be «main.xml» if you created a new project, add the following markup:

Your XML layout files should be in the «res/layout» directory within your application package. This code adds three user interface elements: a label with some instructional text in it, an editable text-field, and a button. The user will be able to enter text into the field, then press the button to hear it spoken. If you are using an existing project, you can of course use the interface elements you already have. If you are using these new elements, you can alter them to suit the design of your own app.

Step 3: Listen For User Events

Open the Java file for the Activity you want to implement TTS in. If you created a new app, open the main class file. In Eclipse, your Activity should automatically have the «onCreate» method within it and should extend «Activity» as part of its declaration. At the top of the class file, add the following import statements so that your app can listen for button clicks:

Alter the class declaration to implement the «OnClickListener» interface, as in the following sample line of code:

Alter the class name to suit your own application details. Your IDE may display warnings because your class has not yet implemented «OnClickListener» correctly — just ignore these for now. In the «onCreate» method, add the following code:

If you did not add the button using «speak» as its ID in your XML layout file, alter this code to reflect the correct ID value. This sets your Activity class up to handle user button clicks. Add the following method outline to your class:

Inside this method you will begin the Text To Speech functionality.

Step 4: Get the Entered Text

When the user clicks the button, your app needs to get any text entered so that you can pass it to the TTS method. Add the following import statement at the top of your class declaration so that your code can refer to the editable text-field:

Inside your «onClick» method, add the following code:

This code first acquires a reference to the text-field using its ID value, so alter this if you used a different value in your layout XML. Next, the code gets the text from the field and stores it as a string variable. If the user has not entered any text this will be empty. Depending on the logic within your application you may wish to add a conditional test, checking that the string is not null or zero in length, but this is not generally necessary.

Step 5: Create a Speech Method

To keep your Android classes well-organized, it’s advisable to create dedicated methods for processes you may want to use more than once. Add the following method outline to your Activity:

This is where your TTS processing will go. Back in the «onClick» listener method, call this new method, passing it the string variable your code copied from the text-field:

Using a method for the TTS process means that your code can call on it elsewhere if necessary.

Step 6: Implement TTS Within the Class

To utilize the TTS facility, you need to make a few more changes to your class declaration. Add the following import statements for the TTS classes at the top of your file:

You also need to implement one more interface, so alter your class declaration outline to add «OnInitListener» as in the following example:

Remember to use your own class name. Again, your IDE will alert you to the fact that you haven’t yet implemented this interface but don’t worry, you will soon.

Step 7: Check for TTS Data

Your app needs to check that the user has the data necessary for the TTS function before you call its methods. Declare and instantiate the following instance variable at the top of your Activity class declaration, before the «onCreate» method:

Add the following import statement at the top of the class:

In the «onCreate» method, add the following:

This code creates a new Intent purely for the purposes of checking the user data. When the checking process is complete, the code will call the «onActivityResult» method.

Step 8: Create a TTS Instance

Declare an instance variable for your TTS object at the top of the class declaration, also before the «onCreate» method:

Add the «onActivityResult» to your class as follows:

When the data checking Intent completes, the app calls this method, passing it the «MY_DATA_CHECK_CODE» variable indicating whether or not the user has the TTS data installed. If the data is present, the code goes ahead and creates an instance of the TTS class. If the data is not present, the app will prompt the user to install it.

Step 9: Provide the onInit Method

Your class declaration is implementing «OnInitListener» so you must provide an «onInit» method. In this method, you can carry out any final set-up checks you need, as well as choosing settings for your TTS instance, such as language and locale options. Add the following import statement at the top of your class:

Add the «onInit» method to the class as follows:

This code checks that the TTS resource is successfully instantiated, then sets a US English Locale for the speech operations. You can optionally output an error message for users if the TTS does not successfully instantiate by adding the following after the «if» block:

If you use this code you will also need to import the Toast class by adding the following statement at the top of your file:

Your app can carry out checks on the user device, such as available languages, as in the following extended version of the statement creating the TTS object inside the first conditional statement:

Step 10: Speak!

Finally, your app is ready to speak. Inside the «speakWords» method, add the following code:

There are lots of options here in terms of how your app handles speech. This code instructs the app to speak the text string immediately. If you want to add consecutive speech operations, you can instruct the app to wait until any current speech operations finish by adding your new speech item to a queue, as follows:

Once your class is finished with the TTS, you can optionally shut it down as follows:

Don’t include this line if you want your users to be able to make the app speak more than once.

Conclusion

To see how all of these elements fit together, here is the complete class declaration:

Remember to use your own class name and to indicate your application package at the top of the file. If you are using Eclipse, you should not need to add all of the import statements manually, as the IDE will insert some of them automatically. Run your app in the Android emulator and hear it in action.

This is a basic overview of implementing Text To Speech in your Android apps. The TTS resource provides a wide range of additional options you may want to explore depending on the nature of your apps. When calling the TextToSpeech object «speak» method for example, you can pass a HashMap object indicating the details of more complex playback options.

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