PROGRAMMING SKILLS
Text to Speech
The one critical item missing from the Internet in the past has been the spoken word. The technology
is now available to allow a Web page to speak on any topic. The topic can be dynamically created, with
up-to-date information.
This example demonstrates the power of Visual Basic.Net and ASP.Net. It uses speech to provide the Weather
details for Sydney, Australia.
Text to Speech conversion
Text-to-Speech (TTS) refers to the ability to convert printed text to a spoken voice. A TTS engine is
installed with the Windows operating system. The default TTS voice is called Microsoft Anna. Microsoft
Anna is a female voice and is designed to sound more natural than the previous Microsoft Sam.
The Text-to-Speech technology is improving all the time. The Microsoft Anna speech translation is good
with a few exceptions. Some English words are mispronounced, and some sentences sound like questions
instead of statements. Other (and better) voices are available for Australian and other accents. These
can be purchased from software vendors.
Text-to-speech can be used for:
- Proofreading
- Informational Messages
- Audible feedback
- Welcome Messages
- News items
- A sales pitch
Of course, if the use of speech is overdone, customers will be lost rather than gained. There is another
reason to make any speech short and sweet. The .wav file containing the sound can become large. This
file should be as small as possible, to reduce download times.
RSS feed
The details are extracted from a Weather Website. A Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed is used in
this example to provide the latest Weather information.
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