This is an experimental technology
Because this technology's specification has not stabilized, check the compatibility table for usage in various browsers. Also note that the syntax and behavior of an experimental technology is subject to change in future versions of browsers as the specification changes.
The speak() method of the SpeechSynthesis interface adds an utterance to the utterance queue; it will be spoken when any other utterances queued before it have been spoken.
Syntax
speechSynthesisInstance.speak(utterance);
Returns
Void.
Parameters
- utterance
- A
SpeechSynthesisUtteranceobject.
Examples
This snippet is excerpted from our Speech synthesiser demo. When a form containing the text we want to speak is submitted, we (amongst other things) create a new utterance containing this text, then speak it by passing it into speak() as a parameter.
var synth = window.speechSynthesis;
...
inputForm.onsubmit = function(event) {
event.preventDefault();
var utterThis = new SpeechSynthesisUtterance(inputTxt.value);
var selectedOption = voiceSelect.selectedOptions[0].getAttribute('data-name');
for(i = 0; i < voices.length ; i++) {
if(voices[i].name === selectedOption) {
utterThis.voice = voices[i];
}
}
synth.speak(utterThis);
inputTxt.blur();
}
Specifications
| Specification | Status | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Web Speech API The definition of 'speak()' in that specification. |
Draft |
Browser compatibility
| Feature | Chrome | Edge | Firefox (Gecko) | Internet Explorer | Opera | Safari (WebKit) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic support | 33 [1] | (Yes) | 49 (49) | No support | ? | 7 |
[1] There is a known issue in Chrome that stops the SpeechSynthesisUtterance from speaking when used for long speeches (greater than or equal to 15 seconds, or 200-300 and more characters). See Chrome issues: 335907, 369472.
| Feature | Android | Chrome | Edge | Firefox Mobile (Gecko) | Firefox OS | IE Phone | Opera Mobile | Safari Mobile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic support | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) | No support | 2.0 | No support | No support | 7.1 |