Text to Speech

Ever wanted to have that document you've just written proof-read? You've tried re-reading it but mistakes still creep through and you've occasionally found the mistake in the document days later. This is because your eyes read what they expect to read. Your visual system uses the shapes of the start and end of the word to pre-select a word, then fills in the details until the correct word is found. If you a speed reading, or reading a document you have just written the pre-selection process is a bit to confident and provides you with what you are expecting to read rather than what is really written. The best way around this problem is to listen to the document or give it to a colleague for proof reading.

If the document is read out loud, by a human or a machine, the mistakes jump out at you. Hence this simple application.

This application requires the Microsoft SAPI 5.0 Speech Engine. If you are using Windows XP or Windows Vista the basic speech engine with the default voice "Sam" will be already installed. If you don't like the default voice you can purchase different voices from various speech vendors. We cannot recommend any vendors, but most search engines should be able to suggest many to evaluate.

If you are using Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000, you will need to install the Microsoft SAPI 5.0 speech engine. The easiest way to do this is to install the Microsoft SAPI 5.0 software development kit.

Usage

To use this application simply paste the text you wish to hear into the text box then click the Speak button. Alternatively you can type your test directly into the text box.

• Paste. Puts the controls of the clipboard into the text window.
• Paste and Speak. Puts the controls of the clipboard into the text window then starts speaking.
• Speak. Speaks the text shown in the text box.
• Pause. Pauses the speech. The button changes name to Resume. The Resume button will resume speaking from the place it was paused.
• Stop. Stops the speech.
• Open File. Opens a text file, puts the contents into the text box.

Downloads

This program is provided without source code. If you find any bugs with this program, please let us know: bugs@objmedia.demon.co.uk.

You use this program at your own risk. Object Media will not be responsible for any loss or damage that may arise from using this program or a derivative of this program.

Download the executable and the common files installer.

Last Updated 7 February, 2008.