Observation about text to speech.

[QuantumIguana]

When I first started using text to speech, I found it hard to understand. Sometimes entire sentences sounded like gibberish. But the more I listened to it, the easier it became to understand, like learning to listen to an unfamiliar accent. Now, I can listen to TTS at maximum speed and still understand it. My wife can barely tolerate TTS at all, let alone full speed.

The funny thing is that over time, maximum speed doesn't sound as fast as it used to. It's just as fast as it ever was, but my brain just became trained to better understand it, so it seems as if it isn't as fast.

[crich70]

I think the quality of the voices used has improved as well. My Kindle Fire has TTS capability and it has a feminine sounding voice that is way better than earlier voices that were non-human in origin for things like audio books etc. It sounds more natural now than earlier ones did.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by crich70

I think the quality of the voices used has improved as well. My Kindle Fire has TTS capability and it has a feminine sounding voice that is way better than earlier voices that were non-human in origin for things like audio books etc. It sounds more natural now than earlier ones did.

You can select more than one voice and change the default whenever you want:

Settings -> Language -> Text-to-Speech -> Download Additional Voices -> back -> Default Voice


6 English Voices

• Australia --> Nicole & Russell
• UK --> Amy & Brian
• US --> Joey & Salli

[crich70]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

You can select more than one voice and change the default whenever you want:

Settings -> Language -> Text-to-Speech -> Download Additional Voices -> back -> Default Voice


6 English Voices

• Australia --> Nicole & Russell
• UK --> Amy & Brian
• US --> Joey & Salli

Thanks for the tip tubemonkey. I'm still learning all the ins and outs of the Fire. It has so much more than a straight ereader does.

[Barty]

British Amy is the best!

I think I actually prefer TTS over human-read audiobooks (unless the reader happens to be someone I like especially). The TTS adds no interpretation or characterization, aside from its slight uncanny valley oddness. And once I get used to the voice, I don't need to reacquaint myself to a new voice with every book.

That said, I still have a hard time "reading" an entire book by listening. It's too easy for my attention to wander. It's good for a chapter here and there, and for long articles.

[curtw]

Even as a lifetime US resident, I prefer a female Australian accent for TTS. Our family as given the "lady in the GPS" the name Gigi.

[QuantumIguana]

I use text to speech at work, it helps keep me focused. I also like to use in in the car on long drives, there's not much on the radio and music doesn't keep me focused. It's like if I'm listening to a book, the rest of my brain is freed up to focus on driving. I tend to use it for books that aren't my favorites - good enough for TTS, but perhaps not for actually sitting down to read.

What really interests me about it is how the brain adapts to it.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Barty

British Amy is the best!

I like Aussie Nicole the best.

[murg]

Lynx-lynx does it for me...

[DuaneAA]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

You can select more than one voice and change the default whenever you want:

Settings -> Language -> Text-to-Speech -> Download Additional Voices -> back -> Default Voice


6 English Voices

• Australia --> Nicole & Russell
• UK --> Amy & Brian
• US --> Joey & Salli

Thanks for the tip, I didn't realize these additional voices were available. I just wish they would make Text-to-Speech available in the Kindle App for Android phones. That is what I primarily use for listening to audiobooks as it is always with me and fits in my pocket. But I guess I will start using my Kindle Fire to listen to things in my car.

(P.S. UK Amy is my favorite.)

Duane

[DDHarriman]

Hi DuaneAA

In Android world my advice is to go with Ivona text to speech HQ and voice(s) (both free) – the quality is just amazing.

Pairing this with, per example, FBReader and FBReader TTS+Plugin (also both free) and the result is really good.

Note: Ivona works with any enabled TTS app.

Best regards,

[DuaneAA]

Originally Posted by DDHarriman

Hi DuaneAA

In Android world my advice is to go with Ivona text to speech HQ and voice(s) (both free) – the quality is just amazing.

Pairing this with, per example, FBReader and FBReader TTS+Plugin (also both free) and the result is really good.

Note: Ivona works with any enabled TTS app.

Best regards,

Thanks for the info,
Duane

[fratermus]

Originally Posted by DuaneAA

Thanks for the tip, I didn't realize these additional voices were available. I just wish they would make Text-to-Speech available in the Kindle App for Android phones. That is what I primarily use for listening to audiobooks as it is always with me and fits in my pocket. But I guess I will start using my Kindle Fire to listen to things in my car.

FBreader has a TTS plugin (both free) for android. I use it instead of the official Kindle reader for various reasons.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by Barty

British Amy is the best!

I think I actually prefer TTS over human-read audiobooks (unless the reader happens to be someone I like especially). The TTS adds no interpretation or characterization, aside from its slight uncanny valley oddness. And once I get used to the voice, I don't need to reacquaint myself to a new voice with every book.

That said, I still have a hard time "reading" an entire book by listening. It's too easy for my attention to wander. It's good for a chapter here and there, and for long articles.

One advantage to TTS is that is 'free'. Audiobooks are generally more expensive than the equivalent ebook as well. This may mean that you get used to TTS long before you get used to audiobooks, since you are doing more of the former. That includes being able to focus attention for longer and longer periods. It takes practice.

But I don't think there's any question that human-read audiobooks are superior and more entertaining for the most part (again, once you have enough experiences to be able to adjust to new voices more easily). Professional readers do not get to be professional if they don't have a good voice and delivery and approach (supported by a good production and editing team). Some of the best readers are the authors themselves, and 'celebrity' readers often have a head start because one immediately latches on to a famous voice.

On the down side, it can take significantly longer to read an audiobook than reading the text only, so unless you have chunks of time when you cannot read text (chores, workouts, driving), it might not be the most productive way to read.

For me the ideal is to have both (I drive a lot so that is pretty much all reading time for me, thanks to audiobooks). I use Kindle platform's 'whispersync for voice' quite a lot as you can switch while synching reading position. For non fiction I like to have the text so one can annotate and do text search.