What is Text to Speech?
Text to speech turns written words into spoken audio. Modern AI text to speech sounds like a person reading, with natural pauses, emotion and rhythm.
The Simple Definition
Text to speech (TTS) is technology that converts written text into spoken audio. You give it words; it gives you a voice reading them. Early TTS sounded robotic because it stitched together recorded sounds. Today's AI text to speech generates the audio with a neural network trained on human speech, so it can pause, stress words and sound happy, calm or surprised.
How AI Text to Speech Works
A neural TTS model reads the whole sentence before it speaks, so it knows a question needs a rise at the end and a list needs small pauses. It predicts the sound wave directly, which is why it can laugh, sigh or whisper instead of only reading words.
The newest models also take directions: you can ask for a line to be read excited, deadpan or slowly, and they follow it.
Old TTS vs. AI TTS
What People Make with Text to Speech
Text in, speech out
Maya: [excited] Okay, I have news. Big news. Leo: <laugh> You always say that. Maya: This time it's true. <short pause> We got the grant.
Each speaker gets a voice; [excited] changes how the line is read, and <laugh> and <short pause> are performed, not read aloud.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does TTS stand for?
TTS stands for text to speech: technology that reads written text aloud in a synthetic voice.
Is text to speech the same as an AI voice?
An AI voice is the voice a modern text to speech system speaks with. TTS is the process; the AI voice is the result you hear.
Can text to speech sound human?
Modern AI text to speech is very close. It pauses, stresses words and shows emotion, especially when the text is written the way people talk.
How many languages does text to speech support?
Modern AI TTS supports 100+ languages. ZenMic generates audio in over 100 languages with native voices for many of them.