
Today we’re going to focus on the Speech Synthesis API, which uses system libraries to speak, making the Web considerably more accessible.
NOTE: We have to consider that the API is fairly new, so not widely supported. The Speech Synthesis API is supported in Chrome 33+ and Safari. At the time of writing, the stable channel of Chrome is at version 32 so you will need to be running either the Chrome Dev channel or Chrome Canary to see this in action.
The simplest way to use this API is to pass a string to the SpeechSynthesisUtterance object and then use the speak method to have the computer say the string:
var message = new SpeechSynthesisUtterance(‘Hello World!’); window.speechSynthesis.speak(message);
Now, let's dig a little deeper to see how we can pass the attributes to modify the SpeechSynthesisUtterance object:
- Text: this is the simplest, and the one we’ve already used.
- Lang: this attribute will specify the language the synthesis should use (if nothing is specified it falls back on the document default).
- VoiceURI: specifies the voice and the synthesis service you want to use.
- Volume: the volume of the speech, from 0 to 1.
- Rate: the speed at which the voice will speak. Values of 0 to 10 are permissable, but 1 is normal, 2 is double speed, 3 is triple speed and so on, so that 10 would be far too fast.
- Pitch: the pitch of the voice ranging from 0 to 2.
To demonstrate, we’ll set up a form to determine the text, rate, pitch and volume:
<input type=“text” id=“speech"/><label for=“volume”>Volume</label> <input type=“range" max="1" min="0" step="0.1" value="1" id="volume"> <label for=“rate”>Rate</label><input type=“range" max="5" min="0" step="0.5" value="2.5" id="rate"> <label for=“pitch”>Pitch</label><input type="range" max="2" min="0" step="0.1" value="2" id="pitch"> <button id="talk">Speak</button>
So the first thing we need to do when it comes to the jQuery is to attach a click event to our talk button and then create a new instance of the SpeechSynthesisUtterance:
$("#talk").click(function() { var msg = new SpeechSynthesisUtterance(); });
After this is done we need to get the available voices, select the one we want to use and also set the voiceURI:
var voices = window.speechSynthesis.getVoices(); msg.voice = voices[10]; msg.voiceURI = 'native';
After this is done we need to move on to the attributes that will rely on user input and for that we will need to get the values of each input in our page using the .val() jQuery method, starting with the volume :
msg.volume = $(‘#volume’).val();
The method is the same for all the other inputs we have:
msg.rate = $('#rate').val(); msg.pitch = $('#pitch').val(); msg.text = $('#speech').val();
Now all we really need to do in order to wrap this little application up is to set the language attribute and in this case I will use plain US English and then use the speechSynthesis.speakmethod to have the computer say the text with the settings we passed:
msg.lang = 'en-US'; speechSynthesis.speak(msg);
And that’s about all we needed to create a simple application using the Speech Synthesis API, this is the full code:
$("#talk").click(function() { var msg = new SpeechSynthesisUtterance(); var voices = window.speechSynthesis.getVoices(); msg.voice = voices[10]; msg.voiceURI = 'native'; msg.volume = $('#volume').val(); msg.rate = $('#rate').val(); msg.pitch = $('#pitch').val(); msg.text = $('#speech').val(); msg.lang = 'en-US'; speechSynthesis.speak(msg); });
And you can also see a demo here.
Original post by Sara Vieira

Janeth Kent
Licenciada en Bellas Artes y programadora por pasión. Cuando tengo un rato retoco fotos, edito vídeos y diseño cosas. El resto del tiempo escribo en MA-NO WEB DESIGN END DEVELOPMENT.
Related Posts
Creating simple CSS spinner-loader
In today's article we will show you how to animate a basic loader that spins when some predefined action is defined, such as loading an image. That can be used…
Validating HTML forms using BULMA and vanilla JavaScript
Today we are going to write about contact forms and how to validate them using JavaScript. The contact form seems to be one of the top features of every basic home…
A FULFILLED PROMISE - Using the FETCH API to make AJAX calls
In this article we talked about what AJAX calls are and how to use them in a traditional way, by using the XMLHttpRequest (XHR) object. In short, thanks to AJAX…
How to use Parallax.js effect on your website
Today, we're going to write about the parallax effect, similar to parallax scrolling, and how to implement it to improve your landing page. In webdev, they say mobile first -…
Django vs. Laravel: Market Share Comparison
There are two leading frameworks in the web development segment: Django and Laravel. In this article, we prepared a Django and Laravel comparison focusing on their market share so that…
How to make the website's dark mode persistent with Local Storage, CSS and JS
Recently we wrote about how to do a switchable alternative color mode or theme, a very useful and popular feature to websites. Today’s article is going to be about how…
A Java approach: While loop
Hello everyone and welcome back! After having made a short, but full-bodied, introduction about cycles, today we are finally going to see the first implementations that use what we have called…
Dark Mode on website using CSS and JavaScript
In today’s article we are going to learn how to build pretty much standard these days on the web pages and that is the alternative color mode and switching between…
A Java approach: The Cycles - Introduction
Hello everyone and welcome back! Until now, we have been talking about variables and selection structures, going to consider some of the fundamental aspects of these two concepts. Theoretically, to…
JavaScript: Spread and Rest operators
In today’s article we are going to talk about one of the features of the ES6 version(ECMAScript 2015) of JavaScript which is Spread operator as well as Rest operator. These features…
A Java approach: boolean variables
The previous time, we talked extensively about Boolean variables, trying to outline the main operations that can be carried out at a practical level. Of all the cases examined, we have…
Why You Should Hire Node.js Developer for Your Backend Development
When developers are building a new website, they mainly focus on both frontend and backend development. The frontend code helps create the interfaces through which the app interacts with the…