Window.speechSynthesis

This is an experimental technology
Because this technology's specification has not stabilized, check the compatibility table for the proper prefixes to use 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 spec changes.

The speechSynthesis read-only property of the Window object returns a SpeechSynthesis object, which is the entry point into using Web Speech API speech synthesis functionality.

Syntax

var synth = window.speechSynthesis;

Value

A SpeechSynthesis object.

Examples

In our basic Speech synthesiser demo, we first grab a reference to the SpeechSynthesis controller using window.speechSynthesis. After defining some necessary variables, we retrieve a list of the voices available using SpeechSynthesis.getVoices() and populate a select menu with them so the user can choose what voice they want.

Inside the inputForm.onsubmit handler, we stop the form submitting with preventDefault(),  create a new SpeechSynthesisUtterance instance containing the text from the text <input>, set the utterance's voice to the voice selected in the <select> element, and start the utterance speaking via the SpeechSynthesis.speak() method.

var synth = window.speechSynthesis;

var inputForm = document.querySelector('form');
var inputTxt = document.querySelector('input');
var voiceSelect = document.querySelector('select');

function populateVoiceList() {
  voices = synth.getVoices();

  for(i = 0; i < voices.length ; i++) {
    var option = document.createElement('option');
    option.textContent = voices[i].name + ' (' + voices[i].lang + ')';
    
    if(voices[i].default) {
      option.textContent += ' -- DEFAULT';
    }

    option.setAttribute('data-lang', voices[i].lang);
    option.setAttribute('data-name', voices[i].name);
    voiceSelect.appendChild(option);
  }
}

populateVoiceList();
if (speechSynthesis.onvoiceschanged !== undefined) {
  speechSynthesis.onvoiceschanged = populateVoiceList;
}

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 'SpeechSynthesis' in that specification.
Draft  

Browser compatibility

Feature Chrome Firefox (Gecko) Internet Explorer Opera Safari (WebKit)
Basic support 33 45 (45) [1] Not supported ? 7
Feature Android Chrome Firefox Mobile (Gecko) Firefox OS IE Phone Opera Mobile Safari Mobile
Basic support (Yes) (Yes) Not supported 2.0 Not supported Not supported 7.1
  • [1] Can be enabled via the media.webspeech.synth.enabled flag in about:config. Windows has been implemented on version 42, Mac and Linux have been implemented on version 44.

See also

Document Tags and Contributors

 Contributors to this page: chrisdavidmills
 Last updated by: chrisdavidmills,