Specifies the pitch, rate, and volume for speaking the contained text.
<ssml:prosody pitch="varies" rate="varies" volume="varies"> </ssml:prosody>
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
|
pitch |
Optional. Indicates the baseline pitch for the contained text. Values for pitch can be specified as absolute values or as changes relative to the current value. Absolute values can be expressed in Hertz or as one of the following enumeration values: low, medium, high, or default. Relative values can be expressed as a floating-point value, a floating-point percentage, or a semitone value. |
| Absolute Value Type | Example |
|---|---|
|
Hertz |
65, 110, 261, 294, 988 |
|
Enumerated |
low, medium, high, default |
| Relative Value Type | Example |
|---|---|
|
Floating-point |
+4, +10.6, ???2.0, ???6.75 |
|
Floating-point percentage |
+2%, +5.5%, ???7.0%, ???4.25% |
|
Semitone |
+1st, +2.5, ???0.5, ???1.5 |
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
|
rate |
Optional. Indicates the speaking rate of the contained text. Values for rate can be specified as absolute values or as changes relative to the current value. Absolute values can be expressed as an unsigned integer from 0 to 10 (where 0 is medium speed and 10 is fast) or as one of the following enumeration values: slow, medium, fast, or default. Relative values can be expressed as a floating-point value, or a floating-point percentage. The default value for rate is 0 (medium). |
| Absolute Value Type | Example |
|---|---|
|
Unsigned Integer |
0, 1, 3, 7 |
|
Enumerated |
slow, medium, fast, default |
| Relative Value Type | Example |
|---|---|
|
Floating-point |
+5, +10.3, ???3.0, ???7.22 |
|
Floating-point percentage |
+15%, +7.8%, ???12.0%, ???6.5% |
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
|
volume |
Optional. Indicates the volume level of the speaking voice. Values for volume can be specified as absolute values or as changes relative to the current value. Absolute values can be expressed as a positive integer from 0 to 100 (where 0 is silence and 100 is loud) or as one of the following enumeration values: silent, soft, medium, loud, or default. Relative values can be expressed as a floating-point value or a floating-point percentage. The default value for volume is 100 (loud). |
| Absolute Value Type | Example |
|---|---|
|
Positive Integer |
16, 47, 84, 100 |
|
Enumerated |
silent, soft, medium, loud, default |
| Relative Value Type | Example |
|---|---|
|
Floating-point |
+15, +45.3, ???30.0, ???13.25 |
|
Floating-point percentage |
+21%, +6.5%, ???50.0%, ???25.5% |
 Note: |
|---|
| Standards for well-formed, valid XML require attribute values to be enclosed in double quotation marks. For example, <prosody volume="90"> is a well-formed, valid element, but <prosody volume=90> is not. |
Because prosodic attribute values can vary over a wide range, the speech recognizer interprets the assigned values as a suggestion of what the actual prosodic values of the selected voice should be. The text-to-speech engine limits or substitutes values that are not supported. Examples of unsupported values are a pitch of 1 MHz or a volume of 120.
Pitch adjustment is not supported for speech applications deployed in a Speech Server environment.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <ssml:speak version="1.0" xmlns:ssml="http://www.w3.org/2001/10/synthesis" xml:lang="en-US"> <ssml:sentence> Your order for <ssml:prosody pitch="+0.5st" rate="-10%" volume="90">8 books</ssml:prosody> will be shipped tomorrow. </ssml:sentence> </ssml:speak>