SpeechSynthesizer Class

When you create a new SpeechSynthesizer object, it uses the default system voice. To configure the SpeechSynthesizer to use one of the installed speech synthesis (text-to-speech) voices, use the SelectVoice or SelectVoiceByHints method. To get information about which voices are installed, use the GetInstalledVoices method and the VoiceInfo class.

This class also provides control over the following aspects of speech synthesis:

• To configure the output for the SpeechSynthesizer object, use the SetOutputToAudioStream, SetOutputToDefaultAudioDevice, SetOutputToNull, and SetOutputToWaveFile methods.

• To generate speech, use the Speak, SpeakAsync, SpeakSsml, or SpeakSsmlAsync method. The SpeechSynthesizer can produce speech from text, a Prompt or PromptBuilder object, or from Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) Version 1.0.

• To pause and resume speech synthesis, use the Pause and Resume methods.

• To add or remove lexicons, use the AddLexicon and RemoveLexicon methods. The SpeechSynthesizer can use one or more lexicons to guide its pronunciation of words.

• To modify the delivery of speech output, use the Rate and Volume properties.

The SpeechSynthesizer raises events when it encounters certain features in prompts: (BookmarkReached, PhonemeReached, VisemeReached, and SpeakProgress). It also raises events that report on the start (SpeakStarted) and end (SpeakCompleted) of speak operations and on the change of the speaking voice (VoiceChange).

Note
Always call Dispose() before you release your last reference to the SpeechSynthesizer. Otherwise, the resources it is using will not be freed until the garbage collector calls the SpeechSynthesizer object's Finalize() method.

The following example is part of a console application that initializes a SpeechSynthesizer object and speaks a single prompt.

using System;
using System.Speech.Synthesis;

namespace SampleSynthesis
{
  class Program
  {
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {

      // Initialize a new instance of the SpeechSynthesizer.
      using (SpeechSynthesizer synthesizer = new SpeechSynthesizer())
      {

        // Configure the audio output.
        synthesizer.SetOutputToDefaultAudioDevice();

        // Build and speak a prompt.
        PromptBuilder builder = new PromptBuilder();
        builder.AppendText("This is a sample phrase.");
        synthesizer.Speak(builder);
      }

      Console.WriteLine();
      Console.WriteLine("Press any key to exit...");
      Console.ReadKey();
    }
  }
}

.NET Framework

.NET Framework Client Profile

Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2

Reference

Other Resources