Using SSML for advanced text-to-speech on Windows Phone 8 - Revision history

Cadlg: Cadlg - Added a Spanish translation link

2013-04-23T16:46:07Z

Cadlg - Added a Spanish translation link

Hamishwillee: Text replace - "[[Category:Silverlight" to "[[Category:XAML"

2013-04-10T01:29:26Z

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Hamishwillee - Add competition winner note

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@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 |author= [[User:Cadlg]]
 }}
 == Introduction ==
@@ Line 272: / Line 273: @@
 * The {{Icode|pitch}} attribute can be set as an absolute value expressed in Hertz (for example "500Hz") and a relative value, expressed as the change to the pitch in Hertz or semitones (for example "+10Hz" or "-1st") . It can also be defined as an specific value from an enumeration that includes the following values:  {{Icode|x-low}}, {{Icode|low}}, {{Icode|medium}}, {{Icode|high}}, {{Icode|x-high}}, or {{Icode|default}}.
-* The {{Icode|contour}} and {{Icode|range}} attributes are supposed to be used to define different pitches at different parts of the speech, and to define a pitch range, respectively, but at the time of writing this article, they don't produce any effect on the speech produced by the Windows Phone 8 emulator.
+* The {{Icode|contour}} and {{Icode|range}} attributes are supposed to be used to define different pitches at different parts of the speech, and to define a pitch range, respectively, but at the time of writing this article, they don't produce any effect on the speech produced in Windows Phone 8.
 * The {{Icode|rate }} attribute defines the speed at which the speech must be executed, expressed as a multiplier of the default (for example "2" for double speed)  or a specific value from an enumeration that includes this values: {{Icode|x-slow}}, {{Icode|slow}}, {{Icode|medium}}, {{Icode|fast}}, {{Icode|x-fast}}, or {{Icode|default}} .
-* The {{Icode|duration}} attribute is supposed to be used to alter the speech speed as well, but at the time of writing this article, it does not produce any effect on the speech produced by the Windows Phone 8 emulator.
+* The {{Icode|duration}} attribute is supposed to be used to alter the speech speed as well, but at the time of writing this article, it does not produce any effect on the speech produced in Windows Phone 8.
 * The {{Icode|volume}} attribute sets the volume and can take absolute values from (0.0 to 100.0), relative values (expressed as a volume change, for example "+5) or specific values from an enumeration that includes the following values: {{Icode|x-soft}}, {{Icode|soft}}, {{Icode|medium}}, {{Icode|loud}}, {{Icode|x-loud}}, or {{Icode|default}}.
@@ Line 351: / Line 352: @@
 * The {{Icode|interpret-as}} attribute is required. It defines the type of content, and can take any of the following strings: {{Icode|date}}, {{Icode|cardinal}}, {{Icode|ordinal}},{{Icode|characters}}, {{Icode|time}} and {{Icode|telephone}}.
-* The {{Icode|date}}, {{Icode|time}} and {{Icode|telephone }}attributes are supposed to be used to specify the appropriate content type and a specific format, but at the time of writing this article, these 3 attributes are just ignored by the speech synthesizer on the Windows Phone 8 emulator.
+* The {{Icode|date}}, {{Icode|time}} and {{Icode|telephone }}attributes are supposed to be used to specify the appropriate content type and a specific format, but at the time of writing this article, these 3 attributes are just ignored by the speech synthesizer in Windows Phone 8.
 * The {{Icode|cardinal}} and {{Icode|ordinal}} attributes instruct the synthesizer on the way it should say numbers.
 * The {{Icode|characters}} attribute instructs it to read the contained text as individual characters.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-[[Category:Windows Phone 8]][[Category:Windows Phone]][[Category:Silverlight]][[Category:Code Examples]][[Category:Voice/Speech]]
+[[Category:Windows Phone 8]][[Category:Windows Phone]][[Category:XAML]][[Category:Code Examples]][[Category:Voice/Speech]]
 {{Abstract|This article demonstrates how the Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) can be used to provide advanced text-to-speech (TTS) functionality on Windows Phone 8 applications.}}
 {{Note|This article was a winner in the [[Windows Phone 8 Wiki Competition 2012Q4]].}}

@@ Line 198: / Line 198: @@
 It is important to take into account that the lexicon will not be used if the current selected language is different from the one specified in the lexicon, for example if a different language was specified by code using the {{Icode|SetVoice}} method from the {{Icode|SpeechSynthesizer}} class, or a different language was defined in the root speak element of the SSML document.
-{{Note|The Microsoft's official documentation of the {{Icode|lexicon}} element (which is not specific for Windows Phone, ([http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh361599 link])) used to research and test some of the topics included in this article includes an example of a lexicon file with a '''pls''' extension, but using that extension causes an {{Icode|IO.FileNotFoundException}} on the Windows Phone 8 emulator, whereas files with an '''xml''' extension work well.}}
+{{Note|The Microsoft's official documentation of the {{Icode|lexicon}} element (which is not specific for Windows Phone, ([http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh361599 link])) used to research and test some of the topics included in this article includes an example of a lexicon file with a '''pls''' extension, but using that extension causes an {{Icode|IO.FileNotFoundException}}, whereas files with an '''xml''' extension work well.}}
 === Changing the voice used to speak ===
@@ Line 413: / Line 413: @@
 </code>
-{{Note|The Microsoft's official documentation on TTS for Windows Phone ([http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsphone/develop/jj207057%28v&#61;vs.105%29.aspx link]) used to research and test some of the topics included in this article includes an example of an external SSML file with an '''ssml''' extension, but using that extension causes an {{Icode|IO.FileNotFoundException}} on the Windows Phone 8 emulator, whereas files with '''xml''' extension work well.}}
+{{Note|The Microsoft's official documentation on TTS for Windows Phone ([http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsphone/develop/jj207057%28v&#61;vs.105%29.aspx link]) used to research and test some of the topics included in this article includes an example of an external SSML file with an '''ssml''' extension, but using that extension causes an {{Icode|IO.FileNotFoundException}}, whereas files with '''xml''' extension work well.}}
 == Source Code ==

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 [[Category:Windows Phone 8]][[Category:Windows Phone]][[Category:Silverlight]][[Category:Code Examples]][[Category:Voice/Speech]]
 {{Abstract|This article demonstrates how the Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) can be used to provide advanced text-to-speech (TTS) functionality on Windows Phone 8 applications.}}
+{{Note|This article was a winner in the [[Windows Phone 8 Wiki Competition 2012Q4]].}}
 {{ArticleMetaData <!-- v1.2 -->
 |sourcecode= [[Media:AdvancedTTS_test.zip]]

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 |author= [[User:Cadlg]]
 }}
 == Introduction ==

@@ Line 70: / Line 70: @@
 The  {{Icode|SpeechSynthesizer}} class provides 2 methods to speak text that includes SSML markup. The first one, {{Icode|SpeakSsmlAsync}}, receives the text to speak as a parameter, and the second one,  {{Icode|SpeakSsmlFromUriAsync}}, speaks text from a standalone SSML document. The first one will be used to show the different speech characteristics that can be controlled by using SSML, and at the end of the article a short explanation of how to speak the contents of a standalone document will be included.
-Each SSML document or string requires a {{Icode|speak}} element. It is the root element of the document, and can be used without any other elements. The {{Icode|speak}} element also specifies the language to be used.
+Each SSML document or string requires a [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh361611%28v&#61;office.14%29.aspx speak] element. It is the root element of the document, and can be used without any other elements. The {{Icode|speak}} element also specifies the language to be used.
 This is the syntax:
@@ Line 93: / Line 93: @@
 === Inserting sound files ===
-The {{Icode|audio}} element can be used to insert sound files into the speech. It supports files in PCM, a-law and u-law format, with 8 bits or 16 bits depth, and non-stereo (mono only).
+The [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh361684%28v&#61;office.14%29.aspx audio] element can be used to insert sound files into the speech. It supports files in PCM, a-law and u-law format, with 8 bits or 16 bits depth, and non-stereo (mono only).
 This is the syntax:
@@ Line 116: / Line 116: @@
 === Inserting pauses ===
-The {{Icode|break}} element can be used to insert pauses.
+The [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh361590%28v&#61;office.14%29.aspx break] element can be used to insert pauses.
 This is the syntax:
@@ Line 141: / Line 141: @@
 === Defining or changing the pronunciation of words ===
-There are two ways to instruct the speech synthesizer to pronounce a word in a specific way. To define a one-time pronunciation for a word, the {{Icode|phoneme}} element is a good option, but for words that need to be pronounced in a specific way every time they appear in the same document, or to define the pronunciation of more than one word in a single place, the {{Icode|lexicon}} element is the right option.
+There are two ways to instruct the speech synthesizer to pronounce a word in a specific way. To define a one-time pronunciation for a word, the [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh361694%28v&#61;office.14%29.aspx phoneme] element is a good option, but for words that need to be pronounced in a specific way every time they appear in the same document, or to define the pronunciation of more than one word in a single place, the [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh361599%28v&#61;office.14%29.aspx lexicon] element is the right option.
 It is important to take into account that when a document includes {{Icode|phoneme}} and {{Icode|lexicon}} elements, the speech synthesizer gives precedence  to phonemes.
@@ Line 198: / Line 198: @@
 </code>
-It is important to take into account that the lexicon will not be used if the current selected language is different from the one specified in the lexicon, for example if a different language was specified by code using the {{Icode|SetVoice}} method from the {{Icode|SpeechSynthesizer}} class, or a different language was defined in the root speak element of an SSML document.
+It is important to take into account that the lexicon will not be used if the current selected language is different from the one specified in the lexicon, for example if a different language was specified by code using the {{Icode|SetVoice}} method from the {{Icode|SpeechSynthesizer}} class, or a different language was defined in the root speak element of the SSML document.
-{{Note|The Microsoft's official documentation of the {{Icode|lexicon}} element (which is not specific for Windows Phone, ([http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh361599 link])) used to research and test some of the topics included in this article includes an example of a lexicon file with a '''pls''' extension, but using that extension causes an {{Icode|IO.FileNotFoundException}} on the Windows Phone 8 emulator, whereas files with and '''xml''' extension work well.}}
+{{Note|The Microsoft's official documentation of the {{Icode|lexicon}} element (which is not specific for Windows Phone, ([http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh361599 link])) used to research and test some of the topics included in this article includes an example of a lexicon file with a '''pls''' extension, but using that extension causes an {{Icode|IO.FileNotFoundException}} on the Windows Phone 8 emulator, whereas files with an '''xml''' extension work well.}}
 === Changing the voice used to speak ===
@@ Line 219: / Line 219: @@
-The voice can also be changed by using the {{Icode|voice}} SSML element.
+The voice can also be changed by using the [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh361574%28v&#61;office.14%29.aspx voice] SSML element.
 This is the syntax:
@@ Line 240: / Line 240: @@
 </code>
-Additionally, the voice's language can be changed when using the {{Icode|p}} and {{Icode|s}} elements, which are used to mark the paragraph and sentence structure of the SSML document when the automatically detected structure is not satisfactory to the developer.
+Additionally, the voice's language can be changed when using the [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh361585%28v&#61;office.14%29.aspx p and s] elements, which are used to mark the paragraph and sentence structure of the SSML document when the automatically detected structure is not satisfactory to the developer.
 This is the syntax:
@@ Line 265: / Line 265: @@
 === Changing the prosody of the speech ===
-Some changes to the prosody of the speech can be made by adding pauses with the {{Icode|break}} element, and defining the document structure with the {{Icode|p}} and {{Icode|s}} elements (all 3 have been explained in previous sections), but the element that provides the more fine-grained control over the prosody of the speech is the {{Icode|prosody}} element.  It can be used to control the pitch and the volume of the voice, among other things.
+Some changes to the prosody of the speech can be made by adding pauses with the {{Icode|break}} element, and defining the document structure with the {{Icode|p}} and {{Icode|s}} elements (all 3 have been explained in previous sections), but the element that provides the more fine-grained control over the prosody of the speech is the [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh361583%28v&#61;office.14%29.aspx prosody] element.  It can be used to control the pitch and the volume of the voice, among other things.
 This is the syntax:
@@ Line 298: / Line 298: @@
 === Monitoring speech progress ===
-The {{Icode|mark}} element is an empty element used to mark a specific position in a speech. When the speech synthesizer is playing the speech and finds a mark, it raises a {{Icode|SpeechBookmarkReached}} event that includes information to identify the {{Icode|mark}} element that triggered it, which the developer can use to perform any actions required.
+If an application needs to take specific actions depending on the progress of a speech, it can use the [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh361584%28v&#61;office.14%29.aspx mark] element.  It is an empty element used to mark a specific position in a speech. When the speech synthesizer is playing the speech and finds a mark, it raises a {{Icode|SpeechBookmarkReached}} event that includes information to identify the {{Icode|mark}} element that triggered it, which the developer can use to perform any actions required.
 This is the syntax:
@@ Line 344: / Line 344: @@
 === Specifying content type and aliasing parts of a speech ===
-The {{Icode|say-as}} element can be used to specify the content type of the text contained in the element, so the speech synthesizer knows how to pronounce it correctly.
+The [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh361652%28v&#61;office.14%29.aspx say-as] element can be used to specify the content type of the text contained in the element, so the speech synthesizer knows how to pronounce it correctly.
 This is the syntax:
@@ Line 370: / Line 370: @@
 </code>
-The {{Icode|sub}} element is used to define an alias for a string. It is probably not particularly useful as it works just as a one-time alias, so its intention is probably to give more clarity to the SSML document by providing a way to have a written and spoken form of the related text.
+The [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh361630%28v&#61;office.14%29.aspx sub] element is used to define an alias for a string. It is probably not particularly useful as it works just as a one-time alias, so its intention is probably to give more clarity to the SSML document by providing a way to have a written and spoken form of the related text.
 This is the syntax:

@@ Line 309: / Line 309: @@
 <code csharp>
-private async void Button7_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
+public MainPage()
+{
      synth.BookmarkReached += new TypedEventHandler<SpeechSynthesizer, SpeechBookmarkReachedEventArgs>(synth_BookmarkReached);
      ssmlText = "<speak version=\"1.0\" ";
      ssmlText += "xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/10/synthesis\" xml:lang=\"en-US\">";

@@ Line 106: / Line 106: @@
 ssmlText = "<speak version=\"1.0\" ";
 ssmlText += "xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/10/synthesis\" xml:lang=\"en-US\">";
-ssmlText += "Here comes the dog, <audio src=\"Assets/cats.wav\">Dog </audio>";
+ssmlText += "Here comes the dog, <audio src=\"ms-appx:///Assets/cats.wav\">Dog </audio>";
 ssmlText += "</speak>";
 await synth.SpeakSsmlAsync(ssmlText);
@@ Line 112: / Line 112: @@
 In this example, the file '''cats.wav''' that is located under the application's '''Assets''' subdirectory will be played after speaking the "Here comes the dog" text. If the sound file does not conform to the supported formats or if for any other reason the file cannot be played, the text that is included between the <audio> and </audio> tags will be spoken (in this case, "Dog").
 === Inserting pauses ===
@@ Line 190: / Line 192: @@
 ssmlText = "<speak version=\"1.0\" ";
 ssmlText += "xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/10/synthesis\" xml:lang=\"en-US\">";
-ssmlText += "<lexicon uri=\"Assets/lexicon1.xml\" type=\"application/pls+xml\"/>";
+ssmlText += "<lexicon uri=\"ms-appx:///Assets/lexicon1.xml\" type=\"application/pls+xml\"/>";
 ssmlText += "She is not my wife";
 ssmlText += "</speak>";

@@ Line 68: / Line 68: @@
 The Microsoft implementation of SSML is based on World Wide Web Consortium [http://www.w3.org/TR/speech-synthesis/ Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) Version 1.0.]
-The  {{Icode|SpeechSynthesizer}} class provides 2 methods to speak text that includes SSML markup. The first one, {{Icode|SpeakSsmlAsync}}, receives the text to speak as a parameter, and the second one,  {{Icode|SpeakSsmlFromUriAsync}}, speaks text from a standalone SSML document. The first one will be used to show the different speech characteristics that can be controlled by using SSML, and then a short explanation of how to speak the contents of a standalone document will be included.
+The  {{Icode|SpeechSynthesizer}} class provides 2 methods to speak text that includes SSML markup. The first one, {{Icode|SpeakSsmlAsync}}, receives the text to speak as a parameter, and the second one,  {{Icode|SpeakSsmlFromUriAsync}}, speaks text from a standalone SSML document. The first one will be used to show the different speech characteristics that can be controlled by using SSML, and at the end of the article a short explanation of how to speak the contents of a standalone document will be included.
 Each SSML document or string requires a {{Icode|speak}} element. It is the root element of the document, and can be used without any other elements. The {{Icode|speak}} element also specifies the language to be used.
@@ Line 77: / Line 77: @@
 </code>
-And here is an example:
+The three attributes ({{Icode|version}}, {{Icode|xmlns}} and {{Icode|xml:lang}}) are mandatory.
 <code csharp>
@@ Line 196: / Line 198: @@
 It is important to take into account that the lexicon will not be used if the current selected language is different from the one specified in the lexicon, for example if a different language was specified by code using the {{Icode|SetVoice}} method from the {{Icode|SpeechSynthesizer}} class, or a different language was defined in the root speak element of an SSML document.
-Another thing that is important to notice is that the Microsoft's official documentation of the {{Icode|lexicon}} element (which is not specific for Windows Phone, ([http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh361599 link])) used to research and test the topics included in this article includes an example of a lexicon file with a '''pls''' extension, but using that extension causes an {{Icode|IO.FileNotFoundException}} on Windows Phone 8, whereas files with and '''xml''' extension work well.
+{{Note|The Microsoft's official documentation of the {{Icode|lexicon}} element (which is not specific for Windows Phone, ([http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh361599 link])) used to research and test some of the topics included in this article includes an example of a lexicon file with a '''pls''' extension, but using that extension causes an {{Icode|IO.FileNotFoundException}} on the Windows Phone 8 emulator, whereas files with and '''xml''' extension work well.}}
 === Changing the voice used to speak ===
@@ Line 405: / Line 407: @@
 </code>
-It is important to notice that the Microsoft's official documentation on TTS for Windows Phone ([http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsphone/develop/jj207057%28v=vs.105%29.aspx link]) used to research and test some of the topics included in this article includes an example of an external SSML file with an '''ssml''' extension, but using that extension causes an {{Icode|IO.FileNotFoundException}} on the Windows Phone 8 emulator, whereas files with '''xml''' extension work well.
+{{Note|The Microsoft's official documentation on TTS for Windows Phone ([http://bit.ly/UDQ8HS link]) used to research and test some of the topics included in this article includes an example of an external SSML file with an '''ssml''' extension, but using that extension causes an {{Icode|IO.FileNotFoundException}} on the Windows Phone 8 emulator, whereas files with '''xml''' extension work well.}}
 == Source Code ==