I've been using Articulate 360's voice to speech feature in software simulations, instead of the text bubbles. I've noticed that frequently the first word or syllable gets cut off. For example If a sentence starts with "To edit a document..." The "To" gets cut off. I tried inserting some spaces with the keyboard space bar or dots to no avail.
Any tricks to fix this?
Also, are there tricks to improve the intonation? I've noticed that adding commas between words can make a difference sometimes.
Not sure what you are running into. I just created a quick sample in AS360 using text to speech and it didn't cut off the "To" in a sentence I setup. Did you run into this with only selected characters? I think I used the " Joanna" voice.
I haven't run into that either, but we'd be happy to take a look at your example too.
Some basic tips and tricks on using text to speech:
always look to use proper punctuation and spelling (i.e. it’s vs. its)
use commas to break up speech, it will act like a pause.
spell out abbreviation words such as “Street” vs. St.
use “one half” instead of 1/2
avoid use of any slang
try to spell words out phonetically to allow for easier reading to speech
The text-to-speech algorithm is constantly learning and updating based on all the input from users, so you should see a consistently better experience each time.
My team shared a basic thought that you don’t want to leave a lot of interpretation to a computer, so being as specific and concise as possible is key here!
First of all I just want to say the the text to speech is an awesome feature which I am using extensively. However, this is an important thing that detracts it.
Sometimes, when I play a video with text to speech, the first syllable (or full word if it is very short such as "if" or "to") is not heard. Perhaps it's because the video can be a bit sluggish when it starts playing. Regardless, it is good practice to have slight (say 1 sec.) silence at the start of each clip so that the learner has a moment to "tune their brain" into the clip before it starts talking. At In some instances, it is also useful to insert moments of silence between words to emphasize a point or switch to a new concept that you introduce.
My question is...
Is there a trick to insert a silence before or between words?
I tried inserting different characters such as commas or periods but that it didn't help. Imagine how simple it would be. Each comma adds a second of silence For example:
Example 1 ,,,,Welcome to this course.
Example 2 Take a moment to look at this diagram,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Have you noticed the bla, bla, bla?
A workaround is to Edit Audio and insert a silence. However, that's time consuming and lost once you edit the Text-to-Speech or regenerate it.
I really like your idea of using a specific "code" to insert silence before or between words, and that would make an excellent feature request! I'll pass the idea along to our product team for you.
For now, use punctuation, such as commas and semicolons, when you want to insert brief pauses between words. If you need a pause before the first word, convert your text to speech, then open the clip in the built-in audio editor and insert silence where it's needed.
As humans we don't always follow phonetics in our speech patterns as rigidly as these character voices do so you end up with word pronunciations that sound odd and more robotic. If you could add the ability to mark vowels to be long or short in the text to speech edit box that would help some. Sometimes you want the short "a" instead of the long "a" or vice-versa.
Then the other thing humans do is vocal inflection. We don't hit every single word in a sentence exactly the same emphasis, or in the case of these character voices, with no emphasis on any word. That's what makes them sound robotic. Perhaps in the text to speech edit box you could add the ability to highlight a word and make it bold and then then the character would emphasis that word a little bit more. And, for words that have more than one syllable, you could highlight and bold just the syllable that you want emphasized. That would really help make these voices sound more natural.
Thank you all for the suggestions. I have been using text to speech a lot and many times I have to write the words differently to have a good pronunciation. The other issue I find is that in many cases when I write a sentence and put a period, seems like the voice does not recognize the end of the sentence.
As for use the phonetics to write, it really doesn't work really well. Any other suggestions?
Several months later and I am still having problems with the first word of text to speech being cut off. My customers have also complained about this and I find it hard to reproduce. It only happens sometimes. When you replay, it usually doesn't happen again.
I am attaching a short.story file with a few blank slides which have text to speech insterted.
Please preview the entire course and listen to the first word in the first slide. The word is "To" and it only gets cut off when you play the first slide.
You can also test the published output by clicking here. Let me know if you hear the audio cut off while testing that link. If so, be sure to indicate what browser you were using while testing.
Hello Alyssa, I just wanted to echo the same issue that Amos is having. I am finding that the text to speech feature (while awesome) will not only cut off the firstword of a sentence but the entire first phrase. For example:
Original Text: 5) If the laboratory’s submission for the repeat deficiency is different from the POC or AOC
Closed Captioning will capture: .....deficiency is different from the POC or AOC
The entire first phrase will be spoken but missed in closed captioning: 5) If the laboratory’s submission for the repeat
I tried copying and pasting from a MS Word document, using the Copy feature integrated into Text-To-Speech, and manually copying the text. It is happening with another developer within my company as well. This feature is crucial for us since 508 compliance is mandatory. The lessons we are developing are 100+ slides each (1,600 slide course). Having to validate each work in the closed captioning is extremely time consuming. Any support you can offer is greatly appreciated.
Thanks for reaching out, and great call to open a case! I see that my teammate, Ronaziel, has reached out with some questions and next steps. Be sure to review what she sent and feel free to upload your file if you need further help!
Thanks Ren,
I plan to definitely follow-up with her as well.
As an update:
1. We are using Storyline Version: 3.37.21614.0
2. The issue occurs during development and is happening across projects. New and current files are effected. Another developer within the company and replicate the issue. All developers work on their local drive.
3. I would have to obtain special permission to share a storyline file since we are developing for a government agency.
Chanda D. Boone, MS
Senior Learning Architect
[SmallLogo]
1803 Research Blvd. Suite 300
Rockville, MD 20850
Mobile: (757) 744-9313
www.hendall.com
Thanks for the details! I see you've shared this as well with Ronaziel and are continuing to troubleshoot.
By the way, it looks like you may have replied by email where your contact information came through. This Peek video will show you how to edit it out if you’d like!
We were unable to fix this problem in our eLearning. It has caused several of our customers to complain. I've found that it is intermittent and possibly happens when the internet connection or computer is sluggish.
My original suggestion (in one of my previous posts here) is that Articluate make a change to 'Text to Speech' such that an short (say 1 sec.) pause is inserted automatically at the start of each audio clip.
Thank you for sharing these extra details! You do need an internet connection to use the Text-to-Speech feature so I can see how the connectivity could impact the quality of the audio clip.
On the other hand, the audio clip can be played without an internet connection. Is it possible to check the connectivity prior to generating a Text-To-Speech recording?
This has been happening with me too (with text to speech) and I tried several methods to try and overcome it. However, the issue of the first word being cut-off was still occurring. It also happens with e-learning courses created within our organization using A360.
So I thought I would try something out...
I use headphones whilst working on audio and when I preview or play the course with headphones on (wireless connection), there is the 'lag' that cuts off the first word on initial play (replaying it works fine). However, I tried it without my headphones and listened through my laptop's speakers and there was no lag and the audio played perfectly.
Can anyone confirm that this may be one of the issues causing this? I hope this may help some of you?
Thanks for chiming in with your troubleshooting steps! I'm glad you were able to narrow it down to your headphones.
Have you tried a different set of headphones or publishing the course to Review 360 to test your file? You may also want to consider sharing the published course with colleagues to see if they come across the same experience.
In our case, the issue was not related to earphones. It occured to all users regardless of what audio devices they used (the computer's speakers or headsets).
I too have found that the first few syllables (sometimes multiple words) cannot be heard and based on Paul's response about headsets. I tested it and indeed, when i didn't use my headset it was fine. I think there may be something with the lag that a headset is used. I am not a tech guru, but is there a difference between the plantronics headset receiver I use and if someone were to use wired/wireless headphones or earbuds?
Not being able to use a headset could prove problematic during this new era of literally exclusive telecommuting and having to rely on the use of a headset receiver while working.
Hi Stacy. I normally use the wireless Plantronic headphones (which seems to cause the lag) but I have tried with some wired Sennheiser headphones and it works fine. Hope this helps?
I'm sorry you are both experiencing this issue! Chanda, I spotted a support case you were working in with my teammate Ronaziel, but it's pretty outdated, so I'd like to start fresh.
I've gone ahead and created a new support case for you both, so if possible, could I have you share your project with the private upload link I emailed sent to your inboxes? Even a sample or partial file would be helpful!
44 Replies
Amos,
Not sure what you are running into. I just created a quick sample in AS360 using text to speech and it didn't cut off the "To" in a sentence I setup. Did you run into this with only selected characters? I think I used the " Joanna" voice.
Richard
Hi Amos,
I haven't run into that either, but we'd be happy to take a look at your example too.
Some basic tips and tricks on using text to speech:
The text-to-speech algorithm is constantly learning and updating based on all the input from users, so you should see a consistently better experience each time.
My team shared a basic thought that you don’t want to leave a lot of interpretation to a computer, so being as specific and concise as possible is key here!
Let us know if you need anything else.
Ashley,
Thanks a lot for your useful tips.
First of all I just want to say the the text to speech is an awesome feature which I am using extensively. However, this is an important thing that detracts it.
Sometimes, when I play a video with text to speech, the first syllable (or full word if it is very short such as "if" or "to") is not heard. Perhaps it's because the video can be a bit sluggish when it starts playing. Regardless, it is good practice to have slight (say 1 sec.) silence at the start of each clip so that the learner has a moment to "tune their brain" into the clip before it starts talking. At In some instances, it is also useful to insert moments of silence between words to emphasize a point or switch to a new concept that you introduce.
My question is...
Is there a trick to insert a silence before or between words?
I tried inserting different characters such as commas or periods but that it didn't help. Imagine how simple it would be. Each comma adds a second of silence For example:
Example 1
,,,,Welcome to this course.
Example 2
Take a moment to look at this diagram,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Have you noticed the bla, bla, bla?
A workaround is to Edit Audio and insert a silence. However, that's time consuming and lost once you edit the Text-to-Speech or regenerate it.
Hi Amos,
I really like your idea of using a specific "code" to insert silence before or between words, and that would make an excellent feature request! I'll pass the idea along to our product team for you.
For now, use punctuation, such as commas and semicolons, when you want to insert brief pauses between words. If you need a pause before the first word, convert your text to speech, then open the clip in the built-in audio editor and insert silence where it's needed.
As humans we don't always follow phonetics in our speech patterns as rigidly as these character voices do so you end up with word pronunciations that sound odd and more robotic. If you could add the ability to mark vowels to be long or short in the text to speech edit box that would help some. Sometimes you want the short "a" instead of the long "a" or vice-versa.
Then the other thing humans do is vocal inflection. We don't hit every single word in a sentence exactly the same emphasis, or in the case of these character voices, with no emphasis on any word. That's what makes them sound robotic. Perhaps in the text to speech edit box you could add the ability to highlight a word and make it bold and then then the character would emphasis that word a little bit more. And, for words that have more than one syllable, you could highlight and bold just the syllable that you want emphasized. That would really help make these voices sound more natural.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Tom.
I've submitted a feature request on your behalf.
Thank you all for the suggestions. I have been using text to speech a lot and many times I have to write the words differently to have a good pronunciation. The other issue I find is that in many cases when I write a sentence and put a period, seems like the voice does not recognize the end of the sentence.
As for use the phonetics to write, it really doesn't work really well. Any other suggestions?
Here is an example of what I mentioned on my previous message.
On this recording I have two sentences:
"Once site access is ready, your account will be set up with your email address as your user name."
"You will receive an email with a link to log in and set your own, secure password."
To me it doesn't almost sound as two sentences. Let me know what you think.
Maria
Hi Maria,
Thanks for including the WAV file. I do hear a pause between the two sentences. For a longer pause, you could add silence using the audio editor.
Let me know if you have other questions!
Several months later and I am still having problems with the first word of text to speech being cut off. My customers have also complained about this and I find it hard to reproduce. It only happens sometimes. When you replay, it usually doesn't happen again.
I am attaching a short.story file with a few blank slides which have text to speech insterted.
Please preview the entire course and listen to the first word in the first slide. The word is "To" and it only gets cut off when you play the first slide.
Any ideas how to avoid this issue?
Hi Amos!
Thanks for sending over your file. I had a look, and I was able to hear the entire audio clip on each slide. Here's a screen recording of my testing.
You can also test the published output by clicking here. Let me know if you hear the audio cut off while testing that link. If so, be sure to indicate what browser you were using while testing.
I'll be standing by!
Hello Alyssa, I just wanted to echo the same issue that Amos is having. I am finding that the text to speech feature (while awesome) will not only cut off the first word of a sentence but the entire first phrase. For example:
Original Text: 5) If the laboratory’s submission for the repeat deficiency is different from the POC or AOC
Closed Captioning will capture: .....deficiency is different from the POC or AOC
The entire first phrase will be spoken but missed in closed captioning: 5) If the laboratory’s submission for the repeat
I tried copying and pasting from a MS Word document, using the Copy feature integrated into Text-To-Speech, and manually copying the text. It is happening with another developer within my company as well. This feature is crucial for us since 508 compliance is mandatory. The lessons we are developing are 100+ slides each (1,600 slide course). Having to validate each work in the closed captioning is extremely time consuming. Any support you can offer is greatly appreciated.
Hi Chanda,
Thanks for reaching out, and great call to open a case! I see that my teammate, Ronaziel, has reached out with some questions and next steps. Be sure to review what she sent and feel free to upload your file if you need further help!
Thanks Ren,
I plan to definitely follow-up with her as well.
As an update:
1. We are using Storyline Version: 3.37.21614.0
2. The issue occurs during development and is happening across projects. New and current files are effected. Another developer within the company and replicate the issue. All developers work on their local drive.
3. I would have to obtain special permission to share a storyline file since we are developing for a government agency.
Chanda D. Boone, MS
Senior Learning Architect
[SmallLogo]
1803 Research Blvd. Suite 300
Rockville, MD 20850
Mobile: (757) 744-9313
www.hendall.com
Hi Chanda,
Thanks for the details! I see you've shared this as well with Ronaziel and are continuing to troubleshoot.
By the way, it looks like you may have replied by email where your contact information came through. This Peek video will show you how to edit it out if you’d like!
Hi Chanda and Ren,
We were unable to fix this problem in our eLearning. It has caused several of our customers to complain. I've found that it is intermittent and possibly happens when the internet connection or computer is sluggish.
My original suggestion (in one of my previous posts here) is that Articluate make a change to 'Text to Speech' such that an short (say 1 sec.) pause is inserted automatically at the start of each audio clip.
Hi Amos!
Thank you for sharing these extra details! You do need an internet connection to use the Text-to-Speech feature so I can see how the connectivity could impact the quality of the audio clip.
On the other hand, the audio clip can be played without an internet connection. Is it possible to check the connectivity prior to generating a Text-To-Speech recording?
Hi All.
This has been happening with me too (with text to speech) and I tried several methods to try and overcome it. However, the issue of the first word being cut-off was still occurring. It also happens with e-learning courses created within our organization using A360.
So I thought I would try something out...
I use headphones whilst working on audio and when I preview or play the course with headphones on (wireless connection), there is the 'lag' that cuts off the first word on initial play (replaying it works fine). However, I tried it without my headphones and listened through my laptop's speakers and there was no lag and the audio played perfectly.
Can anyone confirm that this may be one of the issues causing this? I hope this may help some of you?
Hi Paul,
Thanks for chiming in with your troubleshooting steps! I'm glad you were able to narrow it down to your headphones.
Have you tried a different set of headphones or publishing the course to Review 360 to test your file? You may also want to consider sharing the published course with colleagues to see if they come across the same experience.
Hi Ren and Paul,
In our case, the issue was not related to earphones. It occured to all users regardless of what audio devices they used (the computer's speakers or headsets).
I too have found that the first few syllables (sometimes multiple words) cannot be heard and based on Paul's response about headsets. I tested it and indeed, when i didn't use my headset it was fine. I think there may be something with the lag that a headset is used. I am not a tech guru, but is there a difference between the plantronics headset receiver I use and if someone were to use wired/wireless headphones or earbuds?
Not being able to use a headset could prove problematic during this new era of literally exclusive telecommuting and having to rely on the use of a headset receiver while working.
Hi Stacy. I normally use the wireless Plantronic headphones (which seems to cause the lag) but I have tried with some wired Sennheiser headphones and it works fine. Hope this helps?
Hi Amos, I am having this problem and it's 4 years on from your original post.
Has there been any further update to this?
Thanks!
There has been no response and I still experience the same issue.
Hello Jade & Chanda,
I'm sorry you are both experiencing this issue! Chanda, I spotted a support case you were working in with my teammate Ronaziel, but it's pretty outdated, so I'd like to start fresh.
I've gone ahead and created a new support case for you both, so if possible, could I have you share your project with the private upload link I emailed sent to your inboxes? Even a sample or partial file would be helpful!