Forum Discussion
Can I slow down the audio voice selected in Storyline 360?
I am using one of the audio voice pre-loaded in Storyline 360 and it seems they are all speaking very fast. Is there a way to slow their speech?
Hi, everyone!
I have some great news to share. We just released another update for Storyline 360. In Update 83, we've included important fixes and new features!
One of the new features we've included:
- Unlock new possibilities for text-to-speech audio. Use speech synthesis markup language (SSML) to adjust the speaking rate, modify pronunciation, emphasize words, add pauses, and more.
Launch the Articulate 360 desktop app on your computer to take advantage of this update, and click the Update button next to Storyline 360. You'll find our step-by-step instructions here.
Please let me know if you need additional help!
I'd like to add my voice to this request too. I've submitted a feature request too.
Many of our customers are delivering courses in English, to staff for whom English is an additional language. Being able to slow down the speed of TTS would make their learning experience a more positive one and would reduce the need for lengthy workarounds during course development.
I used to use Blaster online for text to speech. It had codes you could put into it for pauses and to speed up and slow down the speech,
[startSpeech v=Loud startSpeech][endSpeech]
[sPause sec=3.4 ePause]
I have tried these in Storyline. They do not work, however I think it would be an easy fix on Articulates side.
Hi, everyone!
I have some great news to share. We just released another update for Storyline 360. In Update 83, we've included important fixes and new features!
One of the new features we've included:
- Unlock new possibilities for text-to-speech audio. Use speech synthesis markup language (SSML) to adjust the speaking rate, modify pronunciation, emphasize words, add pauses, and more.
Launch the Articulate 360 desktop app on your computer to take advantage of this update, and click the Update button next to Storyline 360. You'll find our step-by-step instructions here.
Please let me know if you need additional help!
Hi there Eric
Just wondering if there are any further detail or instruction on how to use the SSML codes in TTS? I tried entering the command into my text to slow down speech rate <prosody rate="slow"> but all that happened was Olivia read that as part of the TTS script! So clearly, I am missing something in applying this process.Cheers Julie
Hi Julie,
I also tried it when the update came out last week. It does not seem to work. Maybe we're missing something bit I just think it doesn't work yet.
I got it to work. I tried recreating the sample paragraph they have here, but got an error when I tried to insert it. I removed the <p>, and it works fine. (Even though the documentation says that is valid for neural and non-neural voices. 🤷♀️
Still lots of experimenting to do, but it seems promising.
Hi Terry, would you mind sharing the scripting for that piece of work with us here so we can understand what you changed in the commands to make it work? I am sure if this is possible it would be of interest to many of us. :)
cheers Julie
To be honest, I just went to the page that I linked above (it's the same one as the "Control speech with SSML formatting" in the Insert text-to-speech dialog). I copied the text in the first image and pasted it into the Insert text-to-speech dialog and when I clicked "Insert" I got the error "
Storyline 360 can't convert this text to speech. Verify the SSML tags are correct and supported for the selected voice."
So I tried removing the tags one by one, and it seemed that the <p> was causing problems.However, I tried it again with the exact same text in a new story file, and now I'm not getting the error, so I suppose my copy/paste included some weird characters or something. But now I get the voice dictating the "speak" and other tags - only about half the time, and I'm not sure why that is.
Maybe still a few glitches for them to work out?
This is the script from that image:
<speak>
Welcome, fellow adventure seekers! In this course, we'll learn about Udaipur, <prosody rate="x-slow">one of the most enchanting cities in India.</prosody> Udaipur, often referred to as the city of lakes, is a beautiful destination with its picturesque lakes, palaces, and havelis.
<p>Udaipur is not just about lakes and palaces. A tree house especially made atop a 65-year-old mango tree is another one of its prized treasures. </p> </speak>
