Forum Discussion
Text to speech - How to fix the first word being cut off
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.
65 Replies
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:
- 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!
Let us know if you need anything else.
Can we get someone from Articulate to chime in on this problem that seems unresolved 7 years later? Adding a second silence at the start helps, but not all TTS can afford to have a second delay before being played. This is a huge hassle and gives a terrible user expierence for our learners.
I am running into the same issue.
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
