Forum Discussion
Word Emphasis in Text to Speech
Is there a way to emphasize a particular word in the Text to Speech function?
For example, "This may not seem like a problem..."
In that example, is there a way to emphasize the word, "seem" in ...
I recently created an application that might address the need of adjusting the speed for Text to Speech in Storyline and the ability to add emphasis to words by using SSML tags. It’s a bit of a workaround though as you’ll have to go to the source that Storyline uses, Amazon Polly voices.
Here’s what you do:
- Get an Amazon Polly account (yes, there is some cost involved but doesn’t seem that prohibitive) (https://aws.amazon.com/polly/)
- Save your scripts as separate files (MS-Word or Text)
- Download HeroVoice TTS from the Microsoft Windows Store (fully functioning 15-day free trial)
- Encode your files with HeroVoice TTS – apply a global setting for speed and even comma duration so your files are consistent.
- Select the voice you want – these are the same as you’ll find in Storyline today including Neural voices (which aren’t currently available in Storyline)
- Load each audio file into Storyline
The supported SSML tags in Amazon Polly is a good resource as it will let you know which tags are supported for each voice type (Standard or Neural). The Neural voices are a higher quality voice and *don't* support the SSML emphasis tag.
