Web/API/SpeechSynthesis

This is an experimental technologyCheck the Browser compatibility table carefully before using this in production.

The SpeechSynthesis interface of the Web Speech API is the controller interface for the speech service; this can be used to retrieve information about the synthesis voices available on the device, start and pause speech, and other commands besides.

Properties

SpeechSynthesis also inherits properties from its parent interface, EventTarget.

SpeechSynthesis.paused Read only: A Boolean that returns true if the SpeechSynthesis object is in a paused state.
SpeechSynthesis.pending Read only: A Boolean that returns true if the utterance queue contains as-yet-unspoken utterances.
SpeechSynthesis.speaking Read only: A Boolean that returns true if an utterance is currently in the process of being spoken — even if SpeechSynthesis is in a paused state.

Methods

SpeechSynthesis also inherits methods from its parent interface, EventTarget.

SpeechSynthesis.cancel(): Removes all utterances from the utterance queue.
SpeechSynthesis.getVoices(): Returns a list of SpeechSynthesisVoice objects representing all the available voices on the current device.
SpeechSynthesis.pause(): Puts the SpeechSynthesis object into a paused state.
SpeechSynthesis.resume(): Puts the SpeechSynthesis object into a non-paused state: resumes it if it was already paused.
SpeechSynthesis.speak(): Adds an utterance to the utterance queue; it will be spoken when any other utterances queued before it have been spoken.

Events

Listen to this event using addEventListener() or by assigning an event listener to the oneventname property of this interface.

voiceschanged: Fired when the list of SpeechSynthesisVoice objects that would be returned by the SpeechSynthesis.getVoices() method has changed. Also available via the onvoiceschanged property.

Examples

First, a simple example:

let utterance = new SpeechSynthesisUtterance("Hello world!");
speechSynthesis.speak(utterance);

Now we'll look at a more fully-fledged example. In our Speech synthesiser demo, we first grab a reference to the SpeechSynthesis controller using window.speechSynthesis. After defining some necessary variables, we retrieve a list of the voices available using SpeechSynthesis.getVoices() and populate a select menu with them so the user can choose what voice they want.

Inside the inputForm.onsubmit handler, we stop the form submitting with preventDefault(), create a new SpeechSynthesisUtterance instance containing the text from the text <input>, set the utterance's voice to the voice selected in the <select> element, and start the utterance speaking via the SpeechSynthesis.speak() method.

var synth = window.speechSynthesis;

var inputForm = document.querySelector('form');
var inputTxt = document.querySelector('.txt');
var voiceSelect = document.querySelector('select');

var pitch = document.querySelector('#pitch');
var pitchValue = document.querySelector('.pitch-value');
var rate = document.querySelector('#rate');
var rateValue = document.querySelector('.rate-value');

var voices = [];

function populateVoiceList() {
  voices = synth.getVoices();

  for(var i = 0; i < voices.length ; i++) {
    var option = document.createElement('option');
    option.textContent = voices[i].name + ' (' + voices[i].lang + ')';
    
    if(voices[i].default) {
      option.textContent += ' -- DEFAULT';
    }

    option.setAttribute('data-lang', voices[i].lang);
    option.setAttribute('data-name', voices[i].name);
    voiceSelect.appendChild(option);
  }
}

populateVoiceList();
if (speechSynthesis.onvoiceschanged !== undefined) {
  speechSynthesis.onvoiceschanged = populateVoiceList;
}

inputForm.onsubmit = function(event) {
  event.preventDefault();

  var utterThis = new SpeechSynthesisUtterance(inputTxt.value);
  var selectedOption = voiceSelect.selectedOptions[0].getAttribute('data-name');
  for(var i = 0; i < voices.length ; i++) {
    if(voices[i].name === selectedOption) {
      utterThis.voice = voices[i];
    }
  }
  utterThis.pitch = pitch.value;
  utterThis.rate = rate.value;
  synth.speak(utterThis);

  inputTxt.blur();
}

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
Web Speech APIThe definition of 'SpeechSynthesis' in that specification.	Draft

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
`SpeechSynthesis` Experimental'	Chrome Full support 33	Edge Full support ≤18	Firefox Full support 49	IE No support No	Opera Full support 21	Safari Full support 7	WebView Android Full support 4.4.3	Chrome Android Full support 33	Firefox Android Full support 62 Full support 62 No support 61 — 62 Disabled' Disabled' From version 61 until version 62 (exclusive): this feature is behind the `media.webspeech.synth.enabled` preference (needs to be set to `true`). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS Full support 7	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0
`cancel` Experimental'	Chrome Full support 33	Edge Full support 14	Firefox Full support 49	IE No support No	Opera Full support 21	Safari Full support 7	WebView Android Full support 4.4.3	Chrome Android Full support 33	Firefox Android Full support 62 Full support 62 No support 61 — 62 Disabled' Disabled' From version 61 until version 62 (exclusive): this feature is behind the `media.webspeech.synth.enabled` preference (needs to be set to `true`). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS Full support 7	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0
`getVoices` Experimental'	Chrome Full support 33	Edge Full support 14	Firefox Full support 49	IE No support No	Opera Full support 21	Safari Full support 7	WebView Android Full support 4.4.3	Chrome Android Full support 33	Firefox Android Full support 62 Full support 62 No support 61 — 62 Disabled' Disabled' From version 61 until version 62 (exclusive): this feature is behind the `media.webspeech.synth.enabled` preference (needs to be set to `true`). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS Full support 7	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0
`onvoiceschanged` Experimental'	Chrome Full support 33	Edge Full support 14	Firefox Full support 49	IE No support No	Opera No support No	Safari No support No	WebView Android Full support 4.4.3	Chrome Android Full support 33	Firefox Android Full support 62 Full support 62 No support 61 — 62 Disabled' Disabled' From version 61 until version 62 (exclusive): this feature is behind the `media.webspeech.synth.enabled` preference (needs to be set to `true`). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0
`pause` Experimental'	Chrome Full support 33	Edge Full support 14	Firefox Full support 49	IE No support No	Opera Full support 21	Safari Full support 7	WebView Android Full support 4.4.3 Notes' Full support 4.4.3 Notes' Notes' In Android, `pause()` ends the current utterance. `pause()` behaves the same as `cancel()`.	Chrome Android Full support 33 Notes' Full support 33 Notes' Notes' In Android, `pause()` ends the current utterance. `pause()` behaves the same as `cancel()`.	Firefox Android Full support 62 Notes' Full support 62 Notes' Notes' In Android, `pause()` ends the current utterance. `pause()` behaves the same as `cancel()`. No support 61 — 62 Notes' Disabled' Notes' In Android, `pause()` ends the current utterance. `pause()` behaves the same as `cancel()`. Disabled' From version 61 until version 62 (exclusive): this feature is behind the `media.webspeech.synth.enabled` preference (needs to be set to `true`). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS Full support 7	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0 Notes' Full support 3.0 Notes' Notes' In Android, `pause()` ends the current utterance. `pause()` behaves the same as `cancel()`.
`paused` Experimental'	Chrome Full support 33	Edge Full support 14	Firefox Full support 49	IE No support No	Opera Full support 21	Safari Full support 7	WebView Android Full support 4.4.3	Chrome Android Full support 33	Firefox Android Full support 62 Full support 62 No support 61 — 62 Disabled' Disabled' From version 61 until version 62 (exclusive): this feature is behind the `media.webspeech.synth.enabled` preference (needs to be set to `true`). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS Full support 7	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0
`pending` Experimental'	Chrome Full support 33	Edge Full support 14	Firefox Full support 49	IE No support No	Opera Full support 21	Safari Full support 7	WebView Android Full support 4.4.3	Chrome Android Full support 33	Firefox Android Full support 62 Full support 62 No support 61 — 62 Disabled' Disabled' From version 61 until version 62 (exclusive): this feature is behind the `media.webspeech.synth.enabled` preference (needs to be set to `true`). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS Full support 7	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0
`resume` Experimental'	Chrome Full support 33	Edge Full support 14	Firefox Full support 49	IE No support No	Opera Full support 21	Safari Full support 7	WebView Android Full support 4.4.3	Chrome Android Full support 33	Firefox Android Full support 62 Full support 62 No support 61 — 62 Disabled' Disabled' From version 61 until version 62 (exclusive): this feature is behind the `media.webspeech.synth.enabled` preference (needs to be set to `true`). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS Full support 7	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0
`speak` Experimental'	Chrome Full support 33	Edge Full support 14	Firefox Full support 49	IE No support No	Opera Full support 21	Safari Full support 7	WebView Android Full support 4.4.3	Chrome Android Full support 33	Firefox Android Full support 62 Full support 62 No support 61 — 62 Disabled' Disabled' From version 61 until version 62 (exclusive): this feature is behind the `media.webspeech.synth.enabled` preference (needs to be set to `true`). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS Full support 7	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0
`speaking` Experimental'	Chrome Full support 33	Edge Full support 14	Firefox Full support 49	IE No support No	Opera Full support 21	Safari Full support 7	WebView Android Full support 4.4.3	Chrome Android Full support 33	Firefox Android Full support 62 Full support 62 No support 61 — 62 Disabled' Disabled' From version 61 until version 62 (exclusive): this feature is behind the `media.webspeech.synth.enabled` preference (needs to be set to `true`). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS Full support 7	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0
`voiceschanged` event Experimental'	Chrome Full support 33	Edge Full support 14	Firefox Full support 49	IE No support No	Opera Full support 21	Safari Full support 7	WebView Android Full support 4.4.3	Chrome Android Full support 33	Firefox Android Full support 62 Full support 62 No support 61 — 62 Disabled' Disabled' From version 61 until version 62 (exclusive): this feature is behind the `media.webspeech.synth.enabled` preference (needs to be set to `true`). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS Full support 7	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0

Legend

Full support: Full support
No support: No support
Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.': Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.
See implementation notes.': See implementation notes.
User must explicitly enable this feature.': User must explicitly enable this feature.