Web/API/SpeechSynthesisErrorEvent/error

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

The error property of the SpeechSynthesisErrorEvent interface returns an error code indicating what has gone wrong with a speech synthesis attempt.

Syntax

myError = event.error;

Value

A DOMString containing an error code. Possible codes are:

canceled: A SpeechSynthesis.cancel method call caused the SpeechSynthesisUtterance to be removed from the queue before it had begun being spoken.
interrupted: A SpeechSynthesis.cancel method call caused the SpeechSynthesisUtterance to be interrupted after it had begun being spoken and before it completed.
audio-busy: The operation couldn't be completed at this time because the user-agent couldn't access the audio output device (for example, the user may need to correct this by closing another application.)
audio-hardware: The operation couldn't be completed at this time because the user-agent couldn't identify an audio output device (for example, the user may need to connect a speaker or configure system settings.)
network: The operation couldn't be completed at this time because some required network communication failed.
synthesis-unavailable: The operation couldn't be completed at this time because no synthesis engine was available (For example, the user may need to install or configure a synthesis engine.)
synthesis-failed: The operation failed because the synthesis engine raised an error.
language-unavailable: No appropriate voice was available for the language set in SpeechSynthesisUtterance.lang.
voice-unavailable: The voice set in SpeechSynthesisUtterance.voice was not available.
text-too-long: The contents of the SpeechSynthesisUtterance.text attribute was too long to synthesize.
invalid-argument: The content of the SpeechSynthesisUtterance.rate, SpeechSynthesisUtterance.pitch or SpeechSynthesisUtterance.volume property was not valid.

Examples

var synth = window.speechSynthesis;

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

var voices = synth.getVoices();

  ...

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

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

  synth.speak(utterThis);

  utterThis.onerror = function(event) {
    console.error('An error has occurred with the speech synthesis: ' + event.error);
  }

  inputTxt.blur();
}

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
Web Speech APIThe definition of 'error' 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
`error` 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 No support No	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.
User must explicitly enable this feature.': User must explicitly enable this feature.