Web/API/Window/speechSynthesis

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

The speechSynthesis read-only property of the Window object returns a SpeechSynthesis object, which is the entry point into using Web Speech API speech synthesis functionality.

Syntax

var synth = window.speechSynthesis;

Value

A SpeechSynthesis object.

Examples

In our basic 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('input');
var voiceSelect = document.querySelector('select');


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

  for(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(i = 0; i < voices.length ; i++) {
    if(voices[i].name === selectedOption) {
      utterThis.voice = voices[i];
    }
  }
  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`	Chrome Full support 33	Edge Full support 14	Firefox Full support 49	IE No support No	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support 7	WebView Android Full support 37	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS Full support 7	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes

Legend

Full support: Full support
No support: No support