gl_talk function

Perform text to speech

Synthesizes speech synchronously: receive results after all text input has been processed.

gl_talk(
  input,
  output = "output.wav",
  languageCode = "en",
  gender = c("SSML_VOICE_GENDER_UNSPECIFIED", "MALE", "FEMALE", "NEUTRAL"),
  name = NULL,
  audioEncoding = c("LINEAR16", "MP3", "OGG_OPUS"),
  speakingRate = 1,
  pitch = 0,
  volumeGainDb = 0,
  sampleRateHertz = NULL,
  inputType = c("text", "ssml"),
  effectsProfileIds = NULL
)

Arguments

• input: The text to turn into speech
• output: Where to save the speech audio file
• languageCode: The language of the voice as a BCP-47 language code
• gender: The gender of the voice, if available
• name: Name of the voice, see list via gl_talk_languages for supported voices. Set to NULL to make the service choose a voice based on languageCode and gender.
• audioEncoding: Format of the requested audio stream
• speakingRate: Speaking rate/speed between 0.25 and 4.0
• pitch: Speaking pitch between -20.0 and 20.0 in semitones.
• volumeGainDb: Volumne gain in dB
• sampleRateHertz: Sample rate for returned audio
• inputType: Choose between text (the default) or SSML markup. The input text must be SSML markup if you choose ssml
• effectsProfileIds: Optional. An identifier which selects 'audio effects' profiles that are applied on (post synthesized) text to speech. Effects are applied on top of each other in the order they are given

Returns

The file output name you supplied as output

Details

Requires the Cloud Text-To-Speech API to be activated for your Google Cloud project.

Supported voices are here https://cloud.google.com/text-to-speech/docs/voices and can be imported into R via gl_talk_languages

To play the audio in code via a browser see gl_talk_player

To use Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) select inputType=ssml - more details on using this to insert pauses, sounds and breaks in your audio can be found here: https://cloud.google.com/text-to-speech/docs/ssml

To use audio profiles, supply a character vector of the available audio profiles listed here: https://cloud.google.com/text-to-speech/docs/audio-profiles - the audio profiles are applied in the order given. For instance effectsProfileIds="wearable-class-device" will optimise output for smart watches, effectsProfileIds=c("wearable-class-device","telephony-class-application") will apply sound filters optimised for smart watches, then telephonic devices.

Examples

## Not run:

library(magrittr)
gl_talk("The rain in spain falls mainly in the plain",
        output = "output.wav")

gl_talk("Testing my new audio player") %>% gl_talk_player()

# using SSML
gl_talk('<speak>The <say-as interpret-as=\"characters\">SSML</say-as>
  standard <break time=\"1s\"/>is defined by the
  <sub alias=\"World Wide Web Consortium\">W3C</sub>.</speak>',
  inputType =  "ssml")

# using effects profiles
gl_talk("This sounds great on headphones",
        effectsProfileIds = "headphone-class-device")
## End(Not run)

See Also

https://cloud.google.com/text-to-speech/docs/