14 Apr, 2023
I remember when Windows 95 had the command prompt text to speech and would sit and have Microsoft Sam talk and tell jokes. Text to speech is not a new thing and actually quite common and useful. It can help with the visual impaired, part of a script used for directions, and just for fun!
First we need to have our console ready for the speech by adding in the System.Speech type assembly. This will utilize the SpeechSynthesizer object to be able to use the built in voices that we’re looking for to use Powershell voice.
Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Speech
$Speech = New-Object System.Speech.Synthesis.SpeechSynthesizerNow we have our assembly in our $Speech variable and can access the other items in the assembly class.
Go ahead and test the speech process:
$Speech.Speak("Hello, World!")So what all do we hae available to us? Let's see with the Get-Member command.
$Speech | Get-Member
TypeName: System.Speech.Synthesis.SpeechSynthesizer
Name MemberType Definition
---- ---------- ----------
BookmarkReached Event System.EventHandler`1[System.Speech.Synthesis.BookmarkReachedEventArgs] BookmarkReached(System.Object, System.Speech.Synthesis.BookmarkReachedEventArgs)
PhonemeReached Event System.EventHandler`1[System.Speech.Synthesis.PhonemeReachedEventArgs] PhonemeReached(System.Object, System.Speech.Synthesis.PhonemeReachedEventArgs)
SpeakCompleted Event System.EventHandler`1[System.Speech.Synthesis.SpeakCompletedEventArgs] SpeakCompleted(System.Object, System.Speech.Synthesis.SpeakCompletedEventArgs)
SpeakProgress Event System.EventHandler`1[System.Speech.Synthesis.SpeakProgressEventArgs] SpeakProgress(System.Object, System.Speech.Synthesis.SpeakProgressEventArgs)
SpeakStarted Event System.EventHandler`1[System.Speech.Synthesis.SpeakStartedEventArgs] SpeakStarted(System.Object, System.Speech.Synthesis.SpeakStartedEventArgs)
StateChanged Event System.EventHandler`1[System.Speech.Synthesis.StateChangedEventArgs] StateChanged(System.Object, System.Speech.Synthesis.StateChangedEventArgs)
VisemeReached Event System.EventHandler`1[System.Speech.Synthesis.VisemeReachedEventArgs] VisemeReached(System.Object, System.Speech.Synthesis.VisemeReachedEventArgs)
VoiceChange Event System.EventHandler`1[System.Speech.Synthesis.VoiceChangeEventArgs] VoiceChange(System.Object, System.Speech.Synthesis.VoiceChangeEventArgs)
AddLexicon Method void AddLexicon(uri uri, string mediaType)
Dispose Method void Dispose(), void IDisposable.Dispose()
Equals Method bool Equals(System.Object obj)
GetCurrentlySpokenPrompt Method System.Speech.Synthesis.Prompt GetCurrentlySpokenPrompt()
GetHashCode Method int GetHashCode()
GetInstalledVoices Method System.Collections.ObjectModel.ReadOnlyCollection[System.Speech.Synthesis.InstalledVoice] GetInstalledVoices(), System.Collections.ObjectModel.ReadOnlyCollection[System.Speech.Synthesis.InstalledVoice] GetInstalledVoices(cultu…
GetType Method type GetType()
Pause Method void Pause()
RemoveLexicon Method void RemoveLexicon(uri uri)
Resume Method void Resume()
SelectVoice Method void SelectVoice(string name)
SelectVoiceByHints Method void SelectVoiceByHints(System.Speech.Synthesis.VoiceGender gender), void SelectVoiceByHints(System.Speech.Synthesis.VoiceGender gender, System.Speech.Synthesis.VoiceAge age), void SelectVoiceByHints(System.Speech.Synthesis.Vo…
SetOutputToAudioStream Method void SetOutputToAudioStream(System.IO.Stream audioDestination, System.Speech.AudioFormat.SpeechAudioFormatInfo formatInfo)
SetOutputToDefaultAudioDevice Method void SetOutputToDefaultAudioDevice()
SetOutputToNull Method void SetOutputToNull()
SetOutputToWaveFile Method void SetOutputToWaveFile(string path), void SetOutputToWaveFile(string path, System.Speech.AudioFormat.SpeechAudioFormatInfo formatInfo)
SetOutputToWaveStream Method void SetOutputToWaveStream(System.IO.Stream audioDestination)
Speak Method void Speak(string textToSpeak), void Speak(System.Speech.Synthesis.Prompt prompt), void Speak(System.Speech.Synthesis.PromptBuilder promptBuilder)
SpeakAsync Method System.Speech.Synthesis.Prompt SpeakAsync(string textToSpeak), void SpeakAsync(System.Speech.Synthesis.Prompt prompt), System.Speech.Synthesis.Prompt SpeakAsync(System.Speech.Synthesis.PromptBuilder promptBuilder)
SpeakAsyncCancel Method void SpeakAsyncCancel(System.Speech.Synthesis.Prompt prompt)
SpeakAsyncCancelAll Method void SpeakAsyncCancelAll()
SpeakSsml Method void SpeakSsml(string textToSpeak)
SpeakSsmlAsync Method System.Speech.Synthesis.Prompt SpeakSsmlAsync(string textToSpeak)
ToString Method string ToString()
Rate Property int Rate {get;set;}
State Property System.Speech.Synthesis.SynthesizerState State {get;}
Voice Property System.Speech.Synthesis.VoiceInfo Voice {get;}
Volume Property int Volume {get;set;}We can see we have a lot to work with now. One neat thing is you can see what installed voices you have:
$Speech.GetInstalledVoices() | select -ExpandProperty VoiceInfo | select Name, Gender, Description
Name Gender Description
---- ------ -----------
Microsoft David Desktop Male Microsoft David Desktop - English (United States)
Microsoft Zira Desktop Female Microsoft Zira Desktop - English (United States)By default Microsoft has the Male voice but you can change that to the female voice too.
$Speech.SelectVoice("Microsoft Zira Desktop")
$Speech.Speak("Hello, World!")Now we just need a message and then we can talk about it!
$Message = "I learned how to use PowerShell to have the console speak to me today"
$Speech.Speak($Message)You know that beep the bios makes when booting, or used to depending on your motherboard and boot post settings? You can make that same noise happen from your console as well. This style of noise might also be beneficial if you'd like to alert your user of an error for instance.
[console]::beep(500,300)To adjust the tone and duration, the first number is the tone and second is the length of the beep. Try to keep the values for the tone between 190 and 8500, anything outside of these numbers can't be heard. The lower thr number the lower the tone, the higher the number the higher the tone.
How will you use the Text to Speech API - make a timer and announce the time, tell a joke, help walk a user through a process?
Here's a fun way to use the console beeps - to play the Mario Theme Song.
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