NAME

Speech::eSpeak - Perl extension for eSpeak text to speech

SYNOPSIS

use Speech::eSpeak;
$speaker = Speech::eSpeak::new();
$speaker->speak('hello world');

DESCRIPTION

eSpeak is a compact open source software speech synthesizer for English and other languages. It's written by Jonathan Duddington. You can find more information from http://espeak.sourceforge.net. This package is direct binding for eSpeak, which is based on the API (version 6) of speak_lib.h.

EXPORT

None by default.

Exportable constants

AUDIO_OUTPUT_PLAYBACK
AUDIO_OUTPUT_RETRIEVAL
AUDIO_OUTPUT_SYNCHRONOUS
EE_BUFFER_FULL
EE_INTERNAL_ERROR
EE_OK
N_SPEECH_PARAM
POS_CHARACTER
POS_SENTENCE
POS_WORD
espeakCAPITALS
espeakCHARS_8BIT
espeakCHARS_AUTO
espeakCHARS_UTF8
espeakCHARS_WCHAR
espeakEMPHASIS
espeakENDPAUSE
espeakEVENT_LIST_TERMINATED
espeakEVENT_WORD
espeakEVENT_SENTENCE
espeakEVENT_MARK
espeakEVENT_PLAY
espeakEVENT_END
espeakEVENT_MSG_TERMINATED
espeakEVENT_PHONEME
espeakKEEP_NAMEDATA
espeakLINELENGTH
espeakPHONEMES
espeakPITCH
espeakPUNCTUATION
espeakPUNCT_ALL
espeakPUNCT_NONE
espeakPUNCT_SOME
espeakRANGE
espeakRATE
espeakSILENCE
espeakSSML
espeakVOLUME

FUNCTIONS(simplified)

new({ datadir => '/opt/espeak' })

Initialize speaker. Only one object should be created. Or unexpected error will occured. Pass a hashref with key datadir pointing to a directory of where to find the vendor specific '/espeak-data' data dir. Defaults to /usr/share.

speak($text)

Speak $text.

synchronize()

It won't return until all speech in the buffer finished.

stop()

Stop speaking.

is_playing()

Return whether the speak is playing. 1 for playing, 0 otherwise.

language($language)

If $language is specified, it is set as current language. Or current value is returned.

Return:

Current language if parameter $language is not specified.
EE_OK: operation achieved
EE_BUFFER_FULL: the command can not be buffered; you may try after a while to call the function again.
EE_INTERNAL_ERROR.

pitch($pitch)

If $pitch is specified, it is set as base pitch. Or current pitch is returned. The range of pitch is 0 to 100. 50 is normal.

range($range)

If $range is specified, it is set as pitch range. Or current range is returned. The value of range is from 0 to 100. 0 for monotone and 50 is normal.

rate($rate)

If $rage is specified, it is set as the speaking speed in word per minute. Or current rate is returned. 170 is the initial value.

volume($volume)

If $volume is specified, it is set as the volume. Or current volume is returned. The value is from 0 to 100. 0 for silence.

FUNCTIONS(standard)

espeak_SetSynthCallback($callback)

Not implemented yet.

espeak_SetUriCallback($callback)

Not implemented yet.

espeak_Synth($text, $size, $position, $position_type, $end_position, $flags, $unique_identifier, $user_data)

Synthesize speech for the specified text.

$text: The text to be spoken.

$size: Equal to (or greatrer than) the size of the text data, in bytes. This is used in order to allocate internal storage space for the text. This value is not used for AUDIO_OUTPUT_SYNCHRONOUS mode. In normal case, $size = length($text) + 1;

$position: The position in the text where speaking starts. Zero indicates speak from the start of the text.

$position_type: Determines whether "position" is a number of characters, words, or sentences. SEE "espeak_POSITION_TYPE"

$end_position: If set, this gives a character position at which speaking will stop. A value of zero indicates no end position.

$flags: These may be OR'd together:

Type of character codes, one of:

espeakCHARS_UTF8 UTF8 encoding
espeakCHARS_8BIT The 8 bit ISO-8859 character set for the particular language.
espeakCHARS_AUTO 8 bit or UTF8 (this is the default)
espeakCHARS_WCHAR Wide characters (wchar_t)

espeakSSML Elements within < > are treated as SSML elements, or if not recognised are ignored.

espeakPHONEMES Text within [[ ]] is treated as phonemes codes (in espeak's Hirschenbaum encoding).

espeakENDPAUSE If set then a sentence pause is added at the end of the text. If not set then this pause is suppressed.

$unique_identifier: message identifier; helpful for identifying later data supplied to the callback.

$user_data: pointer which will be passed to the callback function.

Return:

EE_OK: operation achieved
EE_BUFFER_FULL: the command can not be buffered; you may try after a while to call the function again.
EE_INTERNAL_ERROR.

espeak_Synth_Mark($text, $size, $index_mark, $end_position, $flags, $unique_identifier, $user_data)

Synthesize speech for the specified text. Similar to espeak_Synth() but the start position is specified by the name of a <mark> element in the text.

$index_mark: The "name" attribute of a <mark> element within the text which specified the point at which synthesis starts. UTF8 string.

For the other parameters, see espeak_Synth()

Return:

EE_OK: operation achieved
EE_BUFFER_FULL: the command can not be buffered; you may try after a while to call the function again.
EE_INTERNAL_ERROR.

espeak_Key($key_name)

Speak the name of a keyboard key. Currently this just speaks the "key_name" as given

Return:

EE_OK: operation achieved
EE_BUFFER_FULL: the command can not be buffered; you may try after a while to call the function again.
EE_INTERNAL_ERROR.

espeak_Char($character)

Speak the name of the given character

Return:

EE_OK: operation achieved
EE_BUFFER_FULL: the command can not be buffered; you may try after a while to call the function again.
EE_INTERNAL_ERROR.

espeak_SetParameter($parameter, $value, $relative)

Sets the value of the specified parameter.

relative=0 Sets the absolute value of the parameter.

relative=1 Sets a relative value of the parameter.

parameter:

espeakRATE: speaking speed in word per minute.
espeakVOLUME: volume in range 0-100 0=silence
espeakPITCH: base pitch, range 0-100. 50=normal
espeakRANGE: pitch range, range 0-100. 0-monotone, 50=normal
espeakPUNCTUATION: which punctuation characters to announce: value in espeak_PUNCT_TYPE (none, all, some), see espeak_GetParameter() to specify which characters are announced.
espeakCAPITALS: announce capital letters by:

0=none,

1=sound icon,

2=spelling,

3 or higher, by raising pitch. This values gives the amount in Hz by which the pitch of a word raised to indicate it has a capital letter.

Return:

EE_OK: operation achieved
EE_BUFFER_FULL: the command can not be buffered; you may try after a while to call the function again.
EE_INTERNAL_ERROR.

espeak_GetParameter($parameter, $current)

$current=0 Returns the default value of the specified parameter.

$current=1 Returns the current value of the specified parameter, as set by SetParameter()

Example:

print 'rate: ', espeak_GetParameter(espeakRATE, 1), "\n";
print 'volume: ', espeak_GetParameter(espeakVOLUME, 1), "\n";
print 'pitch: ', espeak_GetParameter(espeakPITCH, 1), "\n";
print 'range: ', espeak_GetParameter(espeakRANGE, 1), "\n";
print 'punctuation: ', espeak_GetParameter(espeakPUNCTUATION, 1), "\n";
print 'capitals: ', espeak_GetParameter(espeakCAPITALS, 1), "\n";
espeak_SetParameter(espeakPITCH, 100, 0);
espeak_SetParameter(espeakRANGE, 100, 0);

espeak_SetPunctuationList($punclist)

Specified a list of punctuation characters whose names are to be spoken when the value of the Punctuation parameter is set to "some".

$punctlist: A list of character codes, terminated by a zero character.

Return:

EE_OK: operation achieved
EE_BUFFER_FULL: the command can not be buffered; you may try after a while to call the function again.
EE_INTERNAL_ERROR.

espeak_SetPhonemeTrace($value, $stream)

Controls the output of phoneme symbols for the text

$value=0 No phoneme output (default)

$value=1 Output the translated phoneme symbols for the text

$value=2 as (1), but also output a trace of how the translation was done (matching rules and list entries)

$stream output stream for the phoneme symbols (and trace). If stream=NULL then it uses stdout.

espeak_CompileDictionary($path, $log)

Compile pronunciation dictionary for a language which corresponds to the currently selected voice. The required voice should be selected before calling this function.

$path: The directory which contains the language's '_rules' and '_list' files. 'path' should end with a path separator character ('/').

$log: Stream for error reports and statistics information. If log=NULL then stderr will be used.

espeak_ListVoices($voice_spec)

Reads the voice files from espeak-data/voices and creates an array of espeak_VOICE pointers. The list is terminated by a NULL pointer

If voice_spec is NULL then all voices are listed.

If voice spec is give, then only the voices which are compatible with the voice_spec are listed, and they are listed in preference order.

Example:

# list all voices
my $voices = espeak_ListVoices('');
foreach my $voice_spec (@{$voices}) {
  foreach (keys %{$voice_spec}) {
    print $voice_spec->{$_}, ' ';
  }
  print "\n";
}

espeak_SetVoiceByName($name)

Searches for a voice with a matching "name" field. Language is not considered. "name" is a UTF8 string. For example, "en" for English, "de" for German, "zhy" for Cantonese. It could be added a variant too. For example, "fr+f2" for female voice variant of French, "it+m4" for male voice variant of Italian.

Return:

EE_OK: operation achieved
EE_BUFFER_FULL: the command can not be buffered; you may try after a while to call the function again.
EE_INTERNAL_ERROR.

Example:

use Speech::eSpeak ':all';
espeak_Initialize(AUDIO_OUTPUT_PLAYBACK, 0, '', 0);
espeak_SetVoiceByName("de");
my $synth_flags = espeakCHARS_AUTO | espeakPHONEMES | espeakENDPAUSE;
my $text = 'Sprechen Sie Deutsch?';
espeak_Synth($text, length($text) + 1, 0, POS_CHARACTER, 0, $synth_flags, 0, 0);
espeak_Synchronize();

espeak_SetVoiceByProperties($voice_spec)

Example:

my $spec = {name => "german",
            languages => "",
            identifier => "",
            gender => 2,
            age => 0,
            variant => 0
           };
espeak_SetVoiceByProperties($spec);

espeak_GetCurrentVoice()

Returns the espeak_VOICE data for the currently selected voice.

This is not affected by temporary voice changes caused by SSML elements such as <voice> and <s>

Example:

my $voice = espeak_GetCurrentVoice();
print 'name: ', $voice->{name}, "\n";
print 'languages: ', $voice->{languages}, "\n";
print 'identifier: ', $voice->{identifier}, "\n";
print 'gender: ', $voice->{gender}, "\n";
print 'age: ', $voice->{age}, "\n";
print 'variant: ', $voice->{variant}, "\n";

espeak_Cancel()

Stop immediately synthesis and audio output of the current text. When this function returns, the audio output is fully stopped and the synthesizer is ready to synthesize a new message.

Return:

EE_OK: operation achieved
EE_INTERNAL_ERROR.

epseak_IsPlaying()

Returns 1 if audio is played, 0 otherwise.

espeak_Synchronize()

This function returns when all data have been spoken.

Return:

EE_OK: operation achieved
EE_INTERNAL_ERROR.

espeak_Terminate()

The last function to be called.

Return:

EE_OK: operation achieved
EE_INTERNAL_ERROR.

espeak_Info()

Returns the version number string.

The parameter is for future use, and should be set to NULL.

TYPES

espeak_POSITION_TYPE

typedef enum {
     POS_CHARACTER = 1,
     POS_WORD,
     POS_SENTENCE
} espeak_POSITION_TYPE;

espeak_AUDIO_OUTPUT

typedef enum {
     /* PLAYBACK mode: plays the audio data, supplies events to the calling program*/
     AUDIO_OUTPUT_PLAYBACK,

     /* RETRIEVAL mode: supplies audio data and events to the calling program */
     AUDIO_OUTPUT_RETRIEVAL,

     /* SYNCHRONOUS mode: as RETRIEVAL but doesn't return until synthesis is completed */
     AUDIO_OUTPUT_SYNCHRONOUS,

     /* Synchronous playback */
     AUDIO_OUTPUT_SYNCH_PLAYBACK

} espeak_AUDIO_OUTPUT;

espeak_ERROR

typedef enum {
     EE_OK=0,
     EE_INTERNAL_ERROR=-1,
     EE_BUFFER_FULL=1,
     EE_NOT_FOUND=2
} espeak_ERROR;

espeak_PARAMETER

typedef enum {
     espeakSILENCE=0, /* internal use */
     espeakRATE,
     espeakVOLUME,
     espeakPITCH,
     espeakRANGE,
     espeakPUNCTUATION,
     espeakCAPITALS,
     espeakEMPHASIS,   /* internal use */
     espeakLINELENGTH, /* internal use */
     espeakVOICETYPE,  // internal, 1=mbrola
     N_SPEECH_PARAM    /* last enum */
} espeak_PARAMETER;

espeak_PUNCT_TYPE

typedef enum {
     espeakPUNCT_NONE=0,
     espeakPUNCT_ALL=1,
     espeakPUNCT_SOME=2
} espeak_PUNCT_TYPE;

espeak_VOICE

typedef struct {
     char *name;            // a given name for this voice. UTF8 string.
     char *languages;       // list of pairs of (byte) priority + (string) language (and dialect qualifier)
     char *identifier;      // the filename for this voice within espeak-data/voices
     unsigned char gender;  // 0=none 1=male, 2=female,
     unsigned char age;     // 0=not specified, or age in years
     unsigned char variant; // only used when passed as a parameter to espeak_SetVoiceByProperties
     unsigned char xx1;     // for internal use
     int score;       // for internal use
     void *spare;     // for internal use
} espeak_VOICE;

Note: The espeak_VOICE structure is used for two purposes:
1. To return the details of the available voices.
2. As a parameter to  espeak_SetVoiceByProperties() in order to specify selection criteria.

EXAMPLE 1

use strict;
use Speech::eSpeak ':all';

espeak_Initialize(AUDIO_OUTPUT_PLAYBACK, 0, '', 0);

my $synth_flags = espeakCHARS_AUTO | espeakPHONEMES | espeakENDPAUSE;
espeak_Synth('hello world', 12, 0, POS_CHARACTER, 0, $synth_flags, 0, 0);

espeak_Cancel() if espeak_IsPlaying;

my $text = 'hello <mark name="newstart"> world';
espeak_Synth_Mark($text, length($text) + 1, 'newstart', 0, espeakSSML, 0, 0);

print 'rate: ', espeak_GetParameter(espeakRATE, 1), "\n";
print 'volume: ', espeak_GetParameter(espeakVOLUME, 1), "\n";
print 'pitch: ', espeak_GetParameter(espeakPITCH, 1), "\n";
print 'range: ', espeak_GetParameter(espeakRANGE, 1), "\n";
print 'punctuation: ', espeak_GetParameter(espeakPUNCTUATION, 1), "\n";
print 'capitals: ', espeak_GetParameter(espeakCAPITALS, 1), "\n";

espeak_SetParameter(espeakPITCH, 100, 0);
espeak_SetParameter(espeakRANGE, 100, 0);

espeak_SetPhonemeTrace(2, \*STDOUT);

espeak_Synchronize();

print 'version: ', espeak_Info(0), "\n";

espeak_Terminate();

EXAMPLE 2

use strict;
use Speech::eSpeak ':all';
espeak_Initialize(AUDIO_OUTPUT_PLAYBACK, 0, '', 0);
my $synth_flags = espeakCHARS_AUTO | espeakPHONEMES | espeakENDPAUSE;
my $s = 'Hello Debbie';
espeak_Synth($s, length($s) + 1, 0, POS_CHARACTER, 0, $synth_flags, 0, 0);
# set a female variant voice of English.
# We can specified the variant from 'm1' to 'm4', 'f1' to 'f4', 'croak' and 'wisper'.
# There maybe new variants in future. Just refer to directory espeak-data/voices/!v/
espeak_SetVoiceByName(en+f2);
$s = 'Hello Cameron';
espeak_Synth($s, length($s) + 1, 0, POS_CHARACTER, 0, $synth_flags, 0, 0);
espeak_Synchronize();

EXAMPLE 3

  use strict;
  use Speech::eSpeak ':all';
  espeak_Initialize(AUDIO_OUTPUT_PLAYBACK, 0, '', 0);
  my $synth_flags = espeakCHARS_AUTO | espeakPHONEMES | espeakENDPAUSE;
  espeak_SetVoiceByName("zhy");
  my $s = 'ä½ å¥½';
  espeak_Synth($s, length($s) + 1, 0, POS_CHARACTER, 0, $synth_flags, 0, 0);
  my $spec = {name => "german",
	      gender => 2,
             };
  espeak_SetVoiceByProperties($spec);
  $s = 'Guten Tag!';
  espeak_Synth($s, length($s) + 1, 0, POS_CHARACTER, 0, $synth_flags, 0, 0);
  espeak_Synchronize();

EXAMPLE 4

use Speech::eSpeak;

$speaker = Speech::eSpeak::new();
$speaker->speak('hello world');
$speaker->pitch(100);
$speaker->speak('hello world');
$speaker->range(100);
$speaker->speak('hello world');
$speaker->synchronize();
$speaker->rate($speaker->rate / 2);
$speaker->speak('Do you mean I am too talky?');
sleep(1);
$speaker->stop() if ($speaker->is_playing);

AUTHOR

Cameron Wong, <hgneng at yahoo.com.cn>, http://www.eguidedog.net

CONTRIBUTORS

Paulo Edgar Castro <pauloedgarcastro at gmail.com>

SUPPORT

You can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command.

perldoc Speech::eSpeak

You can also look for information at:

http://search.cpan.org/dist/Speech-eSpeak

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

eSpeak TTS is designed by Jonathan Duddington. http://espeak.sourceforge.net

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself, either Perl version 5.8.8 or, at your option, any later version of Perl 5 you may have available.

1 POD Error

The following errors were encountered while parsing the POD:

Around line 928:: Non-ASCII character seen before =encoding in ''ä½ å¥½';'. Assuming UTF-8

To install Speech::eSpeak, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.

cpanm

cpanm Speech::eSpeak

CPAN shell

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Speech::eSpeak

For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.

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NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

EXPORT

Exportable constants

FUNCTIONS(simplified)

new({ datadir => '/opt/espeak' })

speak($text)

synchronize()

stop()

is_playing()

language($language)

pitch($pitch)

range($range)

rate($rate)

volume($volume)

FUNCTIONS(standard)

espeak_SetSynthCallback($callback)

espeak_SetUriCallback($callback)

espeak_Synth($text, $size, $position, $position_type, $end_position, $flags, $unique_identifier, $user_data)

espeak_Synth_Mark($text, $size, $index_mark, $end_position, $flags, $unique_identifier, $user_data)

espeak_Key($key_name)

espeak_Char($character)

espeak_SetParameter($parameter, $value, $relative)

espeak_GetParameter($parameter, $current)

espeak_SetPunctuationList($punclist)

espeak_SetPhonemeTrace($value, $stream)

espeak_CompileDictionary($path, $log)

espeak_ListVoices($voice_spec)

espeak_SetVoiceByName($name)

espeak_SetVoiceByProperties($voice_spec)

espeak_GetCurrentVoice()

espeak_Cancel()

epseak_IsPlaying()

espeak_Synchronize()

espeak_Terminate()

espeak_Info()

TYPES

espeak_POSITION_TYPE

espeak_AUDIO_OUTPUT

espeak_ERROR

espeak_PARAMETER

espeak_PUNCT_TYPE

espeak_VOICE

EXAMPLE 1

EXAMPLE 2

EXAMPLE 3

EXAMPLE 4

SEE ALSO

AUTHOR

CONTRIBUTORS

SUPPORT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Module Install Instructions