Python Text to Speech in Macintosh

Question

Are there any libraries in Python that does or allows Text To Speech Conversion using Mac Lion's built in text to speech engine? I did google but most are windows based. I tried pyttx. I tried to run

import pyttsx engine = pyttsx.init() engine.say('Sally sells seashells by the seashore.') engine.say('The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.') engine.runAndWait()

But I get these errors

File "/Users/manabchetia/Documents/Codes/Speech.py", line 2, in <module> engine = pyttsx.init() File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pyttsx-1.0.egg/pyttsx/__init__.py", line 39, in init eng = Engine(driverName, debug) File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pyttsx-1.0.egg/pyttsx/engine.py", line 45, in __init__ self.proxy = driver.DriverProxy(weakref.proxy(self), driverName, debug) File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pyttsx-1.0.egg/pyttsx/driver.py", line 64, in __init__ self._module = __import__(name, globals(), locals(), [driverName]) File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pyttsx-1.0.egg/pyttsx/drivers/nsss.py", line 18, in <module> ImportError: No module named Foundation

How do I solve these errors?

@MartijnPieters: I did google and tried pyttx but i get errors. — VeilEclipse
– VeilEclipse, Commented Oct 6, 2012 at 9:49
@ManabChetia: That is a material difference, now you have a practical question! :-) — Martijn Pieters
– Martijn Pieters, Commented Oct 6, 2012 at 9:51
Foundation is part of the pyobjc library; did you install it? It comes by default with the system python, but I see you installed your own Python 2.7. — Martijn Pieters
– Martijn Pieters, Commented Oct 6, 2012 at 9:59
@MartijnPieters: I have not installed it. So I need to type in easy_install pyobjc now? — VeilEclipse
– VeilEclipse, Commented Oct 6, 2012 at 10:02

Frederik · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-24 12:52:28Z

Wouldn't it be much simpler to do this?

from os import system system('say Hello world!')

You can enter man say to see other things you can do with the say command.

However, if you want some more advanced features, importing AppKit would also be a possibility, although some Cocoa/Objective C knowledge is needed.

from AppKit import NSSpeechSynthesizer speechSynthesizer = NSSpeechSynthesizer.alloc().initWithVoice_("com.apple.speech.synthesis.voice.Bruce") speechSynthesizer.startSpeakingString_('Hi! Nice to meet you!')

If you would like to see more things you can do with NSSpeechSynthesizer take a look at Apple's documentation: https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Cocoa/Reference/ApplicationKit/Classes/NSSpeechSynthesizer_Class/Reference/Reference.html

if hello world is in a variable how do i make say speak it? I tried AppKit but it's not available. `easy_install' was not able to do it either. how do i do that?
If you want to pass a variable to the say command, you could do this: str = "Test" system('say %s' % (str))
The code snippet in this answer is slightly off. .alloc is a function, so it should be .alloc()
Including an apostrophe in the string may cause this to not work. For example trying to do system("Can't touch this") will run without an error, but not actually say anything out loud.
@ProQ normal shell quoting rules apply of course. You could embed that string in literal quotes for example (like you would normally have to)

arainchi · Accepted Answer · 2017-08-03 21:37:27Z

If you are targeting Mac OS X as your platform - PyObjC and NSSpeechSynthesizer is your best bet.

Here is a quick example for you

#!/usr/bin/env python from AppKit import NSSpeechSynthesizer import time import sys if len(sys.argv) < 2: text = raw_input('type text to speak> ') else: text = sys.argv[1] nssp = NSSpeechSynthesizer ve = nssp.alloc().init() for voice in nssp.availableVoices(): ve.setVoice_(voice) print voice ve.startSpeakingString_(text) while not ve.isSpeaking(): time.sleep(0.1) while ve.isSpeaking(): time.sleep(0.1)

Please note that AppKit module is part of PyObjC bridge and should be already installed on your Mac. No need to install it if you are using OS provided python (/usr/bin/python)

For more detail on how to use the Cocoa Speech Synthesizer interface (e.g. what does setRate_'s argument mean?), have a look at Apple's Developer documentation: developer.apple.com/documentation/appkit/nsspeechsynthesizer

Ted Klein Bergman · Accepted Answer · 2017-02-07 05:33:46Z

1

This might work:

import subprocess subprocess.call(["say","Hello World! (MESSAGE)"])

edited Feb 7, 2017 at 5:33

Ted Klein Bergman

9,8075 gold badges35 silver badges61 bronze badges

answered Feb 7, 2017 at 3:00

theguy

111 bronze badge

Comments

Sidharth · Accepted Answer · 2024-06-24 19:52:39Z

As an alternative, you can use StyleTTS2. It's fairly close to the state-of-the-art (as of 2024) in TTS, and this Python package means you can just do pip install styletts2 and use it in your Python code like how it's specified in the docs! It can be used on machines with or without GPU. The PyPi page: https://pypi.org/project/styletts2/

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