eSpeak-NG: A Compact TTS Solution for Apple Devices

AppleVis Podcast

In this episode, Ida Grace introduces eSpeak-NG, a compact open-source software text-to-speech synthesizer available on the App Store for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Developed by Yury Popov, eSpeak-NG supports over 100 languages and accents. It is built upon the original eSpeak engine created by Jonathan Duddington. The app acts as a compatibility layer between the eSpeak NG library and Apple VoiceOver, enhancing accessibility for users with visual impairments.

eSpeak-NG on the App Store
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/espeak-ng/id6444089174

transcription:
Disclaimer: This transcript is generated by AIKO, an automated transcription service. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.

Hello AppleVis.

This is Ida again and I'm back with another demonstration.

This one is somewhat by request, so thank you for the person who requested this podcast.

They said that they really wanted a demonstration of this app, so I hope that this is satisfactory.

I am doing a demonstration today of the eSpeak NG app.

This app will add the eSpeak synthesizer to VoiceOver for anybody who wants it.

There are settings that you have to change within the app, or that you can change within the app if you want to, and then you can go into the actual VoiceOver settings to start using eSpeak.

Right now I'm using Daniel, which is not an eSpeak voice, but I will select an eSpeak voice throughout this demonstration.

So I am in the app right now, and the first thing you get...

It says eSpeak NG.

It's eSpeak NG, Daniel.

Learn how to pronounce words, please.

Anyway, so this is the name of the app.

So the first button you come to, if I swipe to the right here, that button allows you to set up what languages you want VoiceOver to have available to you in the eSpeak app.

So if I go in here...

First thing you see is back, of course.

You can search in that field for a specific voice and language.

Okay, I deselected that one because that is not my user-preferred language.

As you can tell by Daniel, he is English UK, not English US, so I deselected that.

But in order to do that, I had to keep going to the right.

Let me show you.

So under user-preferred, the only thing that seems to be there is English United States.

Whether it's selected or not, you can double-tap to select and deselect it.

Under this system heading, it gives you all the languages.

And the only one in here for English right now is English UK because I deselected the English United States.

So that means that when we go into the VoiceOver settings, the eSpeak United States English voices will not be available because I deselected that one.

Because I personally think that United States English eSpeak sounds very bad, which I will demonstrate in a moment.

But you have all of these languages that you can, of course, choose what language is your preferred language in this languages listed below may be poorly supported by VoiceOver and might be broken at all.

They are available in spoken content.

Okay, so that's a little disclaimer about the eSpeak app and the VoiceOver languages that it supports.

Okay, so then it's just going…