Synthetic Speech

Speech that is artificially produced by computer systems rather than recorded from human speakers. Synthetic speech is the output of text-to-speech systems and is fundamental to screen readers and voice assistants. Modern synthetic speech uses various generation methods including concatenative synthesis, formant synthesis, and neural network-based approaches. Research shows that synthetic speech can be comprehended at rates far exceeding natural human speech, particularly by experienced screen reader users who develop enhanced auditory processing abilities.