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Glite Dictionary
speech synthesizer

speech synthesizer

1 4.8
A device or program that makes a voice like a human
  • noun
  • /spiːtʃ ˈsɪnθəˌzaɪzər/
  • Specialized
translation icon : sintetizador de voz
  • My speech synthesizer responded, "Hello."
  • use a speech synthesizer

Examples

  • Echo speech synthesizer: The Echo adds synthetic speech to a wide variety of specially designed software.

    Academic text (1992)

  • Its pattern matching software translated the wearer's fingerspelling gestures into letters that could be displayed or vocalized by a speech synthesizer.

    Academic text (1994)

  • "I laughed, and my stupid speech synthesizer said, "Ha, ha, ha."

    Fiction book (1999)

  • There has been little research on the use of speech synthesizers with individuals with visual impairments.

    Academic text (2008)

  • I was in the control center, and people later told me that my speech synthesizer was saying, "Don blah huh," over and over again, but what I was really saying was, "Don't blow up, don't blow up!"

    Fiction book (1999)

  • In these experimental sessions, a synthetic voice, instead of a natural voice, was used because text-to-speech synthesizers have become essential tools for the accessibility of modern human-machine interaction applications for people who are visually impaired; thus, the experiments originated from real operational conditions.

    Academic text (2008)

  • The teacher uses a speech synthesizer to help students with reading difficulties understand the material.

  • Many devices, including smartphones, now come equipped with a speech synthesizer to assist users who are visually impaired.

  • Developers incorporated a speech synthesizer into their app to enable users to listen to text while on the go.

Synonyms

vocalizer
vsspeech synthesizer
  • Specialized
6.3

A program that reads written text aloud

is broader, producing artificial human speech not only from written text

How Automated

announcer
41 3.4
speech synthesizer
  • Specialized
1 4.8
voice
  • Specialized
∞ 4.3
transcribed
  • Archaic
4.8

Surface Forms

speech synthesizer singular
speech synthesizers plural

Morphology

speech + synthesizer

The compound transparently combines 'speech' (spoken language) with 'synthesizer' (something that synthesizes or produces), so its meaning — a device or program that produces/artificially generates speech — follows directly from the constituents. This noun-noun composition and the agentive sense of 'synthesizer' are cross-linguistically regular, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Speech synthesizer comes from the simple image of a machine that 'puts sounds together' to make a voice: speech is the voice and a synthesizer is something that joins parts. That's why it means 'a device that makes a voice like a human's'.