Android apps are getting a major text-to-speech upgrade
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Google is upgrading its speech services through Google’s speech engine, in a move it says will provide “clearer, more natural voices” for Android users using its text-to-speech services.
All 421 voices in 67 languages have apparently been upgraded with a new voice model and synthesizer, “built with fresher speaker data”.
This update will be rolled out to all 64-bit Android devices via the Google Play Store in the coming weeks as part of the Speech Services by Google APK.
How can I upgrade?
If you’re already using text-to-speech or any of the other speech services provided by the Google engine, you don’t need to do anything – everything happens behind the scenes once you’ve automatically downloaded the latest update.
If you’re interested in seeing what this upgraded audio sounds like, head over to here (opens in new tab)where Google provided some examples.
The company explained that the introduction of a new speech model and a new synthesizer for 64-bit is the reason for the improved sound quality.
Google’s text-to-speech capabilities are used in several tools, including Google translate and Google Play Books.
The company has also been active this year launching accessibility updates in other contexts.
Instead of having the same accessibility settings everywhere for all office software products such as Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings, you can now set preferences for each product individually.
A Google Workspace representative says they expect the change to help users of screen readers, Braille devices and screen magnifiers ensure their accessibility settings are personalized to best meet their needs.
Through 9to5Google (opens in new tab)