Your Guide to Siri Text-to-Speech Tools and Generators

"Hey, Siri, what's the weather like today?"

"Hey, Siri, remind me to call George at 3 PM."

"Hey, Siri, find a good restaurant near me."

As Apple's virtual assistant, Siri has become an integral part of many people's daily lives. Siri simplifies tasks like making calls, setting reminders, and reading messages aloud, enabling users to remain hands-free. 

Have you ever wanted to make your phone read text aloud to you? Or perhaps you’ve wondered how to turn your written words into speech effortlessly?

-With Siri’s Text-to-Speech feature, you can do just that!

But how exactly does Siri work as a text-to-speech tool? And how can you make the most of it on your iPhone or iPad? In this article, we'll look at Siri's text-to-speech features, how to use it on your iPhone or Mac, and which generators are best for creating text-to-speech.

Siri Text-to-Speech: Uderstanding its Features and Capabilities

Siri's text-to-speech capability allows users to dictate text from their phone or tablet, which is especially useful for people who have visual impairments, physical disabilities, or prefer to listen rather than read. You may increase your productivity while working, traveling, or just multitasking by using Siri text-to-speech. Here are the highlights of Siri text to speech generator.

1. Simple to Use

On Apple devices, you can enable Siri's TTS functionality by navigating to the Accessibility settings. Options like 'Speak Selection' allow you to have specific text read aloud, whereas 'Speak Screen' reads full webpages or documents.

2. Natural-Sounding Voices

Siri's TTS is intended to sound as natural as possible, with clear and emotive intonation that makes conversations feel more like speaking with a real person.

3. Multi-Language Support

Siri TTS supports a variety of languages and accents, making it available to individuals all around the world.

4. Customizable Features

Siri's TTS provides various customization choices, including the ability to change the speaking rate, select multiple voices, and highlight information as it is read aloud, making it simpler to follow along.

How to Use Siri's Text-to-Speech?

Step 1: Setting Up Siri

• Go to Settings
• Tap Siri & Search
• Turn on Listen for "Hey Siri"

Step 2: Enabling Text-to-Speech

To activate Siri's text-to-speech you should:

• Open Settings
• Tap Accessibility
• Under Vision, select Spoken Content
• Turn on Speak Selection or Speak Screen

Step 3: Using Siri to Speak

• Speak Screen: Swipe down twice to hear Siri read.
• Speak Selection: Highlight text, then tap Speak to hear it aloud.
• Voice Command: Say, "Hey Siri, read my messages" or "Hey Siri, read this page."

Step 4: Customizing Siri's Voice

Change Siri's voice by going to:

• Settings > Siri & Search > Siri Voice
  Choose your preferred accent and gender.

User's Feedbacks on Siri Voice Text-to-Speech

A post in "theverage" mentioned, "Siri is getting a new voice in iOS 13, Apple announced onstage at WWDC 2019, with the company employing new “Neural text to speech” technology to make the virtual assistant sound much more natural." [Source]

Alternatives to Siri Text-to-Speech

While Siri's Text-to-Speech is useful, its limitations—like limited voice customization, occasional mispronunciations, and basic features—can drive users to seek more advanced solutions. Alternatives such as BookFab AudioBook Creator provide more control, higher quality, and extra capabilities for generating audiobooks and fine-tuning TTS experiences. Let's look at other solutions that might better suit your needs.

BookFab AudioBook Creator  

BookFab AudioBook Creator

BookFab AudioBook Creator is an AI-powered text-to-speech generator that converts your eBooks into lifelike audiobooks. This audiobook creators offers high-quality, authentic speech by using a range of voices and providing complete control over parameters. Ideal for individuals looking for the best text-to-speech software, it turns text to audio and offers MP3 and OPUS downloads for convenient on-the-go listening.

 

Features

• BookFab AudioBook Creator produces high-quality, realistic audio, making it suitable for converting text to speech for audiobooks, podcasts, and other uses.
• Users can select from 20 different voices in English and Japanese, including male and female selections, and voice cloning is planned for future updates.
• Personalize your music by controlling the speed, volume, and tone, allowing for a slower, calming rhythm or a more dynamic and lively delivery.
• The software has pronunciation adjustment capabilities, which allow users to change their pronunciations with Alias and create personalized reading rules for better and more natural results.
• It includes live text highlighting and automatic scrolling, resulting in an engaging experience in which you can follow the voice while smoothly moving through the information.
• TXT files or pasted text can be easily converted to MP3 or OPUS formats, and EPUB eBooks to M4B for audiobooks, ensuring extensive compatibility with a wide range of devices and platforms. 
• Transform EPUB eBooks into audiobooks, allowing audio files to be effortlessly transferred to mobile devices for seamless listening across platforms. 
• The book management library organizes imported eBooks by title and cover, allowing for quick access and accurate tracking of your reading progress. 

Pros and Cons

Detailed steps to make Text-to-Speech with BookFab AudioBook Creator

Step 1: Launch BookFab on your Windows PC and paste the text into the main interface or import a .txt file.

Step 2: Select and Customize the Voice Select the desired language and voice on the right side of the interface. You can also customize the speed, loudness, and emotion.

Step 3: Click "Start to Convert" to generate and play the audio, or download the file.

Wavel AI

Wavel AI is a great substitute for Siri's Text-to-Speech (TTS) if you want something more robust and adaptable. Compared to Siri TTS, its natural, adjustable speech output provides more freedom.

Features

• Wavel AI uses cutting-edge AI to generate genuine, human-like voices, resulting in a lifelike listening experience.
• It supports over 80 languages, including English, Spanish, and Mandarin, ensuring global accessibility
• Unlike traditional TTS systems, it allows customers to customize pitch, tempo, and tone, personalizing the speech output to their tastes.
• Wavel AI's services are available on desktop, mobile, and online platforms, giving users the flexibility to access them from a variety of devices.
• It includes capabilities such as voice cloning and style-based voice synthesis, making it perfect for content creators and businesses looking for high-quality audio solutions.
• Its elegant interface is designed for ease of use, allowing users to quickly leverage its powerful features without requiring a high learning curve.

Pros and Cons

Detailed steps to to make Text to Speech with Wavel AI

Step 1: Launch your PC's web browser and go to Wavel Studio.
Step 2: Create an account if you're a new user.

Step3: Once you've signed up, navigate to the studio dashboard and select the Text to Speech.

Step 4: Select the language and voice.

Step 5: Click the generate button to get your media file ready for downloading.

ElevenLabs

With the help of this platform's realistic-sounding text-to-speech capabilities, users can produce realistic audio from text input. With more than a million registered users by June 2023, it has rapidly gained popularity due to its fast generation times and high-quality voice outputs. ElevenLabs provides voice cloning services, which let customers produce custom voices from audio samples, in addition to text-to-speech features.

Features

• ElevenLabs' powerful AI creates human-like voices for a more natural listening experience than Siri.
• It supports multiple languages and accents, providing more alternatives than Siri's restricted selection.
• Users can customize their voice tone, pitch, and speed for a really unique experience.
• The Dubbing Studio feature offers professional tools for video and voiceover translation, such as transcript editing and exact timing management.
• Unlike Siri, ElevenLabs specializes in text-to-speech technology and provides high-quality speech synthesis.
• ElevenLabs' adjustable settings and broad language support make it accessible to a diverse user base.

Pros and Cons

Detailed steps to to make Text to Speech with ElevenLabs

Step 1: Enter your text into the input box on the Speech Synthesis page.

Step 2: Choose a Voice: From the Voices menu in the bottom left of the screen, select the voice you want to use.

Step 3: Adjust the voice settings to achieve the desired output.

Step 4: Click the 'Generate' button to produce your audio file.

Conclusion

We looked into the topic of text-to-speech, comparing Siri's TTS capabilities to the advanced features of three other technologies. These technologies provide intriguing new ways to interact with digital content.

Siri provides Apple consumers with a smooth, seamless experience by allowing devices to read aloud text, making it ideal for multitasking or consuming information while hands-free. However, if you require a more robust text-to-speech solution, BookFab AudioBook Creator is an obvious choice.