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SpeechSynthesis: speak() method

The speak() method of the SpeechSynthesis interface adds an utterance to the utterance queue; it will be spoken when any other utterances queued before it have been spoken.

Syntax

js

speak(utterance)

Parameters

Return value

None (undefined).

Examples

This snippet is excerpted from our Speech synthesizer demo (see it live). When a form containing the text we want to speak is submitted, we (amongst other things) create a new utterance containing this text, then speak it by passing it into speak() as a parameter.

js

const synth = window.speechSynthesis;

// ...

inputForm.onsubmit = (event) => {
  event.preventDefault();

  const utterThis = new SpeechSynthesisUtterance(inputTxt.value);
  const selectedOption =
    voiceSelect.selectedOptions[0].getAttribute("data-name");
  for (let i = 0; i < voices.length; i++) {
    if (voices[i].name === selectedOption) {
      utterThis.voice = voices[i];
    }
  }
  synth.speak(utterThis);
  inputTxt.blur();
};

Specifications

Browser compatibility

Desktop Mobile
Chrome Edge Firefox Internet Explorer Opera Safari WebView Android Chrome Android Firefox for Android Opera Android Safari on IOS Samsung Internet
speak 33 14 49 No 21 7 No 33 62 No 7 3.0

See also

© 2005–2023 MDN contributors.
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License v2.5 or later.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/SpeechSynthesis/speak