@c $Id: tts.texi 5429 2008-01-03 04:24:37Z tv.raman.tv $
 

@cindex tts
@cindex speech system
@cindex speech settings

This section documents Emacspeak's  various user commands for controlling the
text to speech (TTS) system.

@menu
* Controlling Echo::             Character, Word and Line Echo.
* Speech Output  Control::       Indicating case, capitalization and indentation.
* Miscellaneous:: Miscellaneous TTS Commands.
@end menu

@node  Controlling Echo
@subsection   Character, Word And Line Echo.

@cindex line echo
@cindex character echo
@cindex word echo

By default, Emacspeak speaks characters as they are typed --this is
called character echo; Words are spoken as they are completed --this is
called word echo.  Emacspeak can also optionally speak each line as it
is typed --this is called line echo.

Character, word and line echo can be toggled --either in the current
buffer-- or for all buffers (globally).
To toggle the specific echo functionality for all buffers, precede the
specific command with @kbd{C-u}.
Note that in the documentation below, this use of @kbd{C-u} is indicated 
using the common Emacs terminology of @emph{prefix arg} or
@emph{interactive prefix arg}.

@table @kbd 
@findex  emacspeak-toggle-character-echo
 @kindex  control e d k 
@item  @kbd{control e d k }
emacspeak-toggle-character-echo
 Toggle state of  Emacspeak  character echo.
Interactive PREFIX arg means toggle  the global default value, and then set the
current local  value to the result.


@findex  emacspeak-toggle-word-echo
 @kindex  control e d w 
 
@item @kbd{ control e d w }
emacspeak-toggle-word-echo
 Toggle state of  Emacspeak  word echo.
Interactive PREFIX arg means toggle  the global default value, and then set the
current local  value to the result.


@findex  emacspeak-toggle-line-echo
 @kindex  control e d l 
 
@item @kbd{ control e d l }
emacspeak-toggle-line-echo
 Toggle state of  Emacspeak  line echo.
Interactive PREFIX arg means toggle  the global default value, and then set the
current local  value to the result.
@end table

@node Speech Output  Control
@subsection Setting Various Characteristics Of Speech Output.

Emacspeak user commands can set different characteristics of the speech
output such as speech rate and  punctuations mode.


Emacspeak provides a number of settings that affect how  attributes of
the text such as capitalization are conveyed.
These include settings that produce a short tone for each upper case
letter,  as well as a smart mode for speaking mixed case words which is
especially useful when programming.
These settings can be made locally in a given buffer or be applied to
all buffers by preceding these commands with @kbd{C-u}.

@table @kbd 

@findex  dtk-set-rate
 @kindex  control e d r 
 
@item @kbd{ control e d r }
dtk-set-rate
 Set speaking RATE for the tts.
Interactive PREFIX arg means set   the global default value, and then set the
current local  value to the result.


@findex  dtk-set-character-scale
 @kindex  control e d f 
 
@item @kbd{ control e d f }
dtk-set-character-scale
 Set scale FACTOR for   speech rate.
Speech rate is scaled by this factor
when speaking characters.
Interactive PREFIX arg means set   the global default value, and then set the
current local  value to the result.

This function is advised.

Before-advice `emacspeak-auto':
Automatically defined advice to speak interactive prompts. 


@findex  dtk-set-predefined-speech-rate
 @kindex  control e d 9   control e d 8   control e d 7   control e d 6   control e d 5   control e d 4   control e d 3   control e d 2   control e d 1   control e d 0 
 
@item @kbd{ control e d 9   control e d 8   control e d 7   control e d 6   control e d 5   control e d 4   control e d 3   control e d 2   control e d 1   control e d 0 }
dtk-set-predefined-speech-rate
 Set speech rate to one of nine predefined levels.
Interactive PREFIX arg says to set the rate globally.


@findex  dtk-set-punctuations
 @kindex  control e d p 
 
@item @kbd{ control e d p }
dtk-set-punctuations
 Set punctuation mode to MODE.
Possible values are `some', `all', or `none'.
Interactive PREFIX arg means set   the global default value, and then set the
current local  value to the result.



@findex  dtk-set-pronunciation-mode
 @kindex  control e d m 
 
@item @kbd{ control e d m }
dtk-set-pronunciation-mode
 Set pronunciation MODE.
This command is valid only for newer
Dectalks, e.g.  the Dectalk Express.  Possible values are `math, name,
europe, spell', all of which can be turned on or off.
Argument STATE specifies new state.



@findex  dtk-toggle-split-caps
 @kindex  control e d s 

@item @kbd{ control e d s }
dtk-toggle-split-caps
 Toggle split caps mode.
Split caps mode is useful when reading
Hungarian notation in program source code.  Interactive PREFIX arg
means toggle the global default value, and then set the current local
value to the result.


@findex  dtk-toggle-capitalization
 @kindex  control e d c 
 
@item @kbd{ control e d c }
dtk-toggle-capitalization
 Toggle capitalization.
when set, capitalization is indicated by a
short beep.  Interactive PREFIX arg means toggle the global default
value, and then set the current local value to the result.


@findex  dtk-toggle-allcaps-beep
 @kindex  control e d  cap C  
 
@item @kbd{ control e d  cap C  }
dtk-toggle-allcaps-beep
 Toggle allcaps-beep.
when set, allcaps words  are  indicated by a
short beep.  Interactive PREFIX arg means toggle the global default
value, and then set the current local value to the result.
Note that allcaps-beep is a very useful thing when programming.
However it is irritating to have it on when reading documents.
@end table

In addition, Emacspeak can convey the indentation of lines as they are
spoken--
this is relevant when programming  and is the default when working with
program source.



@table @kbd

@findex  emacspeak-toggle-audio-indentation
 @kindex  control e d i 
 
@item @kbd{ control e d i }
emacspeak-toggle-audio-indentation
 Toggle state of  Emacspeak  audio indentation.
Interactive PREFIX arg means toggle  the global default value, and then set the
current local  value to the result.
Specifying the method of indentation as `tones'
results in the Dectalk producing a tone whose length is a function of the
line's indentation.  Specifying `speak'
results in the number of initial spaces being spoken.

Indentation feedback style is set by option 
emacspeak-audio-indentation-method
@vindex  emacspeak-audio-indentation-method

The default value is  @code{"speak"}

See variable `emacspeak-audio-indentation-methods' for
possible values.
Automatically becomes local in any buffer where it is set.

@end table
@node Miscellaneous
@subsection Miscellaneous Speech Commands


Speech can be stopped using command @code{dtk-stop}
--though in normal use, 
the action of moving the cursor will stop ongoing speech. Speech can
also be paused and resumed.
The speech server can be stopped and restarted for cases where the user
wants to switch to a different server --or in the rare case to nuke a
runaway speech server.


@table @kbd

@findex  dtk-stop
 @kindex     pause   control e s   
 
@item @kbd{Control e s}
dtk-stop
 Stop speech now.


@findex  dtk-pause
 @kindex  control e p 
 
@item @kbd{ control e p }
dtk-pause
 Pause ongoing speech.
The speech can be resumed with command `dtk-resume'
normally bound to C-e SPC.  Pausing speech is useful when one needs to
perform a few actions before continuing to read a large document.  Emacspeak
gives you speech feedback as usual once speech has been paused.  `dtk-resume'
continues the interrupted speech irrespective of the buffer
in which it is executed.
Optional PREFIX arg flushes any previously paused speech.


@findex  dtk-resume
 @kindex  control e SPACE 
 
@item @kbd{ control e SPACE }
dtk-resume
 Resume paused speech.
This command resumes  speech that has been suspended by executing
command `dtk-pause' bound to C-e p.
If speech has not been paused,
and variable `dtk-resume-should-toggle' is t
 then this command will pause ongoing speech.


@findex  dtk-toggle-quiet
 @kindex  control e d q 
 
@item @kbd{ control e d q }
dtk-toggle-quiet
 Toggle state of the speech device between being quiet and talkative.
Useful if you want to continue using an Emacs session that has
emacspeak loaded but wish to make the speech shut up.
Optional argument PREFIX specifies whether speech is turned off in the current buffer or in all buffers.



@findex  dtk-emergency-restart
 @kindex  control e control s 
 
@item @kbd{ control e control s }
dtk-emergency-restart
 Use this to nuke the currently running dtk server and restart it.
Useful if you want to switch to another synthesizer while emacspeak is
running.  Also useful for emergency stopping of speech.


@end table


Finally, here are the remaining commands available via the TTS related
keymap @kbd{C-e d}.

@table @kbd

@findex  dtk-add-cleanup-pattern
 @kindex  control e d a 
 
@item @kbd{ control e d a }
dtk-add-cleanup-pattern
 Add this pattern to the list of repeating patterns that are cleaned up.
Optional interactive prefix arg deletes  this pattern if
previously added.  Cleaning up repeated patterns results in emacspeak
speaking the pattern followed by a repeat count instead of speaking
all the characters making up the pattern.  Thus, by adding the
repeating pattern `.' (this is already added by default) emacspeak
will say ``aw fifteen dot'' when speaking the string
``...............'' instead of ``period period period period ''.




@findex  dtk-select-server
 @kindex  control e d d 
 
@item @kbd{ control e d d }
dtk-select-server
 Select a speech server interactively.
This will be the server that is used when you next call either
M-x dtk-initialize or C-e C-s.
Argument PROGRAM specifies the speech server program.


@findex  dtk-toggle-splitting-on-white-space
 @kindex  control e d SPACE 
 
@item @kbd{ control e d SPACE }
dtk-toggle-splitting-on-white-space
 Toggle splitting of speech on white space.
This affects the internal state of emacspeak that decides if we split
text purely by clause boundaries, or also include
whitespace.  By default, emacspeak sends a clause at a time
to the speech device.  This produces fluent speech for
normal use.  However in modes such as `shell-mode' and some
programming language modes, clause markers appear
infrequently, and this can result in large amounts of text
being sent to the speech device at once, making the system
unresponsive when asked to stop talking.  Splitting on white
space makes emacspeak's stop command responsive.  However,
when splitting on white space, the speech sounds choppy
since the synthesizer is getting a word at a time.



@findex  dtk-set-chunk-separator-syntax
 @kindex  control e d RETURN 
 
@item @kbd{ control e d RETURN }
dtk-set-chunk-separator-syntax
 Interactively set how text is split in chunks.
See the Emacs documentation on syntax tables for details on how characters are
classified into various syntactic classes.
Argument S specifies the syntax class.


@findex  emacspeak-dial-dtk
 @kindex  control e d t 
 
@item @kbd{ control e d t }
emacspeak-dial-dtk
 Prompt for and dial a phone NUMBER with the Dectalk.


@findex  emacspeak-dtk-speak-version
 @kindex  control e d  cap V  
 
@item @kbd{ control e d  cap V  }
emacspeak-dtk-speak-version
 Use this to find out which version of the TTS firmware you are running.


@findex  emacspeak-zap-dtk
 @kindex  control e d z 
 
@item @kbd{ control e d z }
emacspeak-zap-dtk
 Send this command to the TTS engine  directly.

@end table
