Generate TTS Using Your Terminal

It’s not a new hack but it will work well if you have short texts (1-3 sentences) that you wish to convert to speech.

After all, when returning a response to the Google Assistant, you can use a subset of the Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML).

Why?

Because you can make your agent’s responses seem more life-like experience.

How?

Open your terminal and try something like this:

curl "http://www.google.com/speech-api/v1/synthesize?lang=en-us&text=actions+on+google+rock" -o aog-rock-hack.mp3

That’s it.

If you want to use SSML and get fancy, it’s also support it in the request:

https://www.google.com/speech-api/v1/synthesize?lang=es-US&ssml=<speak>Hey<prosody%20rate="slow">how+are+you+doing+this+morning</prosody></speak>

Later you can use it in your Action on Google like that:

For more hack and tips, check these slides on VUI Design or the official docs on SSML.