Definition: speech synthesis

Generating machine voice by arranging phonemes (k, ch, sh, etc.) into words. It is used to turn text input into spoken words for the blind. Speech synthesis performs real-time conversion without a predefined vocabulary, but does not create perfect-sounding human speech. Although individual spoken words can be digitized into the computer, it takes more storage, and the resulting phrases still lack inflection. Spoken phrases that are repetitively used in voice applications are usually digitized whole to provide the most pleasing announcements.