Speech synthesis: A technology that speaks for itself: Each method has its own trade-off. High quality output limits your vocabulary, while a more mechanical sound lets you say more

Synthesized speech is all around you — from talking games and products such as Texas Instruments' Speak & Spell, automobile dashboards that announce warning messages, computers that provide voice output, and consumer appliances that “speak” information and instructions. These sounds do not result from playing back a magnetic recording, but rather are created by basic speech synthesis methods of the type discussed in this article. In each method, electronic and digital circuits produce a voltage that drives a speaker to change the electrical energy into audible sound waves. The quality of the output can depend on your needs: a limited vocabulary with fairly natural sound or more words with a mechanical tone.