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---- CSS Speech Module

benevolent001 - 1:48 pm on Aug 21, 2011 (gmt 0)


CSS3 Speech module is now in last call state (Aug 18 , 2011) . Journey for making accessible web standards have come far from WCAG guidelines , SSML (Speech Synthesis Markup Language ) to CSS Speech

Here is the summary of what CSS Speech module provides.

CSS Speech standard specifies how to present the content in way which can be understood by speech synthesizers. Using CSS Speech module we can specify meta data like voice speed , pause information etc for content . This CSS information is used by User agents while rendering and producing final sound output for the content.

Typical usage for this would be

  • Screen readers
  • Machine to Human interaction ( e.g incase while you are driving car , car would read content for you online with appropriate pauses , breaks etc or your ebook reader will read the book , exactly the way it is read by humans)

    CSS Speech is based on concept of Aural Box Model for content to be rendered in speech form . It is a conterpart for visual box model for visual presentation of content.

    See the Visual box model for CSS and Aural Box Model below for similarities

    The analogy between Visual Box model and Aural Box model is as follows

    padding >>>> rest
    border >>>>> cue
    margin >>>>> pause

    Cue : Cue is small piece of sound which you can insert in between.

    Some of Properties and Characteristics which are available include

    Pause Properties

    pause-before
    pause-after

    Rest Properties

    rest-before
    rest-after

    Cue Properties

    cue-before
    cue-after

    Speaking Properties

    speak
    speak-as

    Mixing Properties

    voice-volume
    voice-balance

    Voice Characteristics

    voice-family
    voice-rate
    voice-pitch
    voice-range
    voice-stress


    The link below provides the complete summary for each of the above properties

    [w3.org...]

    Sample code snippets


    p.heidi
    {
    voice-family: female;
    voice-balance: left;
    voice-pitch: high;
    voice-volume: -6dB;
    }

    Explanation for Code snippet

    The user agent of end user will read the webpage paragraph with female voice , left channel etc.

    You can send your feedback for the last call to W3C , its open till Sept end.

    Thanks

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