Generating speech from SSML documents - Amazon Polly

Generating speech from SSML documents

You can use Amazon Polly to generate speech from either plain text or from documents marked up with Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML). Using SSML-enhanced text gives you additional control over how Amazon Polly generates speech from the text you provide.

With SSML tags, you can customize and control aspects of speech such as pronunciation, volume, and speech rate. In the AWS Management Console, the SSML-enhanced text that you want to convert to audio is entered on the SSML tab of the Text-to-Speech page. Although text entered in plain text relies on default settings for the language and voice you've chosen, text enhanced with SSML tells Amazon Polly not only what you want to say, but how you want to say it. Except for the added SSML tags, Amazon Polly synthesizes SSML-enhanced text in the same way as it synthesizes plain text. See Synthesizing speech with Amazon Polly example for more information.

When using SSML, you enclose the entire text in a <speak> tag to let Amazon Polly know that you're using SSML. For example: 

<speak>Hi! My name is Joanna. I will read any text you type here.</speak>

You then use specific SSML tags on the text inside the <speak> tags to customize the way you want the text to sound. You can add a pause, change the pace of the speech, lower or raise the volume of the voice, or add many other customizations so that the text sounds right for you. For a full list of the SSML tags that you can use, see Supported SSML tags.

For example, you can include a long pause within your text, or change the speech rate or pitch. Other options include:

  • emphasizing specific words or phrases

  • using phonetic pronunciation

  • including breathing sounds

  • whispering

  • using the Newscaster speaking style.

For complete details on the SSML tags supported by Amazon Polly and how to use them, see Supported SSML tags

When using SSML, there are several reserved characters that require special treatment. This is because SSML uses these characters as part of its code. In order to use them, you use a specific entity to escape them. For more information, see Reserved characters in SSML

Amazon Polly provides these types of control with a subset of the SSML markup tags that are defined by Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) Version 1.1, W3C Recommendation.

You can use SSML within the Amazon Polly console or by using the AWS CLI. The following topics show you how you can use SSML to generate speech and control the output so that it precisely fits your needs.

Topics