I am trying to follow this tutorial for my Android wearables app:
https://www.sitepoint.com/using-android-text-to-speech-to-create-a-smart-assistant/
Here is the code for my Activity file:
import android.speech.tts.TextToSpeech;
public class ScoresActivity extends Activity {
private TextToSpeech tts;
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_scores);
// Text to speech setup
tts = new TextToSpeech(this, new TextToSpeech.OnInitListener() {
#Override
public void onInit(int status) {
System.out.println("status: " + status); // Always returns -1
if (status == TextToSpeech.SUCCESS) {
int result = tts.setLanguage(Locale.US);
if (result == TextToSpeech.LANG_MISSING_DATA || result == TextToSpeech.LANG_NOT_SUPPORTED) {
Log.e("TTS", "This Language is not supported");
}
speak("Hello");
} else {
Log.e("TTS", "Initilization Failed!");
}
}
});
}
I always see this error message in the Logs:
Is it even possible to run the Android SDK's text-to-speech library on wearable devices? I tried running this code on a mobile Android app and everything worked fine.
Yes this is possible as they even have docs for this feauture in Adding Voice Capabilities:
Voice actions are an important part of the wearable experience. They let users carry out actions hands-free and quickly. Wear provides two types of voice actions:
System-provided These voice actions are task-based and are built into the Wear platform. You filter for them in the activity that you
want to start when the voice action is spoken. Examples include "Take
a note" or "Set an alarm".
App-provided These voice actions are app-based, and you declare them just like a launcher icon. Users say "Start " to use these voice
actions and an activity that you specify starts.
You can also check this SO post for additional reference.
Depends which device you have. I think it needs to have android wear 2.0 and then possibly a speaker would make it more likely. Im only saying that based on knowing my nixon mission does not have tts installed but the lg urbane 2 does. Very annoying as tts could be used over bluetooth.
Would be good to get a full listed of supported devices.
I am trying to implement Text-to-speech in my android auto app but unable to hear it on Desktop head unit. I have also tried it on Car Head unit but no luck.
below is the code i am using
TextToSpeech tts=new TextToSpeech(getApplicationContext(), new TextToSpeech.OnInitListener() {
#Override
public void onInit(int status) {
if(status != TextToSpeech.ERROR) {
t1.setLanguage(Locale.UK);
}
}
});
and on button click i am using
tts.speak(toSpeak, TextToSpeech.QUEUE_FLUSH, null);
also tried to turn OFF Bluetooth Headset as suggested in xda forums
but still same issue.
Do i need to add any extra library like "gear.aar" to make it work for Auto as the code is in CarActivity
speak() method requires four parameters to execute the job
I solved this using below code
tts.speak(readText, TextToSpeech.QUEUE_ADD, null, ""+Calendar.getInstance().getTimeInMillis());
I had the same problem.
This is what should be done:
be sure you call tts.speak(...) after TTS is initialized (return 0 - SUCCESS)
turn off bluetooth on the computer
I have an application that according to some events, changes a normal notification to text-to-speech in order to since sometimes the phone isn't available to users, and it'll be safer not to handle the phone.
For example, when you're driving, this is dangerous, so i want to turn the notifications to text-to-speech.
I've looked for a long time some explanation for turning text-to-speech when driving, but i can't find any reference for that no where i search.
For generating text-to-speech, i have this part, which works fine :
private TextToSpeech mTextToSpeech;
public void sayText(Context context, final String message) {
mTextToSpeech = new TextToSpeech(context, new TextToSpeech.OnInitListener() {
#Override
public void onInit(int status) {
try {
if (mTextToSpeech != null && status == TextToSpeech.SUCCESS) {
mTextToSpeech.setLanguage(Locale.US);
mTextToSpeech.speak(message, TextToSpeech.QUEUE_ADD, null);
}
} catch (Exception ex) {
System.out.print("Error handling TextToSpeech GCM notification " + ex.getMessage());
}
}
});
}
But, i don't know how to check if i'm currently driving or not.
As Ashwin suggested, you can use Activity recognition Api, but there's a downside of that, the driving samples you'll receive, has a field of 'confidence' which isn't always accurate, so you'll have to do extra work(such as check locations to see if you actually moved) in order to fully know if the user moved.
You can use google's FenceApi which allows you to define a fence of actions such as driving, walking, running, etc. This api launched recently. If you want a sample for using it, you can use this answer.
You can pull this git project (everything free), which does exactly what you want : adds to the normal notification a text-to-speech when you're driving.
In order to know whether you are driving or not you can use Activity Recognition API
Here is a great tutorial that might help you out Tutorial and Source Code
It looks as though Google has made offline speech recognition available from Google Now for third-party apps. It is being used by the app named Utter.
Has anyone seen any implementations of how to do simple voice commands with this offline speech rec? Do you just use the regular SpeechRecognizer API and it works automatically?
Google did quietly enable offline recognition in that Search update, but there is (as yet) no API or additional parameters available within the SpeechRecognizer class. {See Edit at the bottom of this post} The functionality is available with no additional coding, however the user’s device will need to be configured correctly for it to begin working and this is where the problem lies and I would imagine why a lot of developers assume they are ‘missing something’.
Also, Google have restricted certain Jelly Bean devices from using the offline recognition due to hardware constraints. Which devices this applies to is not documented, in fact, nothing is documented, so configuring the capabilities for the user has proved to be a matter of trial and error (for them). It works for some straight away – For those that it doesn't, this is the ‘guide’ I supply them with.
Make sure the default Android Voice Recogniser is set to Google not
Samsung/Vlingo
Uninstall any offline recognition files you already have installed
from the Google Voice Search Settings
Go to your Android Application Settings and see if you can uninstall
the updates for the Google Search and Google Voice Search
applications.
If you can't do the above, go to the Play Store see if you have the
option there.
Reboot (if you achieved 2, 3 or 4)
Update Google Search and Google Voice Search from the Play Store (if
you achieved 3 or 4 or if an update is available anyway).
Reboot (if you achieved 6)
Install English UK offline language files
Reboot
Use utter! with a connection
Switch to aeroplane mode and give it a try
Once it is working, the offline recognition of other languages,
such as English US should start working too.
EDIT: Temporarily changing the device locale to English UK also seems to kickstart this to work for some.
Some users reported they still had to reboot a number of times before it would begin working, but they all get there eventually, often inexplicably to what was the trigger, the key to which are inside the Google Search APK, so not in the public domain or part of AOSP.
From what I can establish, Google tests the availability of a connection prior to deciding whether to use offline or online recognition. If a connection is available initially but is lost prior to the response, Google will supply a connection error, it won’t fall-back to offline. As a side note, if a request for the network synthesised voice has been made, there is no error supplied it if fails – You get silence.
The Google Search update enabled no additional features in Google Now and in fact if you try to use it with no internet connection, it will error. I mention this as I wondered if the ability would be withdrawn as quietly as it appeared and therefore shouldn't be relied upon in production.
If you intend to start using the SpeechRecognizer class, be warned, there is a pretty major bug associated with it, which require your own implementation to handle.
Not being able to specifically request offline = true, makes controlling this feature impossible without manipulating the data connection. Rubbish. You’ll get hundreds of user emails asking you why you haven’t enabled something so simple!
EDIT: Since API level 23 a new parameter has been added EXTRA_PREFER_OFFLINE which the Google recognition service does appear to adhere to.
Hope the above helps.
I would like to improve the guide that the answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/17674655/2987828 sends to its users, with images. It is the sentence "For those that it doesn't, this is the ‘guide’ I supply them with." that I want to improve.
The user should click on the four buttons highlighted in blue in these images:
Then the user can select any desired languages. When the download is done, he should disconnect from network, and then click on the "microphone" button of the keyboard.
It worked for me (android 4.1.2), then language recognition worked out of the box, without rebooting. I can now dictates instructions to the shell of Terminal Emulator ! And it is twice faster offline than online, on a padfone 2 from ASUS.
These images are licensed under cc by-sa 3.0 with attribution required to stackoverflow.com/a/21329845/2987828 ; you may hence add these images anywhere along with this attribution.
(This the standard policy of all images and texts at stackoverflow.com)
A simple and flexible offline recognition on Android is implemented by CMUSphinx, an open source speech recognition toolkit. It works purely offline, fast and configurable It can listen continuously for keyword, for example.
You can find latest code and tutorial here.
Update in 2019: Time goes fast, CMUSphinx is not that accurate anymore. I recommend to try Kaldi toolkit instead. The demo is here.
In short, I don't have the implementation, but the explanation.
Google did not make offline speech recognition available to third party apps. Offline recognition is only accessable via the keyboard. Ben Randall (the developer of utter!) explains his workaround in an article at Android Police:
I had implemented my own keyboard and was switching between Google
Voice Typing and the users default keyboard with an invisible edit
text field and transparent Activity to get the input. Dirty hack!
This was the only way to do it, as offline Voice Typing could only be
triggered by an IME or a system application (that was my root hack) .
The other type of recognition API … didn't trigger it and just failed
with a server error. … A lot of work wasted for me on the workaround!
But at least I was ready for the implementation...
From Utter! Claims To Be The First Non-IME App To Utilize Offline Voice Recognition In Jelly Bean
I successfully implemented my Speech-Service with offline capabilities by using onPartialResults when offline and onResults when online.
I was dealing with this and I noticed that you need to install the offline package for your Language. My language setting was "Español (Estados Unidos)" but there is not offline package for that language, so when I turned off all network connectivity I was getting an alert from RecognizerIntent saying that can't reach Google, then I change the language to "English (US)" (because I already have the offline package) and launched the RecognizerIntent it just worked out.
Keys: Language setting == Offline Voice Recognizer Package
It is apparently possible to manually install offline voice recognition by downloading the files directly and installing them in the right locations manually. I guess this is just a way to bypass Google hardware requirements.
However, personally I didn't have to reboot or anything, simply changing to UK and back again did it.
Working example is given below,
MyService.class
public class MyService extends Service implements SpeechDelegate, Speech.stopDueToDelay {
public static SpeechDelegate delegate;
#Override
public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) {
//TODO do something useful
try {
if (VERSION.SDK_INT >= VERSION_CODES.KITKAT) {
((AudioManager) Objects.requireNonNull(
getSystemService(Context.AUDIO_SERVICE))).setStreamMute(AudioManager.STREAM_SYSTEM, true);
}
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
Speech.init(this);
delegate = this;
Speech.getInstance().setListener(this);
if (Speech.getInstance().isListening()) {
Speech.getInstance().stopListening();
} else {
System.setProperty("rx.unsafe-disable", "True");
RxPermissions.getInstance(this).request(permission.RECORD_AUDIO).subscribe(granted -> {
if (granted) { // Always true pre-M
try {
Speech.getInstance().stopTextToSpeech();
Speech.getInstance().startListening(null, this);
} catch (SpeechRecognitionNotAvailable exc) {
//showSpeechNotSupportedDialog();
} catch (GoogleVoiceTypingDisabledException exc) {
//showEnableGoogleVoiceTyping();
}
} else {
Toast.makeText(this, R.string.permission_required, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}
});
}
return Service.START_STICKY;
}
#Override
public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
//TODO for communication return IBinder implementation
return null;
}
#Override
public void onStartOfSpeech() {
}
#Override
public void onSpeechRmsChanged(float value) {
}
#Override
public void onSpeechPartialResults(List<String> results) {
for (String partial : results) {
Log.d("Result", partial+"");
}
}
#Override
public void onSpeechResult(String result) {
Log.d("Result", result+"");
if (!TextUtils.isEmpty(result)) {
Toast.makeText(this, result, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
}
#Override
public void onSpecifiedCommandPronounced(String event) {
try {
if (VERSION.SDK_INT >= VERSION_CODES.KITKAT) {
((AudioManager) Objects.requireNonNull(
getSystemService(Context.AUDIO_SERVICE))).setStreamMute(AudioManager.STREAM_SYSTEM, true);
}
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
if (Speech.getInstance().isListening()) {
Speech.getInstance().stopListening();
} else {
RxPermissions.getInstance(this).request(permission.RECORD_AUDIO).subscribe(granted -> {
if (granted) { // Always true pre-M
try {
Speech.getInstance().stopTextToSpeech();
Speech.getInstance().startListening(null, this);
} catch (SpeechRecognitionNotAvailable exc) {
//showSpeechNotSupportedDialog();
} catch (GoogleVoiceTypingDisabledException exc) {
//showEnableGoogleVoiceTyping();
}
} else {
Toast.makeText(this, R.string.permission_required, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}
});
}
}
#Override
public void onTaskRemoved(Intent rootIntent) {
//Restarting the service if it is removed.
PendingIntent service =
PendingIntent.getService(getApplicationContext(), new Random().nextInt(),
new Intent(getApplicationContext(), MyService.class), PendingIntent.FLAG_ONE_SHOT);
AlarmManager alarmManager = (AlarmManager) getSystemService(Context.ALARM_SERVICE);
assert alarmManager != null;
alarmManager.set(AlarmManager.ELAPSED_REALTIME_WAKEUP, 1000, service);
super.onTaskRemoved(rootIntent);
}
}
For more details,
https://github.com/sachinvarma/Speech-Recognizer
Hope this will help someone in future.
I'm making use of Text to Speech - TTS in my Android app.. I've pasted the code below.. TTS is working fine, however the voice/text it speaks is not very clear.. It speaks really quick, so that it is not fully understandable.. I tried setting Locale.US, and used setPitch or setSpeechRate but it is not really convincing. I felt that there is some problem with my phone (Samsung S2).. So tried installing Google Translate TTS app from Google Play store.. In that app the voice was really clear.
My app will be used by Kids.. so want to make sure that the voice is really clear.
I'm breaking my head for the past few days to fix this problem.. Would be great if you could give me some pointers on where I'm doing wrong or how to improve??
#Override
public void onInit(int status) {
if (status == TextToSpeech.SUCCESS) {
int result = tts.setLanguage(Locale.getDefault());
//tts.setSpeechRate((float) 0.8);
//tts.setPitch(1.0f);
if (result == TextToSpeech.LANG_MISSING_DATA
|| result == TextToSpeech.LANG_NOT_SUPPORTED) {
Log.e("TTS", "This Language is not supported");
} else {
speakOut(0);
}
} else {
Intent installIntent = new Intent();
installIntent.setAction(
TextToSpeech.Engine.ACTION_INSTALL_TTS_DATA);
startActivity(installIntent);
}
}
private void speakOut(int position) {
tts.speak("Some text goes here", TextToSpeech.QUEUE_FLUSH, null);
}
Note: I tried setting value as 0.5f,0.8f etc., in both setPitch and setSpeechRate but still all the voice is not really clear as in GoogleTranslate App.
Your code looks fine.
All tts libraries are shared across the system. Samsung comes with its own tts library. Rest of phones use Pico TTS. The great thing is that your app is independent from the library and you can download as many TTS libs as you want so that when you request the TTS intent the user will be prompt a pop-up to select which of their TTS synth they want for your app.
For me Pico TTS was working fine. Velocity / speech rate was normal, I just put the tone (pitch) a bit up to de-robotize the feeling a bit.
tts.setPitch(1.1f);
Try with Pico TTS and answer back.