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Speech Dispatcher is a device independent layer for speech synthesis that provides a common easy to use interface for both client applications (programs that want to speak) and for software synthesizers (programs actually able to convert text to speech).

It is a part of the Free(b)soft project, which is intended to allow blind and visually impaired people to work with computer and Internet based on free software.

## Installation

Install the speech-dispatcher package. If you wish you allow Festival to interact with it then you should also install festival-freebsoft-utilsAUR as well.

## Configuration

The main configuration file is located at `/etc/speech-dispatcher/speechd.conf` however speech-dispatcher is usually run on a per user basis to allow for multiple users to have differing preferences. User configuration files are stored at `~/.config/speech-dispatcher/`. There is also support to allow different speech synthesis engine clients to have their own configurations too.

Use the included `spd-conf` tool to change configuration options. By default it will run in interactive mode and ask you a series of questions in order to generate the type of file you require. It is recommended that you create a per user configuration unless you are absolutely sure you will be the only user. Altering the system configuration requires root permissions.

### Basic configuration

To use interactive mode and answer questions about what you need run the following:

    $ spd-conf

To create a per user configuration run the following:

    $ spd-conf -uc

To edit the system wide configuration file run the following:

    # spd-conf -C

### Festival specific

The factual accuracy of this article or section is disputed.

Reason: From testing it appears as though this step is unnecessary, as long as Festival is running as a server speech-dispatcher seems to work without this edit. (Discuss in Talk:Speech dispatcher)

If you intend to use Festival as your speech synthesis engine then you should also do the following:

    $ $EDITOR ~/.config/speech-dispatcher/speechd.conf

Find and uncomment (by removing the `#` from in front of it) the line:

    ~/.config/speech-dispatcher/speechd.conf

    ...
    #AddModule "festival"
    ...

Then save the file.

## Usage

Using speech-dispatcher directly is not a common scenario as its intended to provide an access layer to other speech synthesis engines, that said you can interact with it directly by using the included `spd-say` binary as follows:

    $ spd-say "Arch Linux is the best"

## Troubleshooting

### General

`spd-conf` contains a routine to test the operation of speech-dispatcher, you can run it with the following command:

    $ spd-conf -d

Or use the following to get a very verbose log dump:

    $ spd-conf -D

Other tests are available, for example testing Alsa, PulseAudio and Festival, to see a full list of available options run the following:

    $ spd-conf --help

Most of the available tests will run as part of the test routine.

### Using TTS causes the dummy output module to speak an error message

This article or section needs expansion.

Reason: Its probably possible to automate this using a systemd service file (Discuss in Talk:Speech dispatcher)

This happens when speech dispatcher cannot connect to the speech synthesis engine. If you are using Festival then it needs to be running as a server, this can be achieved with the following command:

    $ festival --server &

## See also

- Project Hompage - https://freebsoft.org/speechd
- Project Github page - https://github.com/brailcom/speechd
- Project documentation page - https://github.com/brailcom/speechd/blob/master/doc/speech-dispatcher.html

Categories:

- Accessibility
- Multimedia

Hidden categories:

- Pages or sections flagged with Template:Accuracy
- Pages or sections flagged with Template:Expansion