Modalities
Text-to-Speech
AI that converts written text into natural-sounding spoken audio — used for narration, accessibility, voice assistants, and content creation.
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In plain English
Text-to-speech (TTS) is AI that turns written text into spoken audio. Modern TTS produces voices that are nearly indistinguishable from real humans — with control over tone, accent, emotion, and pacing.
Common uses:
- Audiobooks and narration — narrate articles, books, courses
- Accessibility — screen readers for blind and low-vision users
- Voice agents — give chatbots a voice
- Localisation — voice-over videos in dozens of languages
- IVR / phone systems — replace the old robotic phone-tree voices
Leading TTS providers:
- ElevenLabs — high-quality voice cloning and synthesis
- OpenAI TTS, Google Cloud TTS, Azure Speech
- Resemble, PlayHT, Murf — production-focused tools
Combined with speech-to-text and an LLM, TTS enables full voice-conversational AI products.
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Related terms
Speech-to-Text
AI that converts spoken audio into written text — the technology behind voice assistants, transcription tools, and meeting recorders.
Voice Cloning
AI that learns to mimic a specific person's voice from a short sample, then generates new speech in that voice from any text.
Conversational AI
AI systems designed for natural back-and-forth dialogue with users — covering chatbots, voice assistants, and AI agents.
Multi-modal
An AI model that can understand and work with multiple types of input — text, images, audio, or video — not just text.
Back to glossaryLast reviewed May 2026