---
title: SpeechSynthesisUtterance
slug: Web/API/SpeechSynthesisUtterance
tags:
  - API
  - Experimental
  - Interface
  - NeedsTranslation
  - Reference
  - SpeechSynthesisUtterance
  - TopicStub
  - Web Speech API
  - speech
  - synthesis
translation_of: Web/API/SpeechSynthesisUtterance
---
<p>{{APIRef("Web Speech API")}}{{SeeCompatTable}}</p>

<p>The <strong><code>SpeechSynthesisUtterance</code></strong> interface of the <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Speech_API">Web Speech API</a> represents a speech request. It contains the content the speech service should read and information about how to read it (e.g. language, pitch and volume.)</p>

<h2 id="Constructor">Constructor</h2>

<dl>
 <dt>{{domxref("SpeechSynthesisUtterance.SpeechSynthesisUtterance()")}}</dt>
 <dd>Returns a new <code>SpeechSynthesisUtterance</code> object instance.</dd>
</dl>

<h2 id="Properties">Properties</h2>

<p><em><code>SpeechSynthesisUtterance</code> also inherits properties from its parent interface, {{domxref("EventTarget")}}.</em></p>

<dl>
 <dt>{{domxref("SpeechSynthesisUtterance.lang")}}</dt>
 <dd>Gets and sets the language of the utterance.</dd>
 <dt>{{domxref("SpeechSynthesisUtterance.pitch")}}</dt>
 <dd>Gets and sets the pitch at which the utterance will be spoken at.</dd>
 <dt>{{domxref("SpeechSynthesisUtterance.rate")}}</dt>
 <dd>Gets and sets the speed at which the utterance will be spoken at.</dd>
 <dt>{{domxref("SpeechSynthesisUtterance.text")}}</dt>
 <dd>Gets and sets the text that will be synthesised when the utterance is spoken.</dd>
 <dt>{{domxref("SpeechSynthesisUtterance.voice")}}</dt>
 <dd>Gets and sets the voice that will be used to speak the utterance.</dd>
 <dt>{{domxref("SpeechSynthesisUtterance.volume")}}</dt>
 <dd>Gets and sets the volume that the utterance will be spoken at.</dd>
</dl>

<h3 id="Event_handlers">Event handlers</h3>

<dl>
 <dt>{{domxref("SpeechSynthesisUtterance.onboundary")}}</dt>
 <dd>Fired when the spoken utterance reaches a word or sentence boundary.</dd>
 <dt>{{domxref("SpeechSynthesisUtterance.onend")}}</dt>
 <dd>Fired when the utterance has finished being spoken.</dd>
 <dt>{{domxref("SpeechSynthesisUtterance.onerror")}}</dt>
 <dd>Fired when an error occurs that prevents the utterance from being succesfully spoken.</dd>
 <dt>{{domxref("SpeechSynthesisUtterance.onmark")}}</dt>
 <dd>Fired when the spoken utterance reaches a named SSML "mark" tag.</dd>
 <dt>{{domxref("SpeechSynthesisUtterance.onpause")}}</dt>
 <dd>Fired when the utterance is paused part way through.</dd>
 <dt>{{domxref("SpeechSynthesisUtterance.onresume")}}</dt>
 <dd>Fired when a paused utterance is resumed.</dd>
 <dt>{{domxref("SpeechSynthesisUtterance.onstart")}}</dt>
 <dd>Fired when the utterance has begun to be spoken.</dd>
</dl>

<h2 id="Examples">Examples</h2>

<p>In our basic <a href="https://github.com/mdn/web-speech-api/tree/master/speak-easy-synthesis">Speech synthesiser demo</a>, we first grab a reference to the SpeechSynthesis controller using <code>window.speechSynthesis</code>. After defining some necessary variables, we retrieve a list of the voices available using {{domxref("SpeechSynthesis.getVoices()")}} and populate a select menu with them so the user can choose what voice they want.</p>

<p>Inside the <code>inputForm.onsubmit</code> handler, we stop the form submitting with <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Event/preventDefault">preventDefault()</a>,  use the {{domxref("SpeechSynthesisUtterance.SpeechSynthesisUtterance()", "constructor")}} to create a new utterance instance containing the text from the text {{htmlelement("input")}}, set the utterance's {{domxref("SpeechSynthesisUtterance.voice","voice")}} to the voice selected in the {{htmlelement("select")}} element, and start the utterance speaking via the {{domxref("SpeechSynthesis.speak()")}} method.</p>

<pre class="brush: js">var synth = window.speechSynthesis;

var inputForm = document.querySelector('form');
var inputTxt = document.querySelector('input');
var voiceSelect = document.querySelector('select');

var voices = synth.getVoices();

for(i = 0; i &lt; voices.length ; i++) {
  var option = document.createElement('option');
  option.textContent = voices[i].name + ' (' + voices[i].lang + ')';
  option.setAttribute('data-lang', voices[i].lang);
  option.setAttribute('data-name', voices[i].name);
  voiceSelect.appendChild(option);
}

inputForm.onsubmit = function(event) {
  event.preventDefault();

  var utterThis = new SpeechSynthesisUtterance(inputTxt.value);
  var selectedOption = voiceSelect.selectedOptions[0].getAttribute('data-name');
  for(i = 0; i &lt; voices.length ; i++) {
    if(voices[i].name === selectedOption) {
      utterThis.voice = voices[i];
    }
  }
  synth.speak(utterThis);
  inputTxt.blur();
}</pre>

<h2 id="Specifications">Specifications</h2>

<table class="standard-table">
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <th scope="col">Specification</th>
   <th scope="col">Status</th>
   <th scope="col">Comment</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('Web Speech API', '#utterance-attributes', 'SpeechSynthesisUtterance')}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('Web Speech API')}}</td>
   <td> </td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>

<h2 id="Browser_compatibility">Compatibilidade com navegadores</h2>

<div>{{CompatibilityTable}}</div>

<div id="compat-desktop">
<table class="compat-table">
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <th>Feature</th>
   <th>Chrome</th>
   <th>Firefox (Gecko)</th>
   <th>Internet Explorer</th>
   <th>Opera</th>
   <th>Safari (WebKit)</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>Basic support</td>
   <td>{{CompatChrome(33)}}</td>
   <td>{{CompatGeckoDesktop(49)}}</td>
   <td>{{CompatNo}}</td>
   <td>{{CompatUnknown}}</td>
   <td>7</td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>
</div>

<div id="compat-mobile">
<table class="compat-table">
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <th>Feature</th>
   <th>Android</th>
   <th>Chrome</th>
   <th>Firefox Mobile (Gecko)</th>
   <th>Firefox OS</th>
   <th>IE Phone</th>
   <th>Opera Mobile</th>
   <th>Safari Mobile</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>Basic support</td>
   <td>{{CompatVersionUnknown}}</td>
   <td>{{CompatVersionUnknown}}</td>
   <td>{{CompatNo}}</td>
   <td>2.0</td>
   <td>{{CompatNo}}</td>
   <td>{{CompatNo}}</td>
   <td>7.1</td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>
</div>

<h2 id="See_also">See also</h2>

<ul>
 <li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Speech_API">Web Speech API</a></li>
</ul>