What Is TTS Text-to-Speech Technology For Contact Center

TTS, an acronym for text-to-speech, is a speech synthesis technology that converts written text to a natural-sounding speech and spoken words. It synthesizes words, rather than playing back pre-recorded messages. This can be difficult with the English language because many words are spelled the same, but have different pronunciations and meanings. For example, Text-to-speech apps must figure out if they should pronounce the word "lead" as it's pronounced in "lead the way" or as it's pronounced in "lead pipe." This is handled by calculating probability and choosing the most likely pronunciation. It's an imperfect approach, and there are mispronunciations as it is with a natural-sounding voice.

TTS was originally developed as assistive voice technology for the visually impaired to help them understand, for example, website content as a human voice output audio files and the website is read aloud. TTS systems are now a common feature of websites and popular applications like Microsoft Word. There are several text-to-speech technology providers and the TTS functionality can often be incorporated into web browsers, websites and applications using a simple API. TTS is becoming more mainstream as everyday users use it not only for visual impairments reason but for daily activities like reading inbound text messages out loud. 

TTS in contact centers

Text-to-speech work amazingly with contact centers around the globe. It has some interesting applications in contact centers, and its innovative use will likely expand. Interactive voice response (IVR) systems can use TTS to provide customers with information such as account balances and how much is due from their latest bill. IVR systems can use TTS to have callers confirm what they entered into the IVR, such as a customer ID. TTS can also be used for administering post-call satisfaction surveys. Organizations just need to type in the questions they want to ask, and the system will synthesize the speech for them. This adds flexibility to businesses that want to change-up their survey questions.

Deep neural networks (DNNs) have also revolutionized the field of text-to-speech (TTS) by significantly enhancing the naturalness and intelligibility of synthetic speech. Neural TTS systems can learn intricate patterns in human speech, including intonation, stress, multiple languages and rhythm. This helps contact centers produce speech that closely mimics human-like expressions and emotions, making interactions with automated systems more engaging and effective.