Microsoft today announced that its Neural Text to Speech (Neural TTS) service language set has been updated with support for 15 new languages (via Neowin). According to the company’s press release, the new dialects added to the service are Hindi, English (India), Danish, Arabic (Egypt and Saudi Arabia), Catalan, Finnish, Dutch, Russian, Swedish, Polish, Thai, Portuguese, and Chinese (Cantonese Traditional and Taiwanese Mandarin).
Microsoft’s Neural text-to-speech (NTTS) service leverages machine learning technologies to make interactions with virtual assistants and chatbots more natural and engaging for users. By using the computational power of Azure, the service supports a bunch of speaking styles, and the list includes customer service, newscast, chat, as well as emotions like empathy and cheerfulness.
“Our text-to-speech services have played a key role in democratizing information reach and empowering people and organizations. Through the inclusion of English (India) and Hindi in Neural TTS, we are demonstrating our continued commitment to refining speech and voice-based services for personal and business use in India. We will continue to drive further advancements in speech services to empower people wherever they are to access information easily,” said Sundar Srinivasan, General Manager, Microsoft India (R&D) Pvt. Ltd.
The latest addition will help Microsoft expand its Neural TTS service to more users worldwide, and the company is optimistic that it will help to improve interactions with chatbots and virtual assistants. Feel free to check out the official blog post to learn more about Microsoft’s text-to-speech service.
