Speech Synthesis Markup Language V1.0 (SSML) W3C Recommendation on September 7, 2004 SSML is an XML application designed to control aspects of synthesized speech such as pronunciation, rate, voice, and volume. Authors: –Daniel Burnett, Nuance –Mark Walker, Intel –Andrew Hunt, Nuance

Design Criteria Consistent voice control across platforms Interoperability with other W3C standards Support of a wide range of applications Support of a wide range of languages Support of automatic and hand-written documents Implementable with existing technologies

Synthesis Processor XML parser extracts the document tree Text normalization: determination of words to be spoken Text-to-phoneme conversion: determination of pronunciation Determination of prosody: pitch, timing, emphasis Production of audio waveform

Examples of SSML Elements Speak: root element Say-as: how text is to be spoken Phoneme: for rendering of non-language sounds (clicks) Voice: specifies attributes such as age and gender Audio: for insertion of recorded audio files

Implementations and Future Versions Test suite was developed prior to Recommendation status to ensure consistent behavior and quality Highly implemented in the mobile phone and personal assistant industries Goal of the next version initiated January of 2007, is to achieve better support for a wider range of languages. India is currently working on an SSML application for the Indian language and its many dialects