spd-say

Speak text aloud

$ spd-say "[Hello, world]"

$ spd-say -t [female1] "[Hello]"

$ spd-say -r [50] "[Speaking faster]"

$ spd-say -p [-20] "[Lower pitch]"

$ spd-say -l [es] "[Hola mundo]"

$ spd-say -s "[ABC]"

$ spd-say -o [output.wav] "[Hello]"

$ echo "[Hello world]" | spd-say -e

$ spd-say --list-voices

spd-say [options] "text"
spd-say -e

spd-say is a command-line client for Speech Dispatcher that converts text to speech. It sends text to the speech-dispatcher daemon, which routes it to the configured speech synthesizer (typically eSpeak NG, Festival, or similar).
The command provides a simple interface for text-to-speech functionality in scripts and applications. Voice characteristics including rate, pitch, and volume can be adjusted. Multiple languages and voice types are supported depending on installed synthesizers.
Speech Dispatcher acts as a central hub, allowing multiple applications to share speech synthesis resources. The spd-say command provides direct access to this system for testing, scripting, and accessibility purposes.

-r RATE, --rate RATE

Speech rate (-100 to 100, default: 0)

Speech pitch (-100 to 100, default: 0)

Speech volume (-100 to 100, default: 0)

Language code (en, es, fr, de, etc.)

Voice type (male1, male2, male3, female1, female2, female3, childmale, childfemale)

Output module to use

Punctuation mode (none, some, all)

Spell the text letter by letter

Parse input as SSML

Read text from stdin

Wait until speech is finished

Stop any speech in progress

Cancel current speech

Message priority (important, message, text, notification, progress)

List available voices

List available output modules

Requires the speech-dispatcher daemon to be running. Available voices and languages depend on installed speech synthesizers. Audio output requires a working sound system. The -o option for saving to WAV may not work with all output modules. Some synthesizers may not support all voice types.

Speech Dispatcher was developed as part of the Free(b)Soft project to provide a unified text-to-speech interface for Linux accessibility. Development began around 2001, led by Hynek Hanke and Tomas Cerha. The project aims to provide speech output for visually impaired users and general text-to-speech functionality. It integrates with screen readers like Orca and provides the spd-say command for script and command-line access.

espeak-ng(1), festival(1), speech-dispatcher(1), say(1)