Text-to-speech (TTS) has advanced significantly. The time when TTS’s “robotic-ness” could be disregarded is long gone. In place of human-read audio, synthetic voices are now used by publishers to boost audience engagement and reach audiences on the go.

Enhancing accessibility and user experience on your website can both be accomplished by adding text-to-speech Plugins technologies. Visitors who want to listen to the content rather than read the screen can easily do so. Additionally, with the appropriate text-to-speech WordPress plugin, this capability is simple to set up.

How does Text to Speech (TTS) work?

Machine learning algorithms trained on human speech produce TTS voices. Human-read voice data is used to build neural nets that accurately replicate a person’s voice. These neural nets are then utilized to replicate audio using the distinctive qualities of the human voice.

TTS has been utilized in early AI assistants and customer service for some time (think Apple Maps). Publishers are employing TTS to turn their online articles into audio, the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg.

Most TTS plugins employ an embedded audio player that loads an audio version of the article at the top of each post. Some companies use TTS provided by Google, Amazon and Microsoft, whilst some build their own voices to create an audio rendition of each new post as soon as it is published. It’s as simple as downloading a plugin and making an account because most businesses provide indian hosting and management through their websites.

Text-to-Speech Plugins for WordPress
Image Credit – WordPress

Why use TTS?

Offering audio versions enables readers to listen to your information. This right away generates new chances to interact with your audience. While doing other browsing tasks, cooking, walking around the block, or cleaning, readers may switch to listening. According to our own research at BeyondWords, we’ve discovered that users who listen to their audience spend up to four times more time interacting with the material. 

BeyondWors’ own data has revealed that users who listen to their users spend up to four times more time with Additionally, they browse more pages and are more likely to come back.

Digital publishers are using TTS to draw in and keep the attention of audiences who have stopped reading text. 50% of listening traffic, as determined by SpeechKit, is made up of people in the 24- to 35-year-old age range, which is a younger demographic. We also notice patterns in how people listen to different kinds of content. Websites with a specific focus and category (health, finance, or personal improvement) typically have excellent listening rates.

Finally, TTS assists publishers in adhering to new web accessibility guidelines. As more governments worldwide use frameworks, WordPress hosting accessibility and inclusiveness have moved up the priority list.. While many nations have decided to base their accessibility laws on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) framework, several countries are imposing their own standards. By including audio versions of your postings, you can immediately abide by these rules and raise your website’s ranking by them.

Below, I’ve listed some of the top WordPress Text to Speech plugins.

1. Beyond Words

An exclusive WordPress plugin is available for the AI voice and audio publishing platform BeyondWords. Once everything is set up, the player’s customizable player will automatically integrate audio from the selected posts and pages.

You can access 500 voices in 130 different language regions through your BeyondWords dashboard, along with audio production, distribution, monetization, and embedded analytics tools. Natural language processing techniques, which guarantee correct pronunciations and enable personalized text-to-speech rules, improve these. You can even design your own voice.

Each publisher has a different pricing option with Beyond Words, a freemium service. When you sign up for the Free plan, you can access all the essential functions and convert up to 30,000 characters (or around 6,000 words) monthly into audio all these kind of plugin professionally maintained by a WordPress development agency, the sky’s the limit!.

2. Amazon Web Services for WordPress

AWS for WordPress (3.8 stars) is a plugin created by Amazon Polly, the speech division of Amazon Web Services. Their WordPress plugin enables the combination of a built-in audio player and the Polly API, which is utilized by a few other plugins. AWS for WordPress produces an audio version of fresh posts as they are published, similar to other plugins. The plugin’s functioning is simple, and Amazon only provides little information about it. You should also register for an AWS account to host the audio. However, this plugin has the advantage of being cost-free to use (you may need to pay for an AWS account).

3. Play.ht

Another excellent choice is Play.ht (0 ratings) converts text information to audio using several text-to-speech services like Amazon Polly, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. The plugin will create a player for the audio version of the post and display it at the top of each article. This tool, like SpeechKit, enables authors to edit and curate audio from a dashboard. Play. Ht also offers a significant range of voices with demonstrations on its website. The paid service starts at a $90 annual charge and includes hosting and analytics.

4. Trinity Audio

A similar plugin, Trinity Audio (3.7 ratings), provides text-to-speech from various additional cloud services. Their business has concentrated on integrating audio adverts that play before the post audio so content creators can monetize their output. The plugin includes various configuration options, one of which is to hide the player’s ‘Powered by Trinity Audio’ badge. According to the FAQ, the plugin is a purchased item. However, they provide a free service to more prominent publishers.

5. A Responsive Voice

An HTML5-based text-to-speech plugin, Responsive Voice (4.5 stars), uses shortcodes to introduce voice elements. This plugin uses a straightforward “Listen to Post” button to read out important post content components. Using responsive voice, you can embed shortcodes around any elements you want to turn into audio. Voice configuration options, such as volume, pitch, and speed adjustments, can be made directly in the shortcode. There is no mention of prices on its website, but free trials are available.

6. Remixd

Remixd is a service that aims to help authors and publishers generate extra income. It has received 5 stars from 1 review. Like Trinity Audio, this plugin allows you to incorporate pre-roll ads to monetize your posts. Although earnings from text-to-speech audio ads won’t be as competitive as those from display advertising, they are a decent option if you want to experiment with audio ads. Remixed provides a reporting dashboard on its website, just like SpeechKit does.

7.Listencat

Another plugin that provides a free TTS-to-speech service is Listencat (5 stars). On mobile, they have an outstanding player located at the website’s bottom. The service is primarily for bloggers, whereas most of those above are intended for small teams and businesses. Although the dashboard has a good, simple appearance, there appear to be no curation or customization features available.

8. SpeechKit

The most powerful text-to-speech plugin for WordPress out there, SpeechKit, also enables you to turn all of your posts into audio content. This one supports 28 distinct languages and more than 200 voices with realistic audio.

SpeechKit is renowned for providing possibilities for programmatic ad insertion. This is especially useful if you’re using your WordPress site to make additional money and utilizing it as a blog or website to market your business.

However, some users believe SpeechKit needs more customization than other solutions.

Conclusion 

To begin with, remember that some folks may need help to completely appreciate the information you’ve previously put a lot of effort into creating due to visual impairments. They want to read that intriguing blog article you just posted, but they might be unable to do so because of visual impairments or even blindness. Providing a text-to-speech option ensures you are keeping many potential customers open.

Give them access to your website’s audio version. Transform all of your articles right now to audio.

Additionally, there has never been a time when the popularity of audio content on the Internet has been higher than it is now. The best illustration of this is podcasts, a relatively new audio format that has surpassed traditional radio as one of the most popular audio experiences among users.

The virtually unequaled level of choice that audio material offers its customers contributes to its popularity. They are not required to find the time to read a piece of information while seated in front of a computer. They may take it with them and listen to it while out and about, running errands, working out at the gym, or even making dinner.

The abundance of options accessible to you if you wish to add such functionality to your own WordPress website will soon overwhelm you.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Is text-to-speech available on WordPress?

Text to Speech Player in WordPress Posts Display

The plugin will automatically show a text-to-speech audio player for updated articles based on your choices. You will need to modify the post or page and enable the text-to-speech option that is found beneath the post editor for your older articles.

2. How can I use WordPress to transcribe?

You may start dictating by going to the WordPress new post editor, putting your cursor in the body of the post, and then clicking the Voice In microphone button in the top right corner. The color of the microphone in the top right corner of your browser will indicate whether Voice In is on or off.

3. What is WordPress used for?

You can host and create websites using the content management system (CMS) known as WordPress. WordPress has a template system and a plugin architecture that allow you to personalize any website to meet your company, blog, portfolio, or online store.

4.What is a WordPress plugin?

A WordPress plugin is a piece of software that “plugs into” your WordPress site. Plugins can add new functionality or extend existing functionality on your site, allowing you to create virtually any kind of website, from ecommerce stores to portfolios to directory sites.

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Sneha Mukherjee

Content and Copywriter at Wavel AI

I fuse my passion for technology with storytelling, breathing life into our innovative solutions through words. My mission transcends features, focusing on crafting engaging narratives that connect users and render AI accessible to all.