Buzz
Microsoft Cognitive Services comprises a suite of APIs, SDKs, and services provided by Microsoft that developers can leverage to make their applications smarter, more engaging, and visually appealing.
Bing Speech API expands its support to include 6 new languages for Text-to-Speech.
Machine learning APIs enable developers to incorporate many other intelligent features into their applications, not limited to emotion detection, facial recognition, speech, and language understanding.
One such cognitive service provided by Microsoft Cognitive Services is called Bing Speech API. The Speech API allows developers to integrate and use speech features in their applications. Bing Speech API includes Speech-to-Text (speech recognition) and Text-to-Speech (speech synthesis). Speech-to-Text converts user speech or spoken words into text form, which can be used as a command or input. Text-to-Speech converts text into audio form, used as an output.
6 new languages supported for Text-to-Speech include:
- Bulgarian (language code: bg-BG)
- Croatian (hr-HR)
- Malay (ms-MY)
- Slovenian (sl-SI)
- Tamil (ta-in)
- Vietnamese (vi-VN)
In a recent announcement, Qinying Liao, program manager for AI Core - Speech at Microsoft, revealed that Text-to-Speech API now supports 34 languages out of 48 and 78 speaking fonts. Additionally, the API can be utilized independently or integrated with other Cognitive Services such as Speech-to-Text recognition and language detection to devise online speech-based solutions.
Furthermore, new languages for Text-to-Speech will be accessible through Microsoft Translator Speech API and Microsoft Translator apps by the end of this month, catering to developers integrating them into their applications using Translator Speech API as well as end-users utilizing Translator apps and direct Translator features.
Apart from Microsoft's translation tools, you can also utilize Google Translate to translate any language in text or speech format, which is fantastic.
If you're a Windows user, you're probably familiar with Windows 10 S operating system aimed at education. However, Microsoft clarifies that Windows 10 S is not offered as a standalone version, meaning if you want to use this version, you'll have to upgrade from other Windows 10 editions.
