Our voice model is pretty good at predicting pronunciation, but a few things can trip it up:
- acronyms
- homonyms (like read vs. read)
- unfamiliar or rare nouns (such as company names, borrowed words, brand terms, or specialized terminology).
The following tips give you better control over exactly how words are spoken.
Acronym Pronunciation
Pronounced as a word
Spell the acronym phonetically so the voice reads it as a single word.
Example: FEMA → "feema"" or "::FEE-ma::"
Pronounced letter by letter
Add spaces, periods, or dashes between letters — or use a Respelling for more precise control.
Example: TBD → "T.B.D." or "T-B-D" or "TEE-BEE-DEE"When using a Respelling for letter-by-letter pronunciation, stressing only the first and last syllables tends to produce better results.
Example: ASAP → "AY-ehs-ay-PEE"
Word Pronunciation
When a voice struggles to predict the correct pronunciation of a word, you can provide a replacement spelling to guide it. You can also store your replacements for future reuse.
Use a Respelling Suggestions
Respelling Suggestions offer phonetic replacements for common, industry-specific, uncommon, and complex words. Suggestions are sourced from the Oxford dictionary in both American and British English.
To find a phonetic suggestion:
- Open the Replacements panel.
- Click the book icon.
- Enter your original word.
- Click the book icon again to find phonetic suggestions.
Create a Phonetic Respelling
Create a Respellings to manually break a word into syllables and mark which ones to stress.
Example: Triiodothyronine → "try-yuh-uh-doo-THY-ruh-neen"
Create a Text Replacement
Create a Replacement to substitute a word, term, or phrase with an alternative spelling when the orignal pronunciation is otherwise ambiguous.
Example: 1099-MISC, tax form
Voices will vocalize as “ten ninety-nine M I S C”
Add a Replacement so the voice will always say “ten ninety-nine Miscellaneous”
Emphasize a word or phrase
Wrap a word or phrase in quotation marks (" ") to direct the voice to give it extra attention. Learn how to get the right inflection.