Linux TTS Accessibility with Festival

Introduction

Most Linux distributions do not come with a text-to-speech (TTS) engine installed by default. However, there are several open source TTS engines available for Linux that can be installed easily through the package manager.

I have dysgraphia, which is a neurological disorder that affects a person’s ability to write. People with dysgraphia may struggle with writing legibly, organizing their thoughts on paper, and/or maintaining consistent spacing and sizing of letters and words.

In order to combat this mental limitation, I use TTS to read text more quickly and to proof read what I’m writing. Additionaly, treatment for dysgraphia can include accommodations such as using a computer. It’s important for individuals with dysgraphia to receive support and accommodations to help them succeed in academic and professional settings.

The solution I found in this case is festival, which is a free and open-source text-to-speech (TTS) tool for Linux that allows users to generate artificial speech from written text. Festival is highly customizable and supports a range of voices, languages, and output formats. It can be used for a variety of applications, including voice interfaces, screen readers, and language learning tools.

Installation

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sudo apt install -y festival ffmpeg xdotool
sudo cp /etc/festival.scm ~/.festivalrc

Version

In order to install the correct voices for festival TTS, you need to identify what version you have installed.

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festival --version

Once you determine the version, you can download voices you need by changing the version at the end of the URL.

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http://festvox.org/packed/festival/2.5/

Shortcut Script

This bash script, allows you to copy text then have festival read it back and also toggle it off when needed using a keyboard shortcut.

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#!/usr/bin/env bash

if [ "$(pidof festival)" ]; then
	pkill festival;
	exit 0;
fi
xdotool key ctrl+c
xclip -o | festival --tts

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sudo cp tts.sh /usr/local/bin/tts
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/tts

Once completed, you can setup your shortcuts in your distribution like the following.

Speed up Playback and Increase Volume

When reading, I find it useful to speed up playback as it allows me to read at a faster pace. You can change the option for atemo to whatever works for you. If you wish to increase the volume you can change the volume option as well.

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(Parameter.set 'Audio_Required_Format 'aiff)
(Parameter.set 'Audio_Method 'Audio_Command)
(Parameter.set 'Audio_Command "ffplay -hide_banner -loglevel error -nodisp -autoexit -volume 100 -af 'atempo=1.8,volume=3' $FILE")

Set Default Voice

Finally, to set the default voice for festival, you can use the text below. Each voice that you have can be listed in the repl by doing (voice.list). Each voice name, must be prefixed with voice_.

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(set! voice_default 'voice_cmu_us_slt_cg)