Using Microsoft Speech API text-to-speech in java for Android?

Question

I am trying to use Microsoft Speech API text-to-speech, in my java project for Android. It's not working. Is it possible to use this API in java?

The speech-to-text is working, I found the Quickstart and had no problem using it.

However, there is no java example for text-to-speech, only in C# , C++ (Windows) and C++ (Linux) .

I tried to adapt the code in java, but it's not working and I have no idea why.

 public void onTextToSpeechButtonClicked(View v) {
        TextView txt = (TextView) this.findViewById(R.id.texttospeech); // 'texttospeech' is the ID of my text view

        try {
            // THIS LINE ISN'T WORKING
            com.microsoft.cognitiveservices.speech.internal.SpeechConfig config = com.microsoft.cognitiveservices.speech.internal.SpeechConfig.FromSubscription(speechSubscriptionKey, serviceRegion); 

            config.SetSpeechRecognitionLanguage("fr-FR");
            assert(config != null);

            // Creates a speech synthesizer using the default speaker as audio output
            SpeechSynthesizer synthesizer = SpeechSynthesizer.FromConfig(config);
            assert(synthesizer != null);

            SpeechSynthesizer synthesizer1 = SpeechSynthesizer.FromConfig(config);


            SpeechSynthesisResult result = synthesizer.SpeakTextAsync(txt.toString()).Get();

            // Checks result
            if (result.getReason().equals(ResultReason.SynthesizingAudioCompleted)){
                txt.setText("The text has been said.");
            }
            else if (result.getReason().equals(ResultReason.Canceled)){
                SpeechSynthesisCancellationDetails cancellation = SpeechSynthesisCancellationDetails.FromResult(result);
                txt.setText("CANCELED: Reason ="+cancellation.getReason());
                if(cancellation.getReason().equals(CancellationReason.Error)){
                    txt.append("ErrorCode = "+cancellation.getErrorCode()+" / ErrorDetails = "+cancellation.getErrorDetails()+" / Did you update the subscription info ?");
                }
            }
            synthesizer.delete();

        } catch (Exception ex) {
            Log.e("SpeechSDKDemo", "unexpected " + ex.getMessage());
            assert(false);
        }
    }

What I have in the log is that:

E/ples.quickstar: No implementation found for void com.microsoft.cognitiveservices.speech.internal.carbon_javaJNI.swig_module_init() (tried Java_com_microsoft_cognitiveservices_speech_internal_carbon_1javaJNI_swig_1module_1init and Java_com_microsoft_cognitiveservices_speech_internal_carbon_1javaJNI_swig_1module_1init__)
D/AndroidRuntime: Shutting down VM


    --------- beginning of crash
E/AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main
    Process: com.microsoft.cognitiveservices.speech.samples.quickstart, PID: 4106
    java.lang.IllegalStateException: Could not execute method for android:onClick
        at android.support.v7.app.AppCompatViewInflater$DeclaredOnClickListener.onClick(AppCompatViewInflater.java:389)
        at android.view.View.performClick(View.java:6597)
        at...

Can someone help me?

Answer 1

I searched if Microsoft Speech API is compatible with Java and the answer is no. It also seems a little obvious because Microsoft = C++ / C# which is nothing similar to Java. In addition, in your post you mentionned the Quickstart . This uses the Cognitive Services Speech SDK and not Microsoft SAPI.

However, there are native Java libraries allowing Text-To-Speech. Here is a post related to Text-To-Speech engines. Here is more information about it. There are also libraries available for Android:

• Using the Text-To-Speech engine
• Android documentation

Answer 2

I would suggest an alternative. Why not try to use windows tts instead by sending the text to a powershell command which can be executed from java code:

 String[] command = {"powershell.exe", "Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Speech; (New-Object System.Speech.Synthesis.SpeechSynthesizer).Speak('" + message +"');"};
 try {
        ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder(command);
        Process process = pb.start();
        System.out.format("Process exit code: %d", process.waitFor());
        ProcessInputOutput.readStdnOutput(process);
    }
    catch (Exception e){
        e.printStackTrace();
    }