Text to speech for Xbox

Your Xbox device comes with an option to turn text into speech, or vice versa, and make gaming a lot easier. Learn more about text-to-speech options with your Xbox below.

It’s now 20 years since the first Xbox came out. Today, in 2022, the Series X hardware is so powerful that it runs even the neediest games in terms of system requirements without any hassle. And with exclusives like the Halo or Forza Horizon titles, it’s safe to say that gamers have an easy choice when it comes to choosing the best gaming platform.

Nevertheless, Microsoft’s gaming console isn’t the leading gaming device just because it can run games better than its competitors. Yep! We’re talking about Sony PlayStation. It also isn’t the alpha dog due to its exclusive Xbox games. It’s the best because of accessibility options for players with disabilities. For example, dyslexics or those with ADHD, among others.

But how so, you might ask. Well, your Xbox device comes with an option to turn text into speech, or vice versa, and make gaming a lot easier. In other words, you can hear everything that’s written on your screen or read voice chat transcriptions of both game and party conversations.

Yet, not many gamers are aware of these transcription options on the mentioned console. They only consider its superior functionality as the reason to use it for gaming. This is why we’ll explain how to turn it on, as well as mention some other alternatives to improve gaming for everyone in need of the read-aloud feature.

How text to speech works on an Xbox

The three of the latest Microsoft gaming consoles (Xbox One, Xbox Series S, and Xbox Series X) all have options to turn text into speech (TTS) and speech into text (STT). These options are divided into two separate features — game transcription and chat transcription.

Game transcription allows players to turn in-game speech into text, as well as what you type into speech for your co-players to hear. On the other hand, chat transcription exclusively works for chatting with other players. It does both text-to-speech and speech-into-text.

Enabling text to speech on your Xbox

Once again, you must have one of the mentioned Xbox devices to use this new feature. If you have one, you can easily turn the TTS or STT options on. So, let's now see how to enable these accessibility features on your gaming console, shall we?

1. First, take your controller and press the Xbox button.
2. Choose Profile & System, then Settings, then Accessibility, and afterward go to the Game and Chat Transcription option.
3. If you want to turn what other players are saying to each other into text, just select the Speech-to-Text checkbox.
4. On the other hand, if you want the opposite, simply check the Text-to-Speech option. By doing so, the console will read aloud what is written in the party text chat.
5. To select different voices, select the In-game Chat Voice menu.
6. You can also make your console read certain in-game words that appear on the screen by selecting the Let Games Read to Me option.

How TTS can improve your Xbox experience

It’s safe to say that text-to-speech transcription technology is a literal game changer. It finally allows everyone to have the same experience while playing their favorite video games. And when we say everyone, we mean people who have trouble reading due to various reasons. Many of them are dyslexics who can’t comprehend written words fast enough.

But people with dyslexia are not the only ones. People with ADHD can also benefit hugely from TTS technology, as well as those who are deaf. However, the latter don’t use the text-to-speech option. They instead go for the opposite, as they select speech-to-text so that they can read what others are saying in-game as well as in the Xbox party chat.

Nevertheless, TTS tools aren’t just for people with hearing and reading problems. They are also useful for average gamers. The thing is, it’s tiresome to constantly change your focus from gameplay to the chat dialogue box and read what co-players are typing. It affects your game progress, and it’s irritating if it’s an unimportant message, like most of them are.

Luckily, with the speech synthesis option on, you won’t need to read everything your co-players are typing. The AI synthetic voice will do that for you. Of course, it might have some issues with typos and grammatical errors, but it will still get the job done. It might also lead to funny situations that will leave you and your friends laughing out loud for hours.

Text-to-speech tools are also worth it because of the entertainment value they provide. Namely, you can fiddle with tone controls and choose various voices to mimic certain characters and friends, or generally just create bizarre sounds for fun. It’s what many players are into, as it adds a healthy dose of laughter to their all-serious in-game encounters.

Using Speechify to improve your overall gaming experience

If you’re a gamer who wants to try TTS technology without an Xbox — you can still do it. The answer is Speechify. This is the world’s number one text transcription app. It uses the latest optical character recognition (OCR) technology, machine learning, and advanced artificial intelligence to turn written words into speech.

Speechify is available across all platforms. You can use it on your iOS (iPhone) or Android device (e.g., Samsung smartphone) as a mobile app. But for serious gaming, you’ll need to run Speechify on your PC. Luckily, it’s also easy to download. All you need to do is add the plug-in for your Google Chrome web browser, and voilà.

Once you download the Speechify app, the next step is to sign-up as a user. Of course, it’s also possible to use it for free for 3 days. But to get the most out of Speechify’s text-to-speech feature, it’s best to become a yearly subscriber. It allows you to use the app to its fullest potential, changing AI voices, tone, and reading speed, among other options.

When it comes to gaming, you can use Speechify to turn text into speech on all popular communication apps like Twitch, Discord, and others. With it, you can fully focus on multiplayer gameplay without reading in the middle of an important action or set-piece scene. All you need to do is leave Speechify running in the background.

FAQs

Why does my Xbox have text-to-speech?

Xbox party chat now supports transcribing speech into text and synthesis of speech from text, features which can be used to aid players who are deaf or have trouble hearing and/or cannot or choose not to speak.

How do you make your Xbox talk?

Turn the Narrator option on and off.

• If you’re using a controller, press and hold the Xbox button until it vibrates. Afterward, press the Menu button in the bottom-right corner. Repeat the same pattern to turn off the Narrator option.
• Press the Xbox button to open the guide; select Profile & System > Settings > Accessibility > Narrator to turn it on or off.

How do I talk in Party Chat?

For Party Chat transcription:

1. Press the Xbox button on your controller;
2. Navigate to Profile and System, then go to Settings, and then choose the Ease of Access settings;
3. Select Game and Chat Transcription;
4. Under the Party Chat Options column, select one or both transcription settings.