To enable SSML support, you must enclose your text-to-speech narration with a pair of <speak> tags. This tag is supported for cloud and standard voices. Once SSML support is enabled, the Insert Text-to-Speech window includes syntax highlighting so you can easily add tags and identify SSML-enhanced text.
View Supported SSML Tags
SSML tags work for all standard voices. However, neural voices have fewer tag options. For example, neural voices don’t support emphasizing words. The table below lists all available SSML tags and their supported voice(s).
Amazon Poly
Learn more about using SSML and supported SSML tags.
| Action | SSML Tag | Supported Voice(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Add a Pause | <break> |
Neural and standard voices |
| Emphasize words | <emphasis> |
Standard voices |
| Place a Custom Tag in Your Text | <mark name="tag_name"/> |
Neural and standard voices |
| Add a Pause Between Paragraphs | <p> |
Neural and standard voices |
| Use Phonetic Pronunciation | <phoneme> |
Neural and standard voices |
| Control Volume, Speaking Rate, and Pitch | <prosody> |
Standard voices. However, neural voices can support the volume and speaking rate attributes. |
| Set a Maximum Duration for Synthesized Speech | <prosody amazon:max-duration> |
Standard voices |
| Add a Pause Between Sentences | <s> |
Neural and standard voices |
| Control How Special Types of Words Are Spoken | <say-as> |
Except for the characters or spell-out attribute, this tag is supported by both neural and standard voices |
| Identify SSML-Enhanced Text | <speak> |
Neural and standard voices |
| Pronounce Acronyms and Abbreviations | <sub> |
Neural and standard voices |
| Add the Sound of Breathing | <amazon:auto-breaths> |
Standard voices |
| Newscaster speaking style | <amazon:domain name="news"> |
Select neural voices (Matthew (en-US), Joanna (en-US), Lupe (es-US), and Amy (en-GB) |
| Add Dynamic Range Compression | <amazon:effect name="drc"> |
Neural and standard voices |
| Speak Softly | <amazon:effect phonation="soft"> |
Standard voices |
| Control Timbre | <amazon:effect vocal-tract-length> |
Standard voices |
| Whisper | <amazon: effect name="whispered"> |
Standard voices |
Google Cloud
Learn more about using SSML and supported SSML tags.
Microsoft Azure
Learn more about using SSML and supported SSML tags.