SpeechSynthesisUtterance.rate

This is an experimental technology
Because this technology's specification has not stabilized, check the compatibility table for usage in various browsers. Also note that the syntax and behavior of an experimental technology is subject to change in future versions of browsers as the specification changes.

The rate property of the SpeechSynthesisUtterance interface gets and sets the speed at which the utterance will be spoken at.

If unset, a default value of 1 will be used.

Syntax

JavaScript
var myRate = speechSynthesisUtteranceInstance.rate;
speechSynthesisUtteranceInstance.rate = 1.5;

Value

A float representing the rate value. It can range between 0.1 (lowest) and 10 (highest), with 1 being the default pitch for the current platform or voice, which should correspond to a normal speaking rate. Other values act as a percentage relative to this, so for example 2 is twice as fast, 0.5 is half as fast, etc.

Some speech synthesis engines or voices may constrain the minimum and maximum rates further. If SSML is used, this value will be overridden by prosody tags in the markup.

Examples

JavaScript
<code class="language-js">var synth = window.speechSynthesis;

var inputForm = document.querySelector('form');
var inputTxt = document.querySelector('input');
var voiceSelect = document.querySelector('select');

var voices = synth.getVoices();</code>

  ...

inputForm.onsubmit = function(event) {
  event.preventDefault();

  var utterThis = new SpeechSynthesisUtterance(inputTxt.value);
  var selectedOption = voiceSelect.selectedOptions[0].getAttribute('data-name');
  for(i = 0; i < voices.length ; i++) {
    if(voices[i].name === selectedOption) {
      utterThis.voice = voices[i];
    }
  }
  utterThis.rate = 1.5;
  synth.speak(utterThis);
  inputTxt.blur();
}

Specifications

Specification Status Comment
Web Speech API
The definition of 'rate' in that specification.
Draft  

Browser compatibility

Feature Chrome Firefox (Gecko) Internet Explorer Opera Safari (WebKit)
Basic support 33 49 (49) No support ? 7
Feature Android Chrome Firefox Mobile (Gecko) Firefox OS IE Phone Opera Mobile Safari Mobile
Basic support (Yes) (Yes) No support 2.0 No support No support 7.1

See also

License

© 2016 Mozilla Contributors
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License v2.5 or later.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-us/docs/web/api/speechsynthesisutterance/rate

API Experimental Property rate Reference speech SpeechSynthesisUtterance synthesis Web Speech API