VSCode Read Aloud Text

Simple text-to-speech extension for Visual Studio Code.

Installation

Please visit VSCode Marketplace.

• VSCode Read Aloud text - Visual Studio Marketplace

About

Read aloud text and highlight current text.

VSCode Speech adds basic text-to-speech functionality to the VSCode editor using your operating system's built-in text-to-speech facilities.

It can either read the entire current document, or just the currently selected text.

Features

• Read aloud text like Markdown
• Read aloud only context text
  • In other words, skip unreasonbale Node like CodeBlock
  • This extension only support .txt, Markdown, and Re:View by using a parser
• Highlight text that is read currently
• commands:
  • read-aloud-text.speakDocument: speak document
  • read-aloud-text.speakHere: speak here
  • read-aloud-text.speakSelection: speak selection
  • read-aloud-text.stopSpeaking: stop speaking

Configuration

By default, VSCode Speech uses whatever voice settings you have configured for your operating system. You can change the voice used to read text by using some VSCode settings

speech.voice

Name of the voice used to read back text. If null, this defaults to the current system voice.

For a list of available voices, on a Mac either:

1. Open System Preferences
2. Go to Dictation & Speech
3. Open the Text to Speech tab
4. Browse the system voice selections

or, in a command line run:

$ say -v ?

Here's example output for Mac OS 10.11:

Agnes               en_US    # Isn't it nice to have a computer that will talk to you?
Albert              en_US    #  I have a frog in my throat. No, I mean a real frog!
Alex                en_US    # Most people recognize me by my voice.
Alice               it_IT    # Salve, mi chiamo Alice e sono una voce italiana.
Alva                sv_SE    # Hej, jag heter Alva. Jag är en svensk röst.
Amelie              fr_CA    # Bonjour, je m’appelle Amelie. Je suis une voix canadienne.
Anna                de_DE    # Hallo, ich heiße Anna und ich bin eine deutsche Stimme.
Bad News            en_US    # The light you see at the end of the tunnel is the headlamp of a fast approaching train.
Bahh                en_US    # Do not pull the wool over my eyes.
Bells               en_US    # Time flies when you are having fun.
Boing               en_US    # Spring has sprung, fall has fell, winter's here and it's colder than usual.
Bruce               en_US    # I sure like being inside this fancy computer
Bubbles             en_US    # Pull the plug! I'm drowning!
Carmit              he_IL    # שלום. קוראים לי כרמית, ואני קול בשפה העברית.
Cellos              en_US    # Doo da doo da dum dee dee doodly doo dum dum dum doo da doo da doo da doo da doo da doo da doo
Damayanti           id_ID    # Halo, nama saya Damayanti. Saya berbahasa Indonesia.
Daniel              en_GB    # Hello, my name is Daniel. I am a British-English voice.
Deranged            en_US    # I need to go on a really long vacation.
Diego               es_AR    # Hola, me llamo Diego y soy una voz española.
Ellen               nl_BE    # Hallo, mijn naam is Ellen. Ik ben een Belgische stem.
Fiona               en-scotland # Hello, my name is Fiona. I am a Scottish-English voice.
Fred                en_US    # I sure like being inside this fancy computer
Good News           en_US    # Congratulations you just won the sweepstakes and you don't have to pay income tax again.
Hysterical          en_US    # Please stop tickling me!
Ioana               ro_RO    # Bună, mă cheamă Ioana . Sunt o voce românească.
Joana               pt_PT    # Olá, chamo-me Joana e dou voz ao português falado em Portugal.
Junior              en_US    # My favorite food is pizza.
Kanya               th_TH    # สวัสดีค่ะ ดิฉันชื่อKanya
Karen               en_AU    # Hello, my name is Karen. I am an Australian-English voice.
Kathy               en_US    # Isn't it nice to have a computer that will talk to you?
Kyoko               ja_JP    # こんにちは、私の名前はKyokoです。日本語の音声をお届けします。
Laura               sk_SK    # Ahoj. Volám sa Laura . Som hlas v slovenskom jazyku.
Lekha               hi_IN    # नमस्कार, मेरा नाम लेखा है.Lekha मै हिंदी मे बोलने वाली आवाज़ हूँ.
Luciana             pt_BR    # Olá, o meu nome é Luciana e a minha voz corresponde ao português que é falado no Brasil
Maged               ar_SA    # مرحبًا اسمي Maged. أنا عربي من السعودية.
Mariska             hu_HU    # Üdvözlöm! Mariska vagyok. Én vagyok a magyar hang.
Mei-Jia             zh_TW    # 您好，我叫美佳。我說國語。
Melina              el_GR    # Γεια σας, ονομάζομαι Melina. Είμαι μια ελληνική φωνή.
Milena              ru_RU    # Здравствуйте, меня зовут Milena. Я – русский голос системы.
Moira               en_IE    # Hello, my name is Moira. I am an Irish-English voice.
Monica              es_ES    # Hola, me llamo Monica y soy una voz española.
Nora                nb_NO    # Hei, jeg heter Nora. Jeg er en norsk stemme.
Paulina             es_MX    # Hola, me llamo Paulina y soy una voz mexicana.
Pipe Organ          en_US    # We must rejoice in this morbid voice.
Princess            en_US    # When I grow up I'm going to be a scientist.
Ralph               en_US    # The sum of the squares of the legs of a right triangle is equal to the square of the hypotenuse.
Samantha            en_US    # Hello, my name is Samantha. I am an American-English voice.
Sara                da_DK    # Hej, jeg hedder Sara. Jeg er en dansk stemme.
Satu                fi_FI    # Hei, minun nimeni on Satu. Olen suomalainen ääni.
Sin-ji              zh_HK    # 您好，我叫 Sin-ji。我講廣東話。
Tessa               en_ZA    # Hello, my name is Tessa. I am a South African-English voice.
Thomas              fr_FR    # Bonjour, je m’appelle Thomas. Je suis une voix française.
Ting-Ting           zh_CN    # 您好，我叫Ting-Ting。我讲中文普通话。
Trinoids            en_US    # We cannot communicate with these carbon units.
Veena               en_IN    # Hello, my name is Veena. I am an Indian-English voice.
Vicki               en_US    # Isn't it nice to have a computer that will talk to you?
Victoria            en_US    # Isn't it nice to have a computer that will talk to you?
Whisper             en_US    # Pssssst, hey you, Yeah you, Who do ya think I'm talking to, the mouse?
Xander              nl_NL    # Hallo, mijn naam is Xander. Ik ben een Nederlandse stem.
Yelda               tr_TR    # Merhaba, benim adım Yelda. Ben Türkçe bir sesim.
Yuna                ko_KR    # 안녕하세요. 제 이름은 Yuna입니다. 저는 한국어 음성입니다.
Zarvox              en_US    # That looks like a peaceful planet.
Zosia               pl_PL    # Witaj. Mam na imię Zosia, jestem głosem kobiecym dla języka polskiego.
Zuzana              cs_CZ    # Dobrý den, jmenuji se Zuzana. Jsem český hlas.

On Windows, from a command prompt run:

powershell "Add-Type -AssemblyName System.speech;" ^
    "$speak = New-Object System.Speech.Synthesis.SpeechSynthesizer;" ^
    "$speak.GetInstalledVoices()" ^
    "| foreach  { $_.VoiceInfo.Name }"

Example output:

Microsoft David Desktop
Microsoft Zira Desktop

speech.speed

Speed multiplier for the voice. Defaults to the operating system's default rate.

1 reads at the standard rate, 2 reads back twice as fast as normal, and 0.5 reads back half as fast as normal.

Development

Install with npm

npm install

Debug

npm run compile
vscode .
# Lunch Extension on Debug Tag => Open new VSCode

Publish

• Publishing Visual Studio Code Extensions

Credits

• Text-to-speech integration provided by say.js
• This extension is based on mattbierner/vscode-speech