Text to Speech (TTS)

In order to accommodate students with audio learning styles, we require games to send a message whenever they are displaying text. This allows the platform to read the text to the student using TTS technology.

The SpeakText method (or another TTS method listed below) must be called whenever text is displayed in your game. The method may be called automatically upon rendering of text, or it may be invoked by the user through a button or other UI control associated with the block of text. A UI control should be considered in cases where multiple text blocks appear on the screen at the same time.

Any text needed for tutorial, learning, narrating, or game progression should be have a TTS option.

Speech-related methods (see Javascript API or Unity API for implementation details)

• SpeakText: speaks a string of text, identified by the key name in the localization data

• SpeakQuestion: speaks a single question

• SpeakAlternative: speaks a single alternative answer

• SpeakQuestionAndAnswers: speaks a question followed by four answers

Note: Using HTML tags can cause issues with the way the TTS Reader reads the text. To avoid this, add a space between the tag so it does not read as a "greater than" or "less than" symbol.

Example: <b>grow</b> will read as "b greater than" But if the tag is changed to <b >grow</b> it will read correctly.

Implementation Strategies:

• We recommend for games designed for students ages 5-8, TTS is automatically read when narrative, academic, or instructional text appears on the screen.

• We recommend for games designed for students ages 8+, TTS be optional with a very visible TTS icon on each text box that a student can click for the text to be spoken for them.