Sometimes, when generating audio, AuthoringAI will not pronounce a word the way you expect. There are a few ways you can control how a word is pronounced.
- Substitute a phonetic alias in your script, for one-off pronunciations.
- Define a phoneme pronunciation prompt within the script, for one-off pronunciations.
- Add aliases or phonemes to the Pronunciation Dictionary, to always substitute a pronunciation for a specific word.
Note: Phonemes and the Pronunciation dictionary are only available in English, and only if an administrator has enabled the Pronunciation dictionary.
Substitute a phonetic alias in your script
If you have a single word in a script that is not being pronounced the way you expect, you can simply spell it using a phonetic equivalent or “alias.” For example, if AuthoringAI had trouble pronouncing “Bigtincan,” you could simply spell it “Big tin can,” regenerate the audio, and you will likely get the result you expect.
Define a phoneme pronunciation within the script
In some cases, you may need AuthoringAI to pronounce specific words, names, or phrases in a particular manner. You can achieve this by specifying pronunciations using standardized pronunciation alphabets. Currently, we support the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
This pronunciation alphabet is a standard that allows you to define how each syllable is pronounced and where the emphasis is placed within a word, giving you the most control over a pronunciation.
There are several free tools online that allow you to generate an IPA pronunciation by starting with standard words. For example, if you found that few brand words like Brainshark and AuthoringAI were not pronounced as expected, you could to supply an IPA pronunciation, such as:
- Brainshark - combine “brain”( /ˈbɹeɪn/ ) and “shark” (/ˈʃɑɹk/ ) to form a new pronunciation: /ˈbɹeɪn ʃɑɹk/
- AuthoringAI - combine Authoring ( /ˈɔθɝɪŋ/ ) and “A” ( /ˈaɪ/ ) “I” ( /ˈeɪˈaɪ/ ) to form a new pronunciation: /ɔθɝɪŋ aɪ eɪaɪ/
How to use phoneme pronunciation
To specify a custom pronunciation within Slide notes, wrap the word or phrase with the <phoneme> tag and set the alphabet attribute to IPA and supply "your-IPA-Pronunciation" with the desired IPA pronunciation within quotes.
Slide notes script example:
How much do you value controlling pronunciations in <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="bɹeɪn ʃɑɹk">Brainshark</phoneme> scripts when <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="ˈɔθɝɪŋ aɪ eɪaɪ">AuthoringAI</phoneme> narrates presentations and courses for you?
Important Phoneme Notes
- Per Word Pronunciation: This feature applies to individual words only. If you need to specify pronunciations for names or phrases containing multiple words, you must define the pronunciation for each word separately.
- Lexical Stress: English is a lexical stress language, meaning that certain syllables in multisyllabic words are emphasized more than others. Accurate pronunciation depends on correctly representing this stress. Ensure you include lexical stress in notations for optimal pronunciation.
By following these guidelines, you can ensure that custom pronunciations are clear and accurate.
Add aliases or phonemes to the Pronunciation Dictionary
You may want to specify the pronunciation of certain words, such as character/brand names, or to specify how acronyms should be read. Pronunciation dictionaries allow this functionality by enabling you to add terms and specify how they should be pronounced, either using a phonetic alphabet (phonemes) or word substitutions (aliases). Whenever one of these words is encountered in a script, the AuthoringAI model will pronounce the word using the specified replacement.
Currently the Pronunciation Dictionary only specifies replacements using Aliases or Phonemes or Aliases.
- Aliases - Aliases are used to specify pronunciation using other words or phrases. For example, to specify that “BNSK” should be read “Brain shark,” or that “Bigtincan” should be pronounced “Big tin can” whenever they are encountered in a script.
- Phonemes - Phonemes are used to specify pronunciation using the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) alphabet.
How to enable the Pronunciation dictionary
To specify a custom pronunciation, an administrator must first activate the Enable pronunciation dictionary checkbox within the Settings > Content > Pronunciation dictionary page as shown below.
Administrators then simply add terms and their pronunciations using the Add pronunciation button. Administrators are able to preview the result as shown in the screenshot below.
- Aliases can be entered as standard words.
- Phonemes must be entered using slashes at the beginning and end of the phoneme (e.g. /ˈbɹeɪnʃɑɹk/).
Note: Terms in the pronunciation dictionary must match exactly with the terms in your slide note script, including capitalization.
For example, if you had the word "Bigtincan" with the alias "Big tin can" in the pronunciation dictionary, AuthoringAI would only substitute the pronunciation if you used "Bigtincan" in your script, not if you used "bigtincan" or "BIGTINCAN" or another variant.
How to use the Pronunciation Dictionary when generating audio
If the administrator has enabled custom pronunciations within the Pronunciation Dictionary, then
- AuthoringAI voices will always use the pronunciation dictionary when generating audio from a script in English.
- Custom voices will only use the pronunciation dictionary if the “Use pronunciation dictionary” checkbox shown below is enabled when generating audio from a script in English.
