Evolution of text to speech in audiobook narration
Before exploring the role of text to speech in audiobook narration, it’s essential to understand how TTS technology has evolved as a whole.
Initially developed as an assistive technology, text to speech has come a long way since the robotic read-aloud tools of the early 2000s. With advanced, AI-powered text to speech tools like ElevenLabs dominating the speech synthesis sphere, TTS output is becoming indistinguishable from actual human speech.
But what does this mean for audiobook production?
Benefits of using next-gen TTS in audiobooks
Next-gen text to speech tools like ElevenLabs are reshaping how we narrate and publish audiobooks.
Powered by artificial intelligence, these tools provide authors and publishers with multiple options, including hyper-realistic AI voices, countless customizable features, voice cloning technology, and multilingual speech synthesis.
What used to be a tedious, expensive process of manual narration can now be achieved over several hours.
Let’s take a closer look at the main benefits of integrating next-gen text to speech technology into the audiobook creation process:
Natural-sounding narration with AI voices
Gone are the days of robotic text to speech tools and monotonous read-aloud technology. Next-generation text to speech tools like ElevenLabs offer a vast library of AI voices that sound precisely like human narrators.
Although AI-based, these voices are excellent at mimicking the subtleties of human speech, including inflections, pauses, and emotional tone. Don’t hesitate to experiment with voices and choose the perfect narrator for your genre: while a rich, deep male voice may be ideal for a suspenseful mystery novel, a light romance could benefit from an enthusiastic, young female voice.
And if you’re looking to take your narration endeavor one step further and bring characters to life, you can use several voices to narrate dialogue in your audiobook.
Voice cloning options for personalization
Suppose you want to create AI audiobook narration in your own voice for brand consistency or personal preference yet lack the opportunity to do so. No problem. Next-gen text to speech tools like ElevenLabs offer AI voice cloning technology for all types of voiceovers, including audiobook narration.