Using Microsoft Agent

Sometimes, that darn Text-to-Speech engine can sound a little monotone, not reflecting the emphasis and strain we human beings place on certain words.

You can get around this using speech output tags, a method of telling the Agent to put a little more effort into certain words.

To use, simply insert \emp\ before the word(s) you want emphasised.

This sample sentence, for example, emphasises the word 'very':

Assistant.Speak ("He is bad. \emp\Very bad.")

>

Try it both with and without the \emp\ tag. You'll soon notice the difference!

Another little-known trick is to try inserting \Chr="Whisper"\

Doing this makes your Agent whisper the sentence. Let's look at an example:

Assistant.Speak ("\Chr=""Whisper""\But don't tell him I told you!")

Not bad for a computer!

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This article was originally published on November 20, 2002