Nuance Communications, Inc has introduced the German text-to-speech (TTS) voice ‘Anna’. This is the latest voice addition to Nuance’s Vocalizer 5 TTS family. The German computer-generated voice enables spoken output for navigation and automotive solutions and is also used in other consumer electronics, e.g. in e-book readers.

The new German voice developed by Nuance is designed for automotive and navigation environments. It aims to deliver natural spoken output, which can be used for turn-by-turn directions, incoming text messages and other online information, including traffic alerts. Nuance worked with partners in the German automotive industry and has selected Heike Hagen for the new voice.

The German voice profile uses a large variety of words and phrases to make sure that all combinations of sounds are consistent and accurate. In addition, ‘Anna’ offers fluent speech output for English, French, Italian and Spanish. “Nuance has long been committed to innovating and delivering best-of-breed speech solutions for our customers. Working closely with our automotive partners we are again delivering on this promise with what we consider is the highest quality voice on the market today, ‘Anna’,” said Arnd Weil, general manager, Nuance Automotive. “We are very proud of this breakthrough performance and thrilled by the positive feedback we are receiving from our customers.”

The Nuance Vocalizer spoken output solutions support 40 languages with 54 different voices. For more information please visit www.nuance.com.