text-to-voice

May 6, 2006 9:38 AM

so my friend is trying to locate an online service whereby one can type a message to a phone number over the web, and an operator than reads that message to the other end over the phone. So essentially its a computer text-to-voice over phone service, it may be intended for deaf-blind individuals. any ideas?
posted by Kifer85 to computers & internet (13 comments total)

Telecommunications devices for the deaf

I've received TTD calls, and iirc it was just the operator talking to me, and then relaying what I said to the deaf caller, then telling me their response. I don't know if it's available over the internet but this gives you a place to start.
posted by joannemerriam at 9:44 AM on May 6, 2006

For anyone who cares, this service is free and standard in the United Kingdom. Just send a text from any cellphone or online service to a BT landline number and the recipient will be called and a voice will read out the message. It's not done by a human though, but the voice is surprisingly good.
posted by wackybrit at 9:54 AM on May 6, 2006

AT&T Relay (relay.att.com)
Sprint Relay (sprintrelayonline.com)
MCI Ip-Relay (ip-relay.com)
Hamilton Relay (hamiltonrelay.com)

Back when I was a bit more immature I used to mess around with ip-relay. It could lead to some pretty interesting situations since the operators are required to relay messages. It's very awkward if you're not used to it.
posted by cloeburner at 9:59 AM on May 6, 2006

In the UK you can text (SMS) a message to a private (BT) phone, and it'll convert it to speech.
posted by Dub at 10:04 AM on May 6, 2006

I used to be an operator for the MCI Relay service. Those were interesting times.
posted by sixacross at 10:07 AM on May 6, 2006

There are a few live operator "relay call" services in the US, free for those that genuinely need them. You connect to it over the web usually, and the operator calls the person and reads out the text and types the target's responses back to you. I've always read about this in the context of people pranking each other over it, generally abusing the system to get the live operator to say "funny" things, or for Nigerian spam/scammers to obscure their identities / locations. Here's a message board for operators about the scam / prank problems.

I know that's not what you're asking to do here but just in case it's an awful jerk-ass thing to do-- it is meant for people with speech or hearing impediments to talk to people who don't have TTDs. I know that Sprint has an online relay call service. Your friend, if they generally need this service, should know about it or can look it up on Google.
posted by neustile at 10:09 AM on May 6, 2006

There is one that works over aol instant messanger, too. I forget how it works exactly, but you just have to send a message to a certain screenname. Perhaps someone else knows.
posted by atom128 at 10:10 AM on May 6, 2006

atom128: You can send text messages if you put the person's phone number in the screen name box. I don't know if that is what you were thinking of.
posted by cloeburner at 10:15 AM on May 6, 2006

cloeburner - no... a friend of mine sent a message to some aim screenname with my phone number and an operator then read his IM's to me over the phone, and typed up my replies. I wish I could say I wasn't drunk when this happened but I was, and this is why I can't recall any more of the specifics :)
posted by atom128 at 10:52 AM on May 6, 2006

FPP for just such a service. It's a little finicky and only does short messages (a couple sentences). At the end recites the sending ip and says something about being a demo, but it does let you set whatever callerid you want, and I can verify it was still working as of April 1.
posted by cosmonaught at 11:10 AM on May 6, 2006

Sorry, I didn't read the post very closely, this is computer read, but still fun to play with...
posted by cosmonaught at 11:17 AM on May 6, 2006

Howard Stern did a bit where Artie and some other guy utilized this service to have phone sex with each other. The two voices were actual people reading what Artie and his friend were typing. Hilarious
posted by comatose at 2:02 PM on May 6, 2006

For anyone who cares, this service is free and standard in the United Kingdom. Just send a text from any cellphone or online service to a BT landline number and the recipient will be called and a voice will read out the message. It's not done by a human though, but the voice is surprisingly good.

In fact, it was done by Dr. Who himself for a while. Check out Tom Bakaraoke.
posted by WCityMike at 12:57 PM on May 7, 2006