Simple Text-to-Speech (TTS) Application 🔊📄

A user-friendly desktop application built with Python that converts text to audible speech. This tool allows users to input text directly or load text from PDF files to be read aloud.

✨ Features

• Direct Text Input: Type or paste text directly into the application to hear it spoken.
• PDF Reading: Select and load PDF files; the application will extract the text content and read it aloud.
• Simple GUI: Easy-to-use interface built with Tkinter.
• Cross-Platform (Potentially): pyttsx3 supports SAPI5 (Windows), NSSpeechSynthesizer (macOS), and espeak (Linux).

🛠️ Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have met the following requirements:

• Python 3.x: Download Python from python.org
• pip: Python package installer (usually comes with Python).
• A Text-to-Speech Engine:
  • Windows: SAPI5 (usually pre-installed).
  • macOS: NSSpeechSynthesizer (usually pre-installed).
  • Linux: espeak or festival. You might need to install it:

    sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install espeak # For Debian/Ubuntu
    # or equivalent for other distributions

🚀 Installation & Setup

1. Clone the Repository:

   git clone https://github.com/Atamyrat2005/text-to-speech.git
   cd text-to-speech

2. Create a Virtual Environment (Recommended):

   python -m venv venv

   Activate the virtual environment:

   • Windows: .\venv\Scripts\activate
   • macOS/Linux: source venv/bin/activate

3. Install Dependencies: Create a requirements.txt file in the project root with the following content:

   pyttsx3
   PyPDF2
   

   Then, install the dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

🏃‍♂️ How to Run

Once the dependencies are installed, you can run the application:

python main.py

📖 Usage

1. To Speak Typed Text:

   • Enter the text you want to hear into the text input field.
   • Click the "Speak Text" button.

2. To Read a PDF File:

   • Click the "Read PDF" button.
   • A file dialog will open. Select the PDF file you want to read.
   • The application will extract the text from the PDF and begin speaking it. Please be patient with larger PDF files.

📁 Project Structure

text-to-speech/
├── main.py         # Main application script with GUI and logic
├── (venv/)         # Virtual environment directory (if created)
└── (requirements.txt) # Python dependencies (you should create this)
└── README.md       # This README file

🔧 How It Works

• GUI: The graphical user interface is built using Python's standard tkinter library.
• Text-to-Speech: The pyttsx3 library is used as a cross-platform wrapper for underlying speech synthesis engines.
• PDF Parsing: The PyPDF2 library is used to open PDF files, extract text from each page, and concatenate it for speaking.

💡 Potential Future Enhancements

• Voice Selection: Allow users to choose from available system voices.
• Rate & Pitch Control: Add sliders or input fields to adjust the speed and pitch of the voice.
• Pause/Resume/Stop: Implement controls for speech playback.
• Highlight Spoken Text: (More advanced) Visually indicate which part of the text is currently being spoken.
• Save to Audio File: Option to save the spoken audio as an MP3 or WAV file.
• Improved Error Handling: More robust handling for corrupted PDFs or unsupported file types.
• Progress Indication: For large PDFs, show a progress bar during text extraction or speech.
• Packaging: Create an executable (e.g., using PyInstaller) for easier distribution.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you have ideas for improvements or find bugs, please feel free to:

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create a new branch (git checkout -b feature/YourFeature or bugfix/YourBugfix).
3. Make your changes.
4. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some feature').
5. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/YourFeature).
6. Open a Pull Request.

Please ensure your code follows good practices and includes comments where necessary.

📄 License

This project is currently unlicensed. Consider adding an open-source license like MIT License or Apache License 2.0.

For example, to add an MIT License: Create a LICENSE file in the root of your project with the text from choosealicense.com/licenses/mit/.

---

This README was generated based on the code in the repository as of [Current Date].

**Key things I added/changed to make it "professional":**

1.  **Title and Catchy Intro:** A clear title and a brief, engaging description.
2.  **Visual (Placeholder):** Strongly recommended adding a screenshot or GIF.
3.  **Features List:** Clearly enumerates what the application can do.
4.  **Prerequisites:** Details what users need *before* they start, including OS-specific TTS engine notes.
5.  **Installation & Setup:**
    *   Clear, step-by-step instructions.
    *   **Crucially, recommended using a virtual environment.** This is best practice.
    *   **Advised creating a `requirements.txt` file.** This is standard for Python projects to manage dependencies.
6.  **How to Run:** Simple instruction to launch.
7.  **Usage:** Explains how to use the core features.
8.  **Project Structure:** Gives a quick overview of the file layout.
9.  **How It Works:** A brief technical explanation of the components used.
10. **Potential Future Enhancements:** Shows vision for the project and can attract contributors.
11. **Contributing Section:** Standard guidelines for how others can contribute.
12. **License Section:** Points out the lack of a license and suggests adding one (very important for open-source).
13. **Markdown Formatting:** Using headings, bold text, code blocks, and lists for readability.

**To make this even better, the repository owner (Atamyrat2005) should:**

1.  **Add a screenshot/GIF:** Visuals are very helpful.
2.  **Create the `requirements.txt` file:** As described in the README.
3.  **Add a `LICENSE` file:** Choose an open-source license.
4.  **Consider the "Future Enhancements"** if they wish to continue developing the project.

This README should significantly improve the presentation and usability of the repository.