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Release notes for Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Release notes for Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data

IBM Cloud Pak for Data

The following features and changes were included for each release and update of installed or on-premises instances of IBM Watson® Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data. Unless otherwise noted, all changes are compatible with earlier releases and are automatically and transparently available to all new and existing applications.

For information about known limitations of the service, see Known limitations.

For information about releases and updates of the service for IBM Cloud, see Release notes for Text to Speech for IBM Cloud.

2 May 2023 (Version 4.6.5)

Version 4.6.5 is now available

Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.6.5 is now available. This version supports IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.6.x and Red Hat OpenShift versions 4.10 and 4.12. For more information, see Watson Speech services on IBM Cloud Pak for Data.

New Australian English expressive neural voices

The service now supports two new expressive neural voices for Australian English:

  • en-AU_HeidiExpressive
  • en-AU_JackExpressive

Expressive neural voices offer natural-sounding speech that is exceptionally clear, crisp, and fluid. The new voices are generally available (GA) for production use. They support the use of both standard International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and IBM Symbolic Phonetic Representation (SPR) phonetic symbols. For more information, see

New Korean enhanced neural voice

The service now supports a new enhanced neural voice for Korean: ko-KR_JinV3Voice. The new voice is generally available (GA) for production use. It supports the use of both standard International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and IBM Symbolic Phonetic Representation (SPR) phonetic symbols. For more information, see

New beta Netherlands Dutch enhanced neural voice

The service now supports a new enhanced neural female voice for Netherlands Dutch: nl-NL_MerelV3Voice. It supports the use of both standard International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and IBM Symbolic Phonetic Representation (SPR) phonetic symbols.

The new voice is beta functionality pending completion of support for SSML. At its initial release, the voice does not support use of the following SSML-related functionality:

  • The <prosody> element with any speech synthesis request
  • The rate_percentage and pitch_percentage parameters with any speech synthesis request
  • The <mark> element with a WebSocket speech synthesis request
  • The timings parameter of the JSON text message with a WebSocket speech synthesis request

For more information about the new voice, its support for IPA and SPR symbols, and migrating to the new voice from the deprecated Netherlands Dutch neural voices, see

New environment variable for Speech services custom resource

The documentation now includes instructions to create an environment variable named ${CUSTOM_RESOURCE_SPEECH}. You append the new variable to the cpd_vars.sh script, and source the script to use the variable in your environment. For more information, see Information you need to complete this task in Installing Watson Speech services, or refer to any of the upgrade topics for the Speech services.

Defect fix: French Canadian voice now handles numeric times properly

Defect fix: The French Canadian voices now pronounce times like 19:41 correctly. Previously, the voices were omitting elements of the time in the synthesized audio.

Defect fix: Japanese voice no longer inserts unexpected audio

Defect fix: The Japanese voice no longer inserts unexpected audio in speech synthesis results. Previously, additional audio was inserted in certain cases.

Defect fix: Update Korean phonetic symbols in documentation

Defect fix: In the documentation for Korean SPR symbols, two-character symbols for consonants are now enclosed in single quotes, making them a single symbol. Previously, they were shown as two separate symbols, without enclosing quotes. For more information, see Consonants (Korean).

Documentation updates for IBM SPR symbols

The overview documentation for IBM SPR symbols has been updated to clarify the use of multi-character symbols. For more information, see Speech sound symbols).

Security vulnerabilities addressed

The following security vulnerabilities have been fixed:

29 March 2023 (Version 4.6.4)

Version 4.6.4 is now available
Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.6.4 is now available. This version supports IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.6.x and Red Hat OpenShift versions 4.10 and 4.12. For more information, see Watson Speech services on IBM Cloud Pak for Data.
Important: Back up your data before upgrading to version 4.6.3 or 4.6.4
Important: Before upgrading to Watson Speech services version 4.6.3 or 4.6.4, you must make a backup of your data. Preserve the backup in a safe location. For more information about backing up your Watson Speech services data, see Backing up and restoring Watson Speech services data in Administering Watson Speech services. That topic also includes information about restoring your data if that becomes necessary.
Defect fix: You can now change the installed models and voices with the advanced installation options
Defect fix: During installation, you can now specify different models or voices with the advanced installation options of the command-line interface. Previously, the service always installed the default models and voices. The limitation continues to apply for Watson Speech services versions 4.6.0, 4.6.2, and 4.6.3. For information about installing models and voices, see Specifying additional installation options in Installing Watson Speech services.
Setting load balancer timeouts
Watson Speech services require that you change the load balancer timeout settings for both the server and client to 300 seconds. These settings ensure that long-running speech recognition requests, those with long or difficult audio, have sufficient time to complete. For more information, see Information you need to complete this task in Installing Watson Speech services.
Documentation updates for IBM SPR symbols
The overview documentation for IBM SPR symbols has been updated to clarify the use of multi-character symbols. For more information, see Speech sound symbols.
Security vulnerabilities addressed
The following security vulnerabilities have been fixed:

23 February 2023 (Version 4.6.3)

Version 4.6.3 is now available

Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.6.3 is now available. This version supports IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.6.x and Red Hat OpenShift version 4.10. Red Hat OpenShift version 4.8 is no longer supported. For more information, see Watson Speech services on IBM Cloud Pak for Data.

Known issue: You cannot change the installed models and voices with the advanced installation options

Known issue: You currently cannot specify different models or voices with the advanced installation options. The service always installs the default models and voices. For information about changing the models after installation, see Updating models and voices for your Watson Speech services in the Administration topic of Watson Speech services on IBM Cloud Pak for Data.

Known issue: Upgrade to version 4.6.3 can fail to complete

Known issue: When upgrading to version 4.6.3, the MinIO backup job can fail to be deleted upon completion. If this happens, the solution is to delete the job, after which the upgrade proceeds normally. Perform the following steps to resolve the problem.

  1. To determine whether the MinIO backup job remains undeleted, issue the following command:

    oc get job --namespace {${PROJECT_CPD_INSTANCE} | grep speech-cr-ibm-minio-backup

    The MinIO job that is not deleted is identified by an entry of the following form:

    speech-cr-ibm-minio-backup   1/1   3m25s   1d

  2. To delete the MinIO backup job, issue the following command:

    oc delete job speech-cr-ibm-minio-backup --namespace ${PROJECT_CPD_INSTANCE}

Once the backup job is deleted, upgrade continues and completes.

Additional information about working with service instances

The documentation now includes information about creating a service instance with the command-line interface (cpl-cli) and about managing service instances. For more information, see the following topics of Watson Speech services on IBM Cloud Pak for Data:

  • Creating a Watson Speech services instance under Post-installation setup
  • Managing your Watson Speech services instances under Administering
Defect fix: The beta Tune by Example is now available

Defect fix: The beta Tune by example feature is now available for Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data. Previously, it was not possible to create speaker models. For more information about the feature, which is available for U.S. English voices only, see Understanding Tune by Example.

Defect fix: Specifying large cardinal numbers with the <say-as> element no longer causes errors for English voices

Defect fix: You can now use the <say-as> element to pronounce large numbers as cardinal numbers. Previously, enclosing a large number in the <say-as> element with the attribute interpret-as="cardinal" could cause speech synthesis to fail for English voices. For example, <say-as interpret-as="cardinal">3,200</say-as> could cause the service to generate an error. For more information, see cardinal in the topic SSML elements.

Defect fix: Homonyms and other words are now pronounced correctly by English voices

Defect fix: The service now pronounces homonyms and other words correctly based on their context in English text that is to be synthesized. Previously, words such as advocate and wifi could be pronounced incorrectly by English voices.

Security vulnerability addressed

The following security vulnerability has been fixed:

30 January 2023 (Version 4.6.2)

Version 4.6.2 is now available

Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.6.2 is now available. This version supports IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.6.x and Red Hat OpenShift versions 4.8 and 4.10. For more information, see Watson Speech services on IBM Cloud Pak for Data.

The custom resource now includes a new fileStorageClass property

The custom resource for the Watson Speech services now includes a fileStorageClass property in addition to the existing blockStorageClass property. You specify both block and file storage classes when you install or upgrade a service. During upgrade from a previous version, the new property is added automatically to the custom resource by the --file_storage_class option on cli manage apply-cr command.

For more information about the available block and file storage classes you use with each of the supported storage solutions, see the table of Storage requirements under Information you need to complete this task on the page "Installing Watson Speech services" in Watson Speech services on IBM Cloud Pak for Data.

Additional information about provisioning a service instance

The documentation now includes information about creating a service instance programmatically. It also includes examples of listing service instances and deleting a service instance. For more information, see Creating a Watson Speech services instance in the Post-installation setup documentation in Watson Speech services on IBM Cloud Pak for Data.

Server-side encryption is enabled for the MinIO datastore

The Speech services have now enabled server-side encryption for object storage in the MinIO datastore. No action is required on your part.

Change to audit webhooks

The Speech services have now removed the audit webhook dependency. The services now write audit events directly to the server. After upgrading to version 4.6.2, some webhook resources might remain until all services can remove the dependency. The remaining resources will be removed in a future release. No action is required on your part.

New US English expressive neural voices

The service offers four new expressive neural voices for US English:

  • en-US_AllisonExpressive
  • en-US_EmmaExpressive
  • en-US_LisaExpressive
  • en-US_MichaelExpressive

Expressive neural voices offer natural-sounding speech that is exceptionally clear, crisp, and fluid. The new voices are generally available (GA) for production use. They support the use of both standard International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and IBM Symbolic Phonetic Representation (SPR) phonetic symbols. For more information, see

New speaking styles with expressive neural voices

The expressive neural voices determine the sentiment of the text from the context of its words and phrases. The speech that they produce, in addition to having a very conversational style, reflects the mood of the text. But you can embellish the voices' natural tendencies by indicating that all or some of the text is to emphasize one of the following speaking styles:

  • Cheerful - Expresses happiness and good news.
  • Empathetic - Expresses empathy or sympathy.
  • Neutral - Expresses objectivity and evenness.
  • Uncertain - Expresses confusion or uncertainty.

For more information, see Using speaking styles.

New interjection emphasis with expressive neural voices

With expressive neural voices, the service automatically detects a set of common interjections based on context. When it synthesizes these interjections, it gives them the natural emphasis that a human would use in normal conversation. For some of the interjections, you can use SSML to enable or disable their emphasis. For more information, see Emphasizing interjections.

New word emphais with expressive neural voices

The expressive voices use a conversational style that naturally applies the correct intonation from context. But you can indicate that one or more words are to be given more or less emphasis. The change in stress can be indicated by an increase or decrease in pitch, timing, volume, or other acoustic attributes. For more information, see Emphasizing words.

The service now enforces stricter SSML validation

The service now enforces stricter validation of input text that includes Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) elements. Required elements of attributes must be specified with valid values. Otherwise, the request fails with a 400 error code. For more information about SSML validation and the requirements that marked-up text must meet, see SSML validation.

Defect fix: The gender listed for the en-US_MichaelExpressive voice is now correct

Defect fix: When you list information about the available voices, the gender of the en-US_MichaelExpressive voice is now male. Previously, the voice's gender was mistakenly described as female. For more information, see Listing information about voices.

Security vulnerabilities addressed

The following security vulnerabilities have been fixed:

30 November 2022 (Version 4.6.0)

Version 4.6.0 is now available

Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.6.0 is now available. This version supports IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.6.x and Red Hat OpenShift versions 4.8 and 4.10. For more information, see Watson Speech services on IBM Cloud Pak for Data.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is now supported

Watson Speech services for IBM Cloud Pak for Data are now supported on Amazon Web Services™ (AWS™). The services support Amazon Elastic Block Store, which you specify by setting the blockStorageClass property of the Speech services custom resource to gp2-csi or gp3-csi.

New storage classes are now supported

Watson Speech services for IBM Cloud Pak for Data now support two additional storage classes:

  • IBM Cloud Block Storage (ibmc-block-gold)
  • NetApp Trident (ontap-nas)

You specify the storage class with the blockStorageClass property of the Speech services custom resource. For more information about all supported storage classes, see the following topics in Watson Speech services on IBM Cloud Pak for Data:

  • Before you begin in Installing Watson Speech services
  • Specifying a storage class in Using the Watson Speech services custom resource
Known issue: Some Watson Speech services pods do not have annotations that are used for scheduling

Known issue: Some Watson Speech services pods are missing the cloudpakInstanceId annotation. If you use the IBM Cloud Pak for Data scheduling service, any Watson Speech services pods without the cloudpakInstanceId annotation are

  • Scheduled by the default Kubernetes scheduler rather than the scheduling service
  • Not included in the quota enforcement
Monitoring of the PostgreSQL datastore is now available

You can now enable monitoring of the PostgreSQL datastore to receive updates on its usage and status by the Watson Speech services. The events can be consumed by Prometheus monitoring software or whatever application you use for monitoring. By enabling monitoring for user-defined projects in addition to the default platform monitoring, you can monitor your own projects with the Red Hat® OpenShift® Container Platform monitoring stack. This capability includes an additional property, spec.global.datastores.postgressql.enablePodMonitor, in the Speech services custom resource.

For more information, see the topic Monitoring the PostgreSQL datastore for Watson Speech services in the Administering section of Watson Speech services on IBM Cloud Pak for Data.

Defect fix: PostgreSQL datastore is no longer installed if only runtime microservices are enabled

Defect fix: The PostgreSQL datastore is no longer installed if only the runtime microservices are enabled. The datastore is now installed only if at least one of the sttAsync, sttCustomization, or ttsCustomization microservices is installed. PostgreSQL is not uninstalled if at a later date these microservices are disabled.

Prior to version 4.6.0, PostgreSQL was always installed with the Speech services. If you are an existing customer who used only the runtime microservices of the Speech services prior to version 4.6.0, PostgreSQL remains installed but is not used. In this case, installation of PostgreSQL persists across upgrades.

The MinIO datastore is always installed because the runtime microservices depend on it. The RabbitMQ datastore is installed only if the sttAsync microservice is installed.

For more information, see Datastore properties in Using the Watson Speech services custom resource in Watson Speech services on IBM Cloud Pak for Data.

Defect fix: Creation of a Network Policy is no longer necessary for the PostgreSQL operator to monitor its operands

Defect fix: For version 4.6.0, it is not necessary to create a Network Policy to allow the PostgreSQL operator to monitor its operands, as described in the 10 November 2022 (Versions 4.0.x and 4.5.x) service update. As of version 4.6.0, the service handles this situation automatically.

New beta rate_percentage query parameter for controlling the global speaking rate

The service offers a new rate_percentage query parameter to modify the speaking rate for a speech synthesis request. The speaking rate is the speed at which the service speaks the text that it synthesizes into speech. A higher rate causes the text to be spoken more quickly; a lower rate causes the text to be spoken more slowly. The parameter changes the per-voice default rate for an entire request. For more information, see Modifying the speaking rate.

New beta pitch_percentage query parameter for controlling the global speaking pitch

The service offers a new pitch_percentage query parameter to modify the speaking pitch for a synthesis request. The speaking pitch represents the tone of the speech that the service synthesizes. It represents how high or low the tone of the voice is perceived by the listener. A higher pitch results in speech that is spoken at a higher tone and is perceived as a higher voice; a lower pitch results in speech that is spoken in a lower tone and is perceived as a lower voice. The parameter changes the per-voice default pitch for an entire request. For more information, see Modifying the speaking pitch.

Defect fix: Custom word translations now accept commas in all cases

Defect fix: Word translations added to custom models now accept commas in all cases. Previously, a comma in a translation could occasionally cause the translation to fail to generate valid audio when used for speech syntheses. This problem was identified in US English custom models.

Defect fix: French synthesis of dates is now consistent

Defect fix: French synthesis no longer includes the article "le" before dates of the form "the ordinal of month." Previously, the article was included only for the first day of the month for French (for example, "the first of September," "le premier septembre").

Defect fix: Japanese synthesis is improved to handle long strings of input text

Defect fix: The service now correctly synthesizes Japanese requests that include long strings of characters. Previously, the service failed to properly synthesize very long strings of Japanese text.

Defect fix: Add rules for custom model naming documentation

Defect fix: The documentation now provides detailed rules for naming custom models. For more information, see

Security vulnerabilities addressed

The following security vulnerabilities have been fixed:

10 November 2022 (Versions 4.0.x and 4.5.x)

Known issue: Updated Network Policy needed for PostgreSQL operator

Known issue: For Speech services version 4.0.x (not including version 4.0.0) and 4.5.x, if the PostgreSQL operator and the Speech services are installed in different namespaces, the PostgreSQL operator is not able to monitor the PostgreSQL operands for the Speech services. The operator is prevented from monitoring the operands by the Network Policy that is in place for the Speech services.

This problem does not prevent the PostgreSQL cluster from functioning properly. The cluster remains active and fully functional. However, the operator is not able to update the operands when you upgrade to new versions of the Speech services.

The solution for the problem is to create an additional Network Policy for the PostgreSQL operator, as shown in the following steps. You can perform the steps regardless of whether the PostgreSQL operator is installed in the same namespace as the Speech services or in a different namespace.

  1. Log in as an administrator of the Red Hat® OpenShift® project where the Speech services are installed.

  2. Enter the following command to update the Network Policy for the Speech services:

    cat << EOF | oc apply -f -
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: NetworkPolicy
metadata:
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/component: stt
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: {{ <custom-resource-name> }}
    app.kubernetes.io/name: speech-to-text
    release: {{ <custom-resource-name> }}
  name: <custom-resource-name>-postgres-network-policy
  namespace: {{ <cpd-instance-namespace> }}
spec:
  ingress:
  - from:
    - namespaceSelector: {}
      podSelector:
        matchLabels:
          app.kubernetes.io/name: cloud-native-postgresql
EOF

    where

    • <custom-resource-name> is the name of the Speech services custom resource. The recommended name for version 4.0.x is speech-prod-cr; the recommended name for version 4.5.x is speech-cr.
    • <cpd-instance-name> is the name of the project (namespace) in which the Speech services are installed. The documentation uses the environment variable ${PROJECT_CPD_INSTANCE} to identity the namespace.

  3. To verify that the updated Network Policy allows the operator to monitor the operands and that the PostgreSQL cluster is in a healthy state, enter the following command, where <custom-resource-name> and <cpd-instance-name> are the values you used in the previous step:

    oc -get cluster {{ <custom-resource-name> }}-postgres -n {{ <cpd-instance-namespace> }}

    If the PostgreSQL cluster is functioning properly, the command produces output similar to the following:

    NAME                 AGE   INSTANCES   READY   STATUS                     PRIMARY
speech-cr-postgres   14d   3           3       Cluster in healthy state   speech-cr-postgres-1

These steps do not cause operator to update the operands to the latest versions. However, the operands are upgraded as expected when you next upgrade the Speech services software.

13 October 2022 (Version 4.5.3)

Version 4.5.3 is now available

Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.5.3 is now available. This version supports IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.5.x and Red Hat OpenShift versions 4.6, 4.8, and 4.10. For more information, see Watson Speech services on IBM Cloud Pak for Data.

Audit events are available for the Speech services

The IBM Cloud Pak for Data Audit Logging Service generates and forwards audit events for both the Speech to Text and Text to Speech services. The audit events match those that are available for Activity Tracker with the public service. For more information, see Audit events.

You cannot uninstall individual Speech service components

The documentation now notes that you cannot uninstall individual service components (microservices) once they are installed. To remove any of the following components, you must uninstall the Watson Speech services in their entirety and reinstall only the components that you need: Speech to Text runtime, Speech to Text asynchronous HTTP, Speech to Text customization, Text to Speech runtime, and Text to Speech customization. For more information about installing the Speech services, see Watson Speech services on IBM Cloud Pak for Data.

New beta spell_out_mode parameter for German voices

To indicate how individual characters of a string are to be spelled out, you can now include the beta spell_out_mode query parameter with a synthesis request for a German voice. By default, the service spells out individual characters at the same rate at which it synthesizes text for a language. You can use the parameter to direct the service to spell out individual characters more slowly, in groups of one, two, or three characters. Use the parameter with the SSML <say-as> element to control how the characters of a string are synthesized. For more information, see Specifying how strings are spelled out.

Known limitation with using the Ogg audio format with the Safari browser

By default, the service returns audio in the Ogg audio format with the Opus codec (audio/ogg;codecs=opus). However, the Ogg audio format is not supported with the Safari browser. If you are using the the Text to Speech service with the Safari browser, you must specify a different format in which you want the service to return the audio.

Troubleshooting upgrade from version 4.0.x to version 4.5.x

When you upgrade the Speech services from version 4.0.x to version 4.5.x, you might encounter an issue where the PostgreSQL pods become stuck in the Terminating state. If this problem occurs during your upgrade, perform the following steps to resolve the problem. The information and steps are also documented in Upgrading Watson Speech services from Version 4.0 to Version 4.5 in the Upgrading topic of Watson Speech services on IBM Cloud Pak for Data.

  1. Use the following command to identify pods that remain in the Terminating state:
oc get pods -n ${PROJECT_CPD_INSTANCE} -o wide | awk {'print $1'}
  1. Use the following command to set the environment variable pods to include the list of pods that remain in the Terminating state:
pods=$(oc get pods -n ${PROJECT_CPD_INSTANCE} -o wide | grep Terminating | awk {'print $1'})
  1. Use the following command to delete the stuck pods so that the upgrade process can continue:
oc delete pod $pods -n ${PROJECT_CPD_INSTANCE} --force=true --grace-period=0
Documentation updates for the SSML <prosody> element

The documentation for the SSML <prosody> element and its pitch and rate parameters has been improved and clarified. It also now includes a description of the differences between the service and the latest version of the SSML specification. For more information, see The <prosody> element.

Security vulnerabilities addressed

The following security vulnerabilities have been fixed:

3 August 2022 (Version 4.5.1)

Version 4.5.1 is now available
Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.5.1 is now available. This version supports IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.5.x and Red Hat OpenShift versions 4.6, 4.8, and 4.10. For more information, see Watson Speech services on IBM Cloud Pak for Data.
Support for FIPS-enabled clusters
Both Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data and Speech to Text for IBM Cloud Pak for Data now support running on Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS)-enabled clusters. For more information, see Services that support FIPS.
Defect fix: Fixed ephemeral storage calculations to prevent occasional pod evictions
Defect fix: A defect was fixed and calculation of ephemeral storage limits is now more precise for the Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data and Speech to Text for IBM Cloud Pak for Data runtimes. These changes prevent occasional pod evictions when the services' runtimes are under heavy load.
The service does not support multilingual speech synthesis
The service does not support multilingual speech synthesis at this time. However, you can use customization to approximate the pronunciation of words from other languages. For more information, see Multilingual speech synthesis.
Security vulnerabilities addressed
The following security vulnerabilities have been fixed:

29 June 2022 (Version 4.5.0)

Version 4.5.0 is now available
Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.5.0 is now available. This version supports IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.5.x and Red Hat OpenShift versions 4.6, 4.8, and 4.10. For more information, see Watson Speech services on IBM Cloud Pak for Data.
Unified Speech services for IBM Cloud Pak for Data documentation
The installation and administration documentation for both Speech to Text and Text to Speech is now combined in the IBM Cloud Pak for Data documentation. For more information about installing and managing the Speech services, see Watson Speech services on IBM Cloud Pak for Data.
Changes to Speech services custom resource
The custom resource is now created when you initially install the Speech services. The process is described in the IBM Cloud Pak for Data installation documentation. The content of the custom resource has changed:
  • The recommended name of the custom resource has changed from speech-prod-cr to speech-cr.
  • All references to storage class have changed from variants of storageClass to blockStorageClass.
  • The name of the Portworx block storage class has changed from portworx-shared-gp3 to portworx-db-gp3-sc.
  • The createSecret property has been removed for the MinIO and PostgreSQl datastores. The property is only used internally. The Speech services always use a secrets object if you create one, and they always automatically create the object if none is provided.
User-provided secrets object now supported for RabbitMQ datastore
You can now provide security credentials for the RabbitMQ datastore, just as you can for the MinIO and PostgreSQL datastores. The documented process is similar for all three datastores.
Defect fix: Multiple consecutive SSML <phoneme> tags are now parsed correctly
Defect fix: The service now correctly synthesizes text that contains consecutive <phoneme> tags. Previously, if the text contained two or more consecutive <phoneme> tags, the service synthesized only the first tag, ignoring the others.
Security vulnerabilities addressed
No security vulnerabilities were fixed for version 4.5.0.

25 May 2022 (Version 4.0.9)

Version 4.0.9 is now available
Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.0.9 is now available. This version supports IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.x and Red Hat OpenShift versions 4.6 and 4.8. For more information about installing and managing the service, see Installing Watson Text to Speech.
New support for audio/alaw audio format
The list of supported audio formats now includes audio/alaw;rate={rate}. Like audio/basic and audio/mulaw, this format provides single-channel audio that is encoded by using 8-bit u-law (or mu-law) data that is sampled at 8 kHz. For more information, see Using audio formats.
The Speech services do not support the OADP backup and restore utility
Watson Speech services do not support the IBM Cloud Pak for Data OpenShift APIs for Data Protection (OADP) backup and restore utility. If the Speech services are installed on a cluster, you might not be able to use the IBM Cloud Pak for Data OADP backup and restore utility to back up other services that are installed on that cluster. This limitation applies to version 4.0.0 and later versions of the Speech services.
Security vulnerabilities addressed
The following security vulnerabilities have been fixed:

1 May 2022 (Version 1.2.x)

Important: End of service for Text to Speech version 1.2.x on IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 3.5
Important: Text to Speech version 1.2.x on IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 3.5 is out of service as of 1 May 2022. Text to Speech version 1.2.x is no longer supported, available, or documented. For more information about End of Service for Text to Speech, which is part of the Watson API Kit, see Software support discontinuance: IBM Watson API Kit for IBM Cloud Pak for Data 1.2.x.

27 April 2022 (Version 4.0.8)

Version 4.0.8 is now available

Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.0.8 is now available. This version supports IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.x and Red Hat OpenShift versions 4.6 and 4.8. For more information about installing and managing the service, see Installing Watson Text to Speech.

New environment variables used in IBM Cloud Pak for Data documentation

Most commands in the Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data documentation have been updated to use a common set of environment variables. The documentation provides a script to automatically export the environment variables before you run installation, upgrade, and administration commands. After you source the script, you can copy most commands from the documentation and run them without making any changes.

The environment variables that the script defines include the following:

  • ${PROJECT_CPD_INSTANCE} identifies the project where you plan to install IBM Cloud Pak for Data and the Speech services.
  • ${PROJECT_CPD_OPS} identifies the project for the IBM Cloud Pak for Data platform operator.
  • ${PROJECT_CPFS_OPS} identifies the project for the IBM Cloud Pak for Data foundational services.

For more information about using the environment variables, see Best practice: Setting up install variables.

The ttsVoiceMarginalCPU property is no longer documented

The ttsVoiceMarginalCPU property has been removed from the documentation for the Speech services custom resource. The property manages the tradeoff between concurrency and speech synthesis speed. The default value of 400 ensures a reasonable balance for most customers and maintains real-time synthesis.

Security vulnerabilities addressed

The following security vulnerabilities have been fixed:

30 March 2022 (Version 4.0.7)

Version 4.0.7 is now available

Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.0.7 is now available. This version supports IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.x and Red Hat OpenShift versions 4.6 and 4.8. For more information about installing and managing the service, see Installing Watson Text to Speech.

Custom resource property for specifying a default voice

The default voice for speech synthesis and pronunciation requests is en-US_MichaelV3Voice. If you do not install the en-US_MichaelV3Voice, you must either

  • Use the voice parameter to pass the voice that is to be used with each request.
  • Specify a new default voice for your installation of Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data by using the defaultTTSVoice property in the Speech services custom resource. For more information, see Installing Watson Text to Speech and Using the default voice.
Change to word timing response for WebSocket interface

The response object that the service sends when you request word timings with the WebSocket interface has changed. The service now sends word timing results in a single array that includes a string followed by two floats:

{
  "words": [
    ["Hello", 0.0, 0.259],
    ["world", 0.259, 0.532]
  ]
}

The service previously sent timing results as an array that included a string following by an array of two floats:

{
  "words": [
    ["Hello", [0.0629826778195474, 0.2590192737303819]],
    ["world", [0.2598829173456253, 0.5322130804452672]]
  ]
}

Also, the level of precision for word timings and marks is now reduced to three decimal places. For more information about the new responses, see Generating word timings.

Security vulnerabilities addressed

The following security vulnerabilities have been fixed:

23 February 2022 (Version 4.0.6)

Version 4.0.6 is now available

Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.0.6 is now available. This version supports IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.x and Red Hat OpenShift versions 4.6 and 4.8. For more information about installing and managing the service, see Installing Watson Text to Speech.

All neural voices are now deprecated for IBM Cloud Pak for Data

The neural voices that were available with Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data are now deprecated. The neural voices continue to be available to users of Text to Speech for IBM Cloud. Only the enhanced neural voices continue to be available to users of Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data.

All voices for the following languages are now deprecated for IBM Cloud Pak for Data:

  • Arabic
  • Chinese (Mandarin)
  • Czech
  • Dutch (Belgian)
  • Dutch (Netherlands)
  • English (Australian)
  • Korean
  • Swedish

Existing users of these voices can continue to use them for now, but the voices will be removed entirely in a future release. These voices can no longer be installed by new users and have been removed from the installation documentation for IBM Cloud Pak for Data. The voiceType property has been removed from the Speech services custom resource.

For more information, see

Updates to import/export scripts

The import_export.sh and transfer_ownership.sh scripts have been updated. These scripts are used to import and export data between clusters, back up and restore data, and migrate data from version 3.5 to version 4.0.x. The scripts have been modified and improved as follows:

  • The transfer_ownership.sh script now requires a -c option to be included on the command line before the <custom_resource_name> argument.
  • The transfer_ownership.sh script now requires a -v <version> option and argument to indicate the version to which ownership of resources is being transferred. Specify 35 for version 3.5 or 40 for version 4.0.x.
  • The transfer_ownership.sh script now requires a -p option to be included on the command line before the <postgres_auth_secret_name> argument.
  • The <postgres_auth_secret_name> argument provides the Kubernetes secret that is used to authenticate to the PostgreSQL datastore to which you are transferring ownership. You can omit the authentication secret if is the same as the default value (<custom-resource-name>-postgres-auth-secret for version 4.0.x, user-provided-postgressql for version 3.5). You must provide the secret if it is different from the default value.
  • Both scripts now include a -h (--help) option to display information about the script and its usage.

For more information, see

Updated recommendation for OpenShift Container Storage

Starting with Speech services version 4.0.6, the recommended storage class for OpenShift Container Storage is ocs-storagecluster-ceph-rbd.

  • If you are installing Speech services 4.0.6 or upgrading to Speech services 4.0.6 from IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 3.5, specify the ocs-storagecluster-ceph-rbd storage class during installation or upgrade.
  • If you are upgrading to Speech services 4.0.6 from a previous refresh of Cloud Pak for Data version 4.0, continue to use ocs-storagecluster-cephfs. You cannot change the storage that is used in an existing deployment.

The value is specified with the storageClass property in the Speech services custom resource:

################
# Storage class
################
  storageClass: "ocs-storagecluster-ceph-rbd"

The Speech services work with either version of OpenShift Container Storage. The newly recommended version has more restrictive access permissions. For more information, see

31 January 2022 (Version 4.0.5)

Version 4.0.5 has been updated

Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.0.5 has been updated to address installation issues. The case package version is now 4.0.6. Use this package instead of the version 4.0.5 package. For more information about installing and managing the service, see Installing Watson Text to Speech.

Important: Extra steps for mirrored installation are no longer necessary

Important: The 26 January 2022 release notes included important notes for the following steps:

  • Additional step for performing a mirrored installation of Minio datastore
  • Additional steps for performing a mirrored installation of new next-generation models

These additional steps are no longer needed. The case package has been updated to correct the installation issues.

26 January 2022 (Version 4.0.5)

Version 4.0.5 is now available

Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.0.5 is now available. This version supports IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.x and Red Hat OpenShift versions 4.6 and 4.8. For more information about installing and managing the service, see Installing Watson Text to Speech.

Important: Additional step for performing a mirrored installation of Minio datastore

Important: These steps are no longer needed if you install case package 4.0.6. For more information, see 31 January 2022 (Version 4.0.5).

If you are performing a mirrored installation (for example, in an air-gapped environment), you need to perform an additional step before completing either of the following steps:

This step is mandatory to copy the necessary images for the Minio datastore:

echo 'cp.icr.io,cp/opencontent-minio-client,1.1.4,sha256:7b4cf5e47a0455cfa7ca9ab246b80916e4dccbc1483b3e0f276fb7b0ab3e5c60,IMAGE,linux,x86_64,"",0,CASE,"",""' \
>> $CASE_PATH/ibm-watson-speech-4.0.5-images.csv

Failure to perform this step will cause installation errors for both Text to Speech and Speech to Text.

License Server is now automatically installed

The Speech services operator now automatically installs the required License Server when it installs the Speech services. You no longer need to install the License Server from the IBM Cloud Pak for Data foundational services, and you no longer need to use additional YAML content to create an OperandRequest with the necessary bindings.

Removal of steps specific to PostgreSQL EnterpriseDB server

The previous version of the documentation included steps for the PostgreSQL EnterpriseDB server that were specific to the Speech services. These steps were documented in the topics Upgrading Watson Text to Speech (Version 4.0) and Uninstalling Watson Text to Speech. These additional steps are no longer necessary and have been removed from the documentation.

RabbitMQ datastore is now used only by the sttAysnc component

The RabbitMQ datastore was previously used by components of both Speech services, Speech to Text and Text to Speech. It now handles non-persistent message queuing for the Speech to Text asynchronous HTTP component (sttAsync) only. It is used only if the sttAsync component is installed and enabled.

New Belgian Dutch and Czech neural voices

Two new neural voices are now available:

  • Belgian Dutch: A new male Belgian Dutch (Flemish) voice, nl-BE_BramVoice.
  • Czech: A new language, Czech, with a new female voice, cs-CZ_AlenaVoice.

You can install the new voices along with all neural voices by setting the voiceType property of the custom resource to neuralVoices.

Defect fix: Update SSML documentation

Defect fix: The SSML documentation was updated to correct the following errors:

  • The examples of the <break> element are now correct. The element is unary, as now shown in the examples. The previous examples included open and close tags with embedded text. The embedded text was not spoken by the service. For more information, see The <break> element.
  • The service supports Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) version 1.1. All references and examples now use the correct version. The documentation previously referred to version 1.0.
Security vulnerabilities addressed

The following security vulnerabilities associated with Apache Log4j have been fixed:

20 December 2021 (Version 4.0.4)

Version 4.0.4 is now available

Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.0.4 is now available. This version supports IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.x and Red Hat OpenShift versions 4.6 and 4.8. For more information about installing and managing the service, see Installing Watson Text to Speech.

Important: Changes to properties for disabling the storage and logging of user data

Important: The names of the properties of the Speech services custom resource that specify whether user data is stored and logged have changed. The custom resource formerly contained the following properties:

#################
# Anonymize logs
#################
  sttRuntime:
    anonymizeLogs: "false"  # If true, disables storage and logging of user data
  sttAMPatcher:
    anonymizeLogs: "false"  # If true, disables storage and logging of user data
  ttsRuntime:
    anonymizeLogs: "false"  # If true, disables storage and logging of user data

These properties are now named as follows:

###################################
# Storage and logging of user data
###################################
  sttRuntime:
    skipAudioAndResultLogging: "false"  # If true, disables storage and logging of user data
  sttAMPatcher:
    skipAudioAndResultLogging: "false"  # If true, disables storage and logging of user data
  ttsRuntime:
    skipAudioAndResultLogging: "false"  # If true, disables storage and logging of user data

If you already set these properties in your custom resource to change the default value of false to true, you need to edit your custom resource. You must manually change the names of the properties to the new values and save the updated custom resource. For more information, see Installing Watson Text to Speech.

Important: Changes to properties of PostgreSQL secrets object

Important: When you install the Speech services, an object that contains a randomly generated password for the PostgreSQL datastore is created by default. You can choose instead to specify the password manually. If you do, the properties of the YAML file for the secrets object have changed. For more information, see the topic about managing your datastores in Administering Watson Text to Speech.

Important: PostgreSQL pods do not start with EnterpriseDB version 1.10 operator

Important: With Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.0.3, PostgreSQL pods based on the EnterpriseDB version 1.10 operator can fail to start. This prevents the Speech services from starting. A workaround exists for this problem. If your Speech services fail to start, see PostgreSQL pods do not start with EnterpriseDB version 1.10 operator for information about diagnosing and resolving the problem.

This problem is fixed in Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.0.4.

New support for IBM Spectrum Scale Container Native storage class

Since version 4.0.3, the Speech services support the IBM Spectrum® Scale Container Native storage class. To use IBM Spectrum Scale, specify "ibm-spectrum-scale-sc" for the storageClass property of the Speech services custom resource. For more information, see Installing Watson Text to Speech.

Interaction of Speech services with MinIO datastore during installation

The Speech services runtime components, sttRuntime and ttsRuntime, cannot start until the models and voices for the services are fully uploaded into the MinIO datastore. During installation, the services might fail and automatically restart themselves one or more times until upload of the models and voices is complete. They then start properly. No user action is required.

Defect fix: Improve upgrade documentation

Defect fix: Documentation for upgrading the Speech services to new versions of IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.0.x included incorrect references in some commands. These references are now correct:

  • The strings watsonSpeechToTextStatus and watsonTextToSpeechStatus have been changed to speechStatus in both cases.
  • The strings status.watsonSpeechToTextVersion and status.watsonTextToSpeechVersion have been changed to .spec.version in both cases.

For more information, see Upgrading Watson Text to Speech.

Defect fix: Improve SSML and speech synthesis

Defect fix: The following defects for the Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) and speech synthesis were fixed with this release:

  • The pitch attribute of the <prosody> element is now applied to all specified text. Previously, the pitch change was not always applied to the first word of the affected text. Also, the documentation now includes additional guidance about specifying a pitch value. For more information, see The pitch attribute.
  • Speech synthesis of Japanese text now speaks the audio more slowly. Previously, the synthesized speech was being spoken too quickly. If you find that synthesis of Japanese text is still spoken too quickly for your application, use the rate attribute of the SSML <prosody> element to control the rate of speech. For more information, see The rate attribute.
  • Neural voices now parse the escaped apostrophe character (&apos;) properly. Previously, some neural voices were not interpreting the character properly.
Security vulnerability addressed

The following security vulnerability associated with Apache Log4j has been fixed:

20 December 2021 (Version 1.2.x)

Important: You can no longer install Text to Speech version 1.2.x on IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 3.5

Important: You can no longer perform new installations of Text to Speech version 1.2.x on IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 3.5. You can install only Text to Speech version 4.0.x on IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.x. For more information, see Installing Watson Text to Speech.

The Speech services for IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 3.5 reach their End of Support date on 30 April 2022. You are encouraged to upgrade to the latest version 4.0.x release of the services at your earliest convenience. For more information, see Upgrading Watson Text to Speech.

30 November 2021 (Version 4.0.3)

Version 4.0.3 is now available

Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.0.3 is now available. This version supports IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.x and Red Hat OpenShift versions 4.6 and 4.8. For more information about installing and managing the service, see Installing Watson Text to Speech.

License Server now a mandatory prerequisite

You must now install the License Server from the IBM Cloud Pak for Data foundational services. You must install the License Server by using the YAML content that is provided to create an OperandRequest with the necessary bindings. You must also install the License Service in the same namespace as the service (operand), which is also where IBM Cloud Pak for Data is installed. For more information, see Installing Watson Text to Speech.

New support for in-place upgrade

The service now supports in-place, operator-based upgrade from version 4.0.0 to version 4.0.3. Moving from IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 3.5 to version 4.0.3 continues to require use of migration utilities. For more information, see Upgrading Watson Text to Speech.

EDB PostgreSQL operator and license installation changes

Installation, upgrade, and uninstallation for the Enterprise DB PostgreSQL operator and license have changed:

  • Instructions for installing the EDB PostgreSQL operator and license are now included with the IBM Cloud Pak for Data foundational services. The instructions for installing the Speech services have been updated accordingly. For more information, see Installing Watson Text to Speech.
  • Instructions for upgrading from Text to Speech version 4.0.0 to 4.0.3 include instructions for uninstalling the previous EDB PostgreSQL operator and license and reinstalling them with the IBM Cloud Pak for Data foundational services. For more information, see Upgrading Watson Text to Speech.
  • Instructions for uninstalling the Speech services now include steps for removing the EDB PostgreSQL operator and license that were previously installed with Text to Speech. For more information, see Uninstalling Watson Text to Speech.
New guidance for scaling up your installation

The service now provides updated guidance about scaling up your installation. The information includes specifying the number of pods and the maximum number of concurrent sessions for enhanced neural or neural voices. For more information, see Administering Watson Text to Speech.

Command-line updates to import and export utilities

The commands that are used with the import and export utilities for the Speech services include new options and arguments. The import and export utilities are also the foundation for backing up and restoring the services and for migrating from IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 3.5 to version 4.0.3. For more information about using the utilities, see

New property for managing concurrency and speech synthesis

The new global.ttsVoiceMarginalCPU property manages the tradeoff between concurrency and speech synthesis speed. The default value of 400 offers a reasonable balance for most customers and maintains real-time synthesis. For information about modifying this value to suit your needs, contact IBM Support.

New support for neural voices

All neural voices that are currently available for Text to Speech for IBM Cloud are now also available for installation on Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data. The following languages and voices are now available:

  • Arabic: ar-MS_OmarVoice
  • Chinese (Mandarin): zh-CN_LiNaVoice, zh-CN_WangWeiVoice, and zh-CN_ZhangJingVoice
  • Dutch (Belgian): nl-BE_AdeleVoice
  • Dutch (Netherlands): nl-NL_EmmaVoice and nl-NL_LiamVoice
  • English (Australian): en-AU_CraigVoice, en-AU_MadisonVoice, and en-AU_SteveVoice
  • Korean: ko-KR_HyunjunVoice, ko-KR_SiWooVoice, ko-KR_YoungmiVoice, and ko-KR_YunaVoice
  • Swedish: sv-SE_IngridVoice

For more information about all available languages and voices, see Languages and voices.

Installing voices

You can install either the enhanced neural voices or the neural voices. You can install only one of the two types of voices. When you install the service, you use the voiceType property of the custom resource to indicate the voices that are to be installed:

  • Specify enhancedNeuralVoices to install the enhanced neural voices. You must then specify the individual enhanced neural voices that are to be installed. By default, only en-US_AllisonV3Voice, en-US_LisaV3Voice, and en-US_MichaelV3Voice are installed. You can choose to install these default voices, these and other voices, or just other voices. Only the voices that you install are available.
  • Specify neuralVoices to install the neural voices. All of the neural voices are installed and available. You cannot refine the list of installed voices.

For more information about using the custom resource to install voices, see Installing Watson Text to Speech.

Specifying a voice for speech synthesis

Both the HTTP POST and GET /v1/synthesize methods, as well as the WebSocket /v1/synthesize method, accept an optional voice query parameter that you use to specify the voice that is to be used for speech synthesis. If you omit the voice parameter, the service uses a default voice. The default voice depends on the voices that you installed:

  • If you installed the enhanced neural voices, the service uses the US English en-US_MichaelV3Voice by default. If that voice is not installed, you must specify a voice.
  • If you installed the neural voices, the service always uses the Australian English en-AU_MadisonVoice by default.

For more information, see Using a voice for speech synthesis.

Specifying a language for a custom model

You use the POST /v1/customizations method to create a custom model. The method includes a language parameter that you use to identify the language of the new custom model.

  • If you installed the enhanced neural voices, the language parameter is optional. By default, the service uses the en-US identifier for the language.
  • If you installed the neural voices, the language parameter is required. You must specify the language for the custom model in the indicated format (for example, en-AU for Australian English).

For more information about specifying a language when you create a custom model, see Creating a custom model.

Defect fix: Correct intonation for Spanish enhanced neural voices

Defect fix: For the Castilian Spanish (es-ES_EnriqueV3Voice and es-ES_LauraV3Voice), Latin American Spanish (es-LA_SofiaV3Voice), and North American Spanish (es-US_SofiaV3Voice) voices, questions of all types now use the correct intonation. The voices previously did not use the correct intonation for some questions, instead pronouncing them like statements.

Defect fix: Correct multitenancy documentation

Defect fix: The IBM Cloud Pak for Data topic Multitenancy support incorrectly stated that the Speech services do not support multitenancy. The topic has been updated to state that the Speech services support the following operations:

  • Install the service in separate projects
  • Install the service multiple times in the same project
  • Install the service once and deploy multiple instances in the same project

The documentation that is specific to the Speech services correctly stated the multitenancy support.

1 October 2021 (Version 1.1.x)

Version 1.1.x is out of service
Text to Speech and Speech to Text for IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 1.1.x went out of service on 30 September 2021. As of 1 October 2021, the documentation for version 1.1.x is no longer available. For more information, see Software withdrawal and support discontinuance.

29 July 2021 (Version 4.0.0)

Version 4.0.0 is available

IBM Watson® Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak® for Data version 4.0.0 is now available. Installation and administration of the service include many changes. This version supports IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 4.x and Red Hat OpenShift version 4.6. For more information about installing and managing the service, see Installing IBM Watson Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data.

Enhanced neural voices

To optimize the overall quality of voice synthesis, all available voices are now enhanced neural voices. Enhanced neural voices, which include the string V3 in their names, are now available for Brazilian Portuguese, United Kingdom and United States English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish (all dialects).

Enhanced neural voices support the use of both IPA and IBM Symbolic Phonetic Representation (SPR) with the SSML <phoneme> element. Enhanced neural voices also achieve a slightly higher degree of natural-sounding speech. For more information, see Languages and voices.

New Canadian French voice

The service now supports Canadian French with the enhanced neural voice fr-CA_LouiseV3Voice. The Canadian French voice supports customization and is generally available (GA) for production use.

New Tune by Example feature

The new Tune by Example feature lets you control how specified text is spoken by the service. The feature is beta functionality that is supported only for US English custom models and voices. The feature has two components:

  • Custom prompts include the written text that is to be spoken and recorded audio that speaks the text as you want to hear it. The audio specifies the intonation, cadence, and stress of the synthesized text. The prompt can emphasize different syllables or words, introduce pauses, and generally make the synthesized audio sound more natural and appropriate for its context.
  • Speaker models provide enrollment audio for a user who speaks one or more prompts. A speaker model provides an audio sample of a user's voice. The service trains itself on the voice, which can help it to produce higher-quality prompts for that speaker.

You specify a custom prompt with a speech synthesis request to indicate how the service's voice is to pronounce the text. To specify a prompt, you use the SSML extension <ibm:prompt id="{prompt_id}"/>. The synthesized audio duplicates the prosody of the prompt.

For more information about using the Tune by Example feature, see the following topics:

The service includes eight new methods for working with the Tune by Example feature. The descriptions of the new methods that follow provide links to their entries in the API & SDK reference.

Unified Text to Speech documentation

The documentation for IBM Watson Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data is now combined with the documentation for managed instances of the Text to Speech service that are hosted on IBM Cloud. This is true of both the guide and reference documentation for the two forms of the service. Links to the formerly separate version of the IBM Cloud Pak for Data documentation for the service redirect to the unified documentation.

For more information about identifying information that pertains to only one version of the product, see About Text to Speech.

Version 1.1.x is going out of service

Speech to Text and Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 1.1.x go out of service on 30 September 2021. You must upgrade to a later version of the services on IBM Cloud Pak for Data before that date. As of 1 October 2021, the documentation for version 1.1.4 will no longer be available.

12 April 2021 (Version 1.2.1)

Addition to speech-override.yaml file

The minimal speech-override.yaml file includes an extra definition, dockerRegistryPrefix:

global:
  dockerRegistryPrefix: "{Registry}"
  image:
    pullSecret: "{Registry_pull_secret}"

{Registry} is the path for the internal Docker registry. It must be image-registry.openshift-image-registry.svc:5000/{namespace}, where {namespace} is the namespace in which IBM Cloud Pak® for Data is installed, normally zen.

9 April 2021 (Version 1.2.1)

Support for modifying installed models and voices
The Speech services let you add or remove installed models and voices for version 1.2 or 1.2.1 of the services.

26 March 2021 (Version 1.2.1)

Version 1.2.1 is available

Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 1.2.1 is now available. Versions 1.2 and 1.2.1 use the same version 1.2 documentation and installation instructions. Version 1.2.1 supports installation on Red Hat OpenShift version 4.6 in addition to versions 4.5 and 3.11.

New installation instructions

For both clusters connected to the internet and air-gapped clusters, the installation instructions include the following steps:

  • Use the oc label command to set up required labels for the namespace where IBM Cloud Pak for Data is installed.
  • Use the oc project command to ensure that you are pointing at the correct OpenShift project.
  • Use the cpd-cli install command to install an Enterprise DB PostgreSQL server that is used by the Speech services.

You perform these steps before you install the Speech services.

New uninstallation instructions

A step was added to the procedure for uninstalling the Speech services to clean up all of the resources from the installation.

Entitled registry for PostgreSQL datastore

The entitled registry path from which the service pulls images for the PostgreSQL datastore has changed. The registry location changed from cp.icr.io/cp/watson-speech to cp.icr.io/cp/cpd. This change is transparent to users.

Secrets for Minio and PostgreSQL datastores

The Minio and PostgreSQL datastores require the following hard-coded values for their secrets:

  • For Minio, use minio.
  • For PostgreSQL, use user-provided-postgressql.

You cannot use your own values for these secrets. The secrets must be created before you install the Speech services.

Deletions from speech-override.yaml file

The following entries have been removed from the speech-override.yaml file. They were added to work around a problem that has now been fixed.

sttRuntime:
  images:
    miniomc:
      tag:
        1.0.5
sttAMPatcher:
  images:
    miniomc:
      tag:
        1.0.5
ttsRuntime:
  images:
    miniomc:
      tag:
        1.0.5

The abbreviated speech-override.yaml file has generally been reduced further by fine-tuning its contents to the essential elements.

9 December 2020 (Version 1.2)

Version 1.2 is available

Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 1.2 is now available. Installation and administration of the service include many changes. This version supports IBM Cloud Pak for Data versions 3.5 and 3.0.1, and Red Hat OpenShift versions 4.5 and 3.11.

New voices

The service now offers three new voices:

  • UK English: en-GB_CharlotteV3Voice and en-GB_JamesV3Voice
  • French: fr-FR_NicolasV3Voice

The service also offers an improved version of the existing UK voice, en-KateV3Voice. For more information about all supported languages and voices, see Languages and voices.

Defect fix: Fix <prosody> element for Japanese

Defect fix: For the ja-JP_EmiV3Voice voice, the service now correctly parses SSML input text that includes a prosody rate specification. Previously, the following use of the <prosody> element worked properly:

<speak>成功する/繁栄する</speak>

But the following use of the rate attribute with the <prosody> element caused the service to read and speak the embedded SSML notation:

<speak>
  <prosody rate="fast">成功する/繁栄する</prosody>
</speak>

The service now correctly parses and applies the rate attribute of the <prosody> element for Japanese input.

4 September 2020 (Version 1.1.4)

Customization interface is generally available
The customization interface is now generally available. Customization is no longer beta functionality. You can use the customization interface to specify how the service pronounces unusual words that occur in your input text by creating language-specific custom dictionaries. For more information, see Understanding customization.

15 July 2020 (Version 1.1.4)

Red Hat OpenShift version 4.3 is going out of service
IBM Cloud Pak for Data 3.0.1 is deprecating support for Red Hat OpenShift 4.3 on 1 September 2020. Red Hat OpenShift 4.3 is going out of service on 22 October 2020. IBM Cloud Pak for Data is introducing support for Red Hat OpenShift 4.5. IBM Cloud Pak for Data is recommending that clients upgrade to Red Hat OpenShift 4.5 before 22 October 2020. IBM Support will work with any customers who already installed IBM Cloud Pak for Data 3.0.1 on Red Hat OpenShift 4.3. New customers who want to install on Red Hat OpenShift 4.x are instructed to install Red Hat OpenShift 4.5.

19 June 2020 (Version 1.1.4)

Version 1.1.4 is available

Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 1.1.4 is now available. Installation and administration of the service include many changes. This version supports IBM Cloud Pak for Data versions 2.5 and 3.0.1, and Red Hat OpenShift versions 3.11 and 4.3. For more information about installing and managing the service, see Installing and managing Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data.

New neural voices

The service now supports five new neural voices:

  • US English: en-US_EmilyV3Voice, en-US_HenryV3Voice, en-US_KevinV3Voice, and en-US_OliviaV3Voice
  • German: de-DE_ErikaV3Voice

These new voices have the same capabilities for customization and SSML as all existing voices. For more information, see Supported languages and voices.

Support for SSML digits attribute of <say-as> element for Japanese

The service now supports the digits attribute of the SSML <say-as> element with its Japanese voice. For more information, see The <say-as> element.

Simplified backup and restore procedures

The backup and restore procedures are greatly simplified. They now back up data from the datastores, so you no longer need to re-create the operations you have run. For more information, see Backing up and restoring Watson Speech services data.

28 February 2020 (Version 1.1.3)

Version 1.1.3 is available
Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 1.1.3 is now available.

27 November 2019 (Version 1.1.2)

Version 1.1.2 is available
Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 1.1.2 is now available.

30 August 2019 (Version 1.0.1)

Version 1.0.1 is available
Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data version 1.0.1 is now available. The service now works with IBM Cloud Pak for Data 2.1.0.1. The service now supports installing IBM Cloud Pak for Data with Red Hat OpenShift.
New Japanese neural voice
The service now offers the neural Japanese voice ja-JP_EmiV3Voice. For more information, see Supported languages and voices.
FISMA support
Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) support is now available for Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data. The service is FISMA High Ready.

28 June 2019 (Version 1.0.0)

Version 1.0.0 is available

Version 1.0.0, the initial release of the service, is now available. Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data is based on the IBM Watson® Text to Speech service on the public IBM Cloud. Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data differs from the public Text to Speech service in the following ways. You might find this information helpful if you are already familiar with the Text to Speech service on the public IBM Cloud.

  • Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data uses access tokens for authentication. For more information, see the API & SDK reference.
  • The endpoints for Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data are specific to your IBM Cloud Pak for Data cluster. For more information, see the API & SDK reference.
  • Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data supports only neural voices. It does not support standard (concatenative) voices. The neural voices do not support the SSML <express-as> and <voice-transformation> elements.
  • Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data does not perform any request logging. You do not need to use the X-Watson-Learning-Opt-Out request header.
  • Text to Speech for IBM Cloud Pak for Data does not support Watson tokens. You cannot use the X-Watson-Authorization-Token request header to authenticate with the service.