Aquila.TTSandSTT 1.0.5

Aquila.TTSandSTT Library

Cross-platform TTS (Text-to-Speech) and STT (Speech-to-Text) library for .NET MAUI / .NET 9.0

Supports Android fully and can be extended for other platforms (Windows, iOS, macOS).

Table of Contents

1. Overview

2. Installation

3. Usage

   • Speak
   • Listen
   • Save to File

4. API Reference

5. Platform-specific Notes

6. Permissions

7. Troubleshooting

8. Example MAUI Project

Overview

Aquila.TTSandSTT provides a unified interface for:

• Text-to-Speech (TTS): Speak any string or save it as audio.
• Speech-to-Text (STT): Capture spoken input and return text.

It is designed as a singleton service for easy DI integration in .NET MAUI apps.

Installation

1. Add Aquila.TTSandSTT project/library to your solution.
2. Add reference to your MAUI project.
3. Ensure your TargetFrameworks include Android:

<TargetFrameworks>net9.0-android;net9.0-windows10.0.19041.0</TargetFrameworks>

Usage

1. Register the service (MAUI MauiProgram.cs)

using Aquila.TTSandSTT;

public static class MauiProgram
{
    public static MauiApp CreateMauiApp()
    {
        var builder = MauiApp.CreateBuilder();

        // Register the TTS/STT service
        builder.Services.AddSingleton(sp => ServiceHelper.GetVoiceService());

        builder
            .UseMauiApp<App>()
            .ConfigureFonts(fonts =>
            {
                fonts.AddFont("OpenSans-Regular.ttf", "OpenSansRegular");
            });

        return builder.Build();
    }
}

2. Inject into MainPage

using Aquila.TTSandSTT.Interfaces;

public partial class MainPage : ContentPage
{
    private readonly IAquilaVoice _voice;

    public MainPage(IAquilaVoice voice)
    {
        InitializeComponent();
        _voice = voice;
    }
}

3. Speak Text

await _voice.SpeakAsync("Hello World!", rate: 1.0f, pitch: 1.0f);

4. Listen (Speech-to-Text)

string result = await _voice.ListenAsync(language: "en-US", timeoutSeconds: 10);
Console.WriteLine(result);

5. Save Speech to File

string path = Path.Combine(FileSystem.AppDataDirectory, "speech.wav");
await _voice.SaveSpeechToFileAsync("Hello World", path);
Console.WriteLine($"Saved to {path}");

API Reference

IAquilaVoice

Platform-specific Notes

• Android: Full TTS & STT support.
• Windows: Currently TTS/STT methods throw NotSupportedException.
• iOS/macOS: Can implement using AVSpeechSynthesizer and SpeechRecognizer in future versions.

Permissions

For Android, add these to AndroidManifest.xml:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

Note: Runtime permission request is required on Android 6.0+:

var status = await Permissions.RequestAsync<Permissions.Microphone>();
if (status != PermissionStatus.Granted)
{
    await DisplayAlert("Permission", "Microphone permission is required", "OK");
}

Troubleshooting

• Ambiguous reference errors (TextToSpeech, Locale, Application): Use fully qualified names:

  var tts = new global::Android.Speech.Tts.TextToSpeech(...);
  var locale = new global::Java.Util.Locale("en-US");
  var context = global::Android.App.Application.Context;
  

• Windows compilation errors: Wrap Android-specific code in #if ANDROID ... #endif.

• STT returns empty: Ensure microphone permission is granted and device supports speech recognition.

Example MAUI Page

<VerticalStackLayout Padding="20">
    <Editor x:Name="InputText" HeightRequest="100" Placeholder="Enter text"/>
    <Button Text="Speak" Clicked="SpeakClicked"/>
    <Button Text="Listen" Clicked="ListenClicked"/>
    <Label x:Name="ResultText"/>
</VerticalStackLayout>

private async void SpeakClicked(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    await _voice.SpeakAsync(InputText.Text);
}

private async void ListenClicked(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    string text = await _voice.ListenAsync();
    ResultText.Text = text;
}