Read translations aloud into your headphones
Listen to the translation read aloud during a meeting, and choose the voice, speed, volume, and which ear it plays in.
- macOS
Instead of watching the screen, you can listen to the translation read into your headphones while the meeting goes on.
Turn on read aloud
- Connect headphones, wired, Bluetooth, or USB. Until you do, the read-aloud bar says Plug in headphones to hear the translation read aloud.
- Choose the Bilingual or Translation only display mode. In Transcript only, the read-aloud bar is hidden because there's no translation.
- Turn on the Read aloud switch in the bottom bar of the Live screen.
The app reads aloud only while it's recording. Pause cuts the voice, and Resume continues from the next sentence without reading what you missed. If you turn on read aloud partway through, the app doesn't replay sentences that were already spoken.
Choose your headphones
Click Choose headphones to pick where the voice plays. Automatic uses the headphones macOS is using. If you've connected headphones but your Mac is playing to another device, the bar asks you to choose your headphones here.
Choose a voice
Click Voice provider to choose:
| Provider | Details |
|---|---|
| Apple (on-device) | Always available. Uses the system voice for the target language |
| Sonasi TTS (on this Mac) | A natural, free Vietnamese voice that runs on your Mac. Reads Vietnamese only |
| ElevenLabs | Cloud voice, needs a connection with your own API key |
| OpenAI | Cloud voice, needs a connection with your own API key |
| VieNeu | Cloud voice for Vietnamese only, needs an API key |
You can switch providers in the middle of a meeting. If the voice list is long, use the Search voices box and the All / Female / Male filters (Vietnamese voices can also be filtered by North, Central, and South region). To add a cloud connection, see Add a cloud connection with an API key.
Sonasi TTS
When the target language is Vietnamese, the app offers to download Sonasi TTS (about 270 MB, downloaded once). You can also download it in Local models. See Models on your Mac. For languages other than Vietnamese, the app uses the Apple voice.
Speed, volume, and ear
- Speed: 0.9×, 1.0×, 1.1×, or 1.25×.
- Voice volume: adjust with the slider on the read-aloud bar, or choose 25% / 50% / 75% / 100% in settings.
- Voice plays in: Both ears, Left ear, or Right ear. Put the voice in one ear and keep the call audio in the other. Needs stereo headphones.
- Speak only when the talker pauses: turn this on if you don't want the voice to talk over the person speaking (off by default).
- Use the Mac's mic with Bluetooth headphones: keeps audio quality high while reading translations on Bluetooth headphones (on by default).
These options are in Settings → Voice and on the read-aloud bar.
When the voice fails
If a cloud voice fails, the app reads with the on-device voice and shows the banner Cloud voice failed — reading with the on-device voice. The app retries the cloud voice from time to time. See also You can't hear the translation read aloud.