I want to access the list of voices that are part of the SpeechSynthesis API on desktop Chrome, Safari, and Firefox. If I open a new tab in each browser and, via the console, run:

speechSynthesis.getVoices()

...I expect an array containing 'SpeechSynthesisVoice' objects (i.e. the available voices) to be returned. Firefox and Safari behave as expected, but in Chrome the first call to getVoices() returns an empty array. I have to call the method again in order to receive the expected populated array.

Why does Chrome behave like this? Does it do some kind of lazy loading of certain web APIs? Please help me understand.

I want to access the list of voices that are part of the SpeechSynthesis API on desktop Chrome, Safari, and Firefox. If I open a new tab in each browser and, via the console, run:

speechSynthesis.getVoices()

...I expect an array containing 'SpeechSynthesisVoice' objects (i.e. the available voices) to be returned. Firefox and Safari behave as expected, but in Chrome the first call to getVoices() returns an empty array. I have to call the method again in order to receive the expected populated array.

Why does Chrome behave like this? Does it do some kind of lazy loading of certain web APIs? Please help me understand.

• javascript
• google-chrome
• dom
• speech

Share Improve this question Follow edited Jul 14, 2020 at 10:24 Paul Rumkin 6,89322 gold badges2828 silver badges3636 bronze badges asked Jul 14, 2020 at 9:28 elpheelphe 6311 silver badge44 bronze badges 2

• 1 Possible duplicate of Getting the list of voices in speechSynthesis (Web Speech API) – esqew Commented Jul 14, 2020 at 9:32
• @esqew It's a duplicate, but has shorter and more relevant question. Maybe it's the reason to modify the question you referred to. – Paul Rumkin Commented Jul 14, 2020 at 10:35

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1 Answer 1

Sorted by: Reset to default 9

This happens because SpeechSynthesis API allows the usage of remote servers for speech synthesis and Chrome requests a list of voices from Google's servers. To fix this you need to wait when voices will be loaded and then request them again.

To do so you should to listen a voicechanged event, and then initialise your program's logic:

speechSynthesis.addEventListener("voiceschanged", () => {
  const voices = speechSynthesis.getVoices()
})