How to use pyttsx in a python thread

Question

I am working with pyttsx3 for text-to-speech. I realized that I can use it within a thread (or I am doing something wrong). Do you know why?

Code Example:

from threading import Thread
import pyttsx3

def myfunc():
  engine = pyttsx3.init()
  engine.say("ok")
  engine.runAndWait()

t = Thread(target=myfunc)
t.start()

Error:

 File "/usr/local/Cellar/python3/3.6.4/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.6/lib/python3.6/threading.py", line 916, in _bootstrap_inner
    self.run()
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/python3/3.6.4/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.6/lib/python3.6/threading.py", line 864, in run
    self._target(*self._args, **self._kwargs)
  File "test.py", line 9, in myfunc
    engine.runAndWait() #blocks
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pyttsx3/engine.py", line 188, in runAndWait
    self.proxy.runAndWait()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pyttsx3/driver.py", line 204, in runAndWait
    self._driver.startLoop()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pyttsx3/drivers/nsss.py", line 33, in startLoop
    AppHelper.runConsoleEventLoop()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/PyObjCTools/AppHelper.py", line 241, in runConsoleEventLoop
    nextfire = nextfire.earlierDate_(soon)
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'earlierDate_'

Have you been able to run pyttsx3 without thread? The code that you sample runs correctly for me. — eyllanesc, Dec 29 '17 at 16:51
@eyllanesc Really? Yes of course without thread pyttsx3 works fine — Francesco Pegoraro, Dec 29 '17 at 16:53
Interesting. Maybe it's OS-based: mine doesn't work, and the OP and I are both using Macs (I assume because those look like homebrew paths). — rassar, Dec 29 '17 at 16:55
have you looked into [this](https://github.com/originell/jpype/issues/256)? Your error is in pyObjCTools, not in pyttsx3 directly. And that guy has the same error as you have — hansaplast, Dec 29 '17 at 19:51
Thank you! Interesting but he doesn't seem to resolve his problem... — Francesco Pegoraro, Dec 29 '17 at 20:56

rassar · Answer 1 · 2017-12-29T17:18:13.697

1

The error seems to be that it doesn't run in threads on osx. Here are some examples that might work well:

If you just need to convert text into speech, you can use os.system('say %s'):

import os
def myfunc():
  os.system('say ok')

gTTS or Google's TextToSpeech engine, supports 64 languages, including italian. Usage:

from gtts import gTTS
import os
tts = gTTS(text='Good morning', lang='it')
tts.save("good.mp3")
os.system("mpg321 good.mp3")

edited Dec 29 '17 at 17:18

answered Dec 29 '17 at 17:11

rassar

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Thank you, but it needs to be cross-platform and must support Italian language. – Francesco Pegoraro Dec 29 '17 at 17:14
I'd like it to be offline. Sorry ;) – Francesco Pegoraro Dec 29 '17 at 17:29
So an offline, cross-platform, multilingual text-to-speech engine? Unfortunately, `pyttsx` is probably your best bet. You could try submitting a GitHub issue and see where that gets you -- https://github.com/nateshmbhat/pyttsx3/issues/new – rassar Dec 29 '17 at 17:47
Already done! Lets see what happens, for now I am going to use gTTS. Thank you – Francesco Pegoraro Dec 29 '17 at 18:46

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 14 '23 at 09:38

I think pyttsx3 can't make a sound in multiple threads (it's OK to make a sound only once). If you want to make a sound in multiple threads, the Macos system should use the say command.

Other operating systems should also have corresponding commands

import sys
import os
import threading

print('threading1:',threading.activeCount())
text = 'Please start'

def myfunc():
    while True:
        # os.system('say another')
        # os.system('say -v Daniel "another"')
        # os.system('say -v Daniel "[[rate 160]] another"')  # 速度默认200
        os.system('say -v Daniel -r 140 "{}"'.format(text))
        os.system('say -v Samantha -r 140 "{}"'.format(text))
        # print(111)

loopThread = threading.Thread(target=myfunc, name='backgroundMusicThread')
loopThread.daemon = True
loopThread.start()

print('threading2:',threading.activeCount())

while True:
    text = input('input:\n')
    if text == 'end':
        sys.exit()

How to use pyttsx in a python thread

2 Answers2