Blog
The Leelo blog
Notes on voices, languages and making things people listen to.
- Languages8 min readArabic Text-to-Speech: Why It's Hard and How to Get It RightWhy Arabic text-to-speech misreads words: missing short vowels, case endings, dialects and numbers. Real examples and a step-by-step fix for natural audio.
- Ethics8 min readCelebrity AI Voices: Is It Legal to Clone a Famous Voice?When is it legal to use a celebrity's voice in text-to-speech? Right of publicity, sound-alike cases, deepfake robocalls, consent and what to do instead.
- Languages7 min readChinese Text-to-Speech: Tones, Polyphones and How to Fix ThemHow Chinese text-to-speech handles tones, tone sandhi and characters with several readings, why voices misread them, and how to fix your Mandarin audio.
- Education8 min readE-learning Voiceover with Text-to-Speech: A Practical GuideHow to produce e-learning voiceover with text-to-speech: when it beats a narrator, writing for the ear, timing, pronunciation, updates, cost and localization.
- Voices7 min readEmotional Text-to-Speech: Why It Matters and How to Direct ItWhat emotional text-to-speech is, how AI voices convey feeling through pitch, pace and pauses, where it helps or backfires, and how to direct it line by line.
- Voices8 min readIconic Voices Like Yoda and Darth Vader: Can AI Recreate Them?What makes voices like Yoda and Darth Vader iconic, why you can't legally copy them, and how to design an original character voice with AI that sticks.
- Languages6 min readBrazilian vs European Portuguese Text-to-Speech: What ChangesHow Brazilian and European Portuguese differ in sound, words and grammar, why one voice can't serve both, and how to produce text-to-speech for each market.
- Business7 min readSwedish Text-to-Speech for Business: Uses, Costs and PitfallsWhere Nordic businesses use Swedish text-to-speech, what it costs, and how to avoid the classic errors: pitch accent, compound words, numbers and abbreviations.
- Guides8 min readHow to Turn Classic Literature into Audiobooks with AI VoicesTurn public-domain classics into audiobooks with text-to-speech: copyright checks, archaic words, names, dialogue, chapter files, audio specs and cost.
- Guides6 min readHow to Choose an AI Voice Generator in 2026: What to ComparePrice per hour, licences, cloning, languages, dubbing and what happens if the tool closes: a checklist for picking an AI voice generator, with real numbers.
- Business8 min readText-to-Speech for Customer Service: IVR and Phone PromptsHow to use text-to-speech in customer service: writing IVR menus, phone formats, numbers and names, multiple languages, disclosure rules, updates and cost.
- Accessibility7 min readText-to-Speech for Dyslexia: How It Helps and How to Use ItHow text-to-speech helps people with dyslexia: read-along listening, the right speed, proofreading by ear, making audio for lessons, and what it can't replace.
- Languages7 min readTurkish Text-to-Speech: İ and ı, Suffixes and Stress ExplainedWhy Turkish text-to-speech stumbles on dotted and dotless i, missing Turkish letters, suffixes on numbers and word stress, with real examples and how to fix it.