Using tts.cloud_say and Sonos

Configuration
1

When using tts.cloud_say on a Sonos speaker that’s already playing music I’d like to pass the volume parameter that you are able to pass via media_player.play_media when manually passing announcement parameter. Is this possible?

More Background

I noticed today that if am playing musing on my Sonos and then use tts.cloud_say to say something on the device it’ll lower the volume and play what needs to be said. I see in the Sonos integration documentation that this is a function of the announce property that apparently is being handled on the backend.

What I Tried

service: tts.cloud_say
data:
  entity_id: media_player.bedroom
  message: >
    My message here
  cache: false
  options:
    volume: 0.1
2

Use media_player.play_media 

service: media_player.play_media
data:
  announce: true
  media_content_type: music
  media_content_id: >-
    media-source://tts/cloud?message="Good evening!"
  extra:
    volume: 0.1
target:
  entity_id: media_player.bedroom
2 Likes
3

That’s handy, had no idea that endpoint existed, thanks! For a more complex message or one with special characters do I just URL encode?

4

You’re welcome!

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I tried this with Google Translate as the TTS engine (I don’t have access to Nabu Casa’s TTS) and it didn’t convert %21 to an exclamation mark (it said ‘good evening quote’).

media-source://tts/google_translate?message="Good evening%21"
5

How about if want use a language? Here my example:

service: tts.cloud_say
metadata: {}
data:
  entity_id: media_player.soundbar
  message: 早晨，今日將係美好嘅一日。
  language: zh-HK
enabled: true

I have no idea how to get it working, why its not possible to set easy a volume in the service: tts.cloud_say?

1 Like
6

I suggest you consider posting your question in a new topic, where more users are likely to see and answer it, than appending it to a topic that was solved 10 months ago.

7

I don’t think there’s a way to specify voice or language when using Nabu Casa’s media-source://tts/cloud endpoint. I was also looking for the same, but it seems the only options are to use the more limited tts.cloud_say service (which allows you to configure TTS, but no controls for announce, volume, etc) OR to use the service media_player.play_media with the TTS endpoint, but then no ability to customize the TTS parameters.

That’s a bummer. Hope Nabu Casa folks implement this soon on TTS endpoint.

If you only need a handful of fixed messages, you could generate static files for each, and then use media_player.play_media. But every time you want to change the message you’d have to regenerate the files, so it gets boring pretty quickly.

8

IMHO, I do not think you should expect TTS to be read outloud in anything other than the language the device is set to.

see Introduction | Home Assistant Companion Docs

Specifically, "Current support is limited to the current Text To Speech locale set on the device. "

9

You can try using the Chime TTS custom integration to achieve this.

1 Like
10

Thanks all for your answers, i just found a way but with media_player.play_media.

Here is a script what working for me:

alias: Skript Benachrichtigung Orchidee Schlafzimmer
sequence:
  - service: media_player.play_media
    data:
      media_content_id: >-
        media-source://media_source/local/528475__robinhood76__09156-accent-chime-login.wav
      media_content_type: audio/mpeg
      announce: true
      extra:
        volume: 25
    target:
      device_id:
        - c837fe7ce89808b6c675572ebea8e9cb
  - delay:
      hours: 0
      minutes: 0
      seconds: 2
      milliseconds: 0
  - service: media_player.play_media
    data:
      media_content_id: >-
        media-source://tts/cloud?message=%E5%85%B0%E8%8A%B1%E5%A4%AA%E5%B9%B2%E9%9C%80%E8%A6%81%E6%B5%87%E6%B0%B4%E3%80%82&language=zh-HK&voice=WanLungNeural
      media_content_type: music
      announce: true
      extra:
        volume: 25
    target:
      device_id:
        - c837fe7ce89808b6c675572ebea8e9cb
  - delay:
      hours: 0
      minutes: 0
      seconds: 3
      milliseconds: 0
  - service: media_player.play_media
    data:
      media_content_id: >-
        media-source://tts/cloud?message=Die+Orchidee+ist+zu+trocken%2C+bitte+gie%C3%9Fen.&language=de-DE&voice=KatjaNeural
      media_content_type: music
      announce: true
      extra:
        volume: 25
    target:
      device_id:
        - c837fe7ce89808b6c675572ebea8e9cb
  - delay:
      hours: 0
      minutes: 0
      seconds: 3
      milliseconds: 0
  - service: media_player.play_media
    data:
      media_content_id: >-
        media-source://media_source/local/528475__robinhood76__09156-accent-chime-login.wav
      media_content_type: audio/mpeg
      announce: true
      extra:
        volume: 25
    target:
      device_id:
        - c837fe7ce89808b6c675572ebea8e9cb
mode: single
icon: mdi:account-voice
11

PSA, you can set the new voice variants (2025.5) by adding ||<variant> after the voice query parameter. e.g. media-source://tts/cloud?language=en-US&voice=JennyNeural||whispering&message=test