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More Human Digital Humans

Even better text to voice has quietly appeared. Try it, you might be able to give your eyes a rest.

I spend a lot of time keeping up with the #Microsoft technology roadmap, research and releases. It’s relentless and often a thankless task (actually, the nice people at our PPUG meetings do appreciate it)

Read Aloud in Edge

Today I needed to review their recent article on cognitive load in online meetings for an article I’m writing; it’s long and my eyes were tired from 4 hours of almost uninterrupted VDU time, so I thought I’d have it read to me.

The new Chromium based Edge browser (which is extremely good) has a handy Read Aloud feature. I’ve used it before, but the artificial voice is always a little wearing; much better than listening to the much missed Stephen Hawkings, but not exactly soothing. Jumping into the voice settings to see if I could find one I was a bit happier with, I noticed a new set of voices. They weren’t properly grouped with the other UK (or proper English, as I remind my US friends) voices, so easy to overlook.

It’s instantly impressive; far more human sounding, less awkward and distracting, far more soothing to listen to.

Microsoft Mia Online (Natural) – English (United Kingdom) caught my eye, so I tried it. You should too. It’s instantly impressive; far more human sounding, less awkward and distracting, far more soothing to listen to.

Online (Natural) – a new breed of digital voices

‘Online (Natural)‘ is a big clue as to why this is different from the other voices. These voices use the Azure Cognitive Services platform and its remarkable machine learning capabilities to press the text to voice in the cloud rather than locally. I had come across this development last year while at Microsoft Ignite; but had let it slip my mind as it wasn’t available in the UK at that point; trying it for real brought it all flooding back. The promise then was a lifelike speech with the natural-sounding speech patterns and intonation of a human voice rather than the robotic intonation we have come to tolerate.

It’s impressive that this technology now works and is quietly embedded in ‘business as usual’ applications like a browser. It’s even more impressive that this stuff is just another cloud-service; you can add it to your own applications at little cost without being a god-like coder.

Try it in the browser today. If, for unfathomable reasons, you haven’t switched to the new Edge, you can try it out online.

You can read more about Azure Speech services too, if that’s your thing.

Right, I need to get back to it – there is a nice sounding young lady wanting to tell me about Microsoft Teams.

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By Simon

Simon Hudson is an entrepreneur and health sector specialist. He formed Cloud2 in 2008 following a rich career in the international medical device industry and the IT industry. Simon’s background encompasses quality assurance, medical device development, international training, business intelligence and international marketing and health related information and technology.

Simon’s career has spanned both the UK and the international health industry, with roles that have included quality system auditing, medical device development, international training (advanced wound management) and international marketing. In 2000 he co-founded a software-based Clinical Outcomes measurement start-up in the US. Upon joining ioko in 2004 he created the Carelink division and, as General Manager, drove it to become a multi-million pound business in its own right.
In 2008, Simon founded Cloud2 in response to a need for a new way of delivering successful projects based on Microsoft SharePoint. This created the first commercial ‘Intranet in a Box’ solution and kickstarted a new industry. He exited that business in 2019, which has continued to grow as a leading provider of Power BI and analytics solutions.

In 2016, he co-founded Kinata Ltd. to enable effective Advice and Guidance in the NHS and is currently guiding the business beyond its NHS roots to address needs in Her Majesty’s Prisons and in Australasia.

In 2021, Simon founded Novia Works Ltd.

In 2021 he was invited to become Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Hull.

In 2022 he was recognised as a Microsoft MVP.

In 2025 he founded Sustainable Ferriby CIC, a community energy not-for-profit to develop energy generation, energy & carbon reduction, and broader sustainability & NetZero projects in the West Hull villages.

Simon has had articles and editorials published in a variety of technology, knowledge management, clinical benchmarking and health journals, including being a regular contributor to PC Pro, as well as a presenter at conferences. He publishes a blog on areas of interest at noviaworks.co.uk. He is a co-facilitator of the M365 North User Group. He is a lead author and facilitator on the Maturity Model for Microsoft 365. He is the author of two patents relating to medical devices. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Physical Science and a PGCE in Physics and Chemistry from the University of Hull.

Simon is passionate about rather too many things, including science, music (he plays guitar and octave mandola), skiing, classic cars, narrowboats, the health sector, sustainability, information technology and, by no means least, his family.

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