What is SAPI 5 and where do I get it?

Microsoft SAPI 5

Microsoft Speech API (SAPI) 5 is comprised of the libraries that define how speech applications, those that speak and listen, interface with speech recognizers (speech-to-text) and speech synthesizers (text-to-speech) on Windows platforms. These libraries augment Windows APIs to support speech processing.

Microsoft also offers SAPI 5 compliant speech recognizers and speech synthesizers (voices) to use with your applications. The Microsoft SAPI 5 SDK is downloadable from Microsoft's web site www.microsoft.com/speech . The SDK contains COM classes, documentation, recognizers, and synthesizers for developing software that speaks and listens.

Chant Developer Workbench CD includes SAPI 5 for installing the run-time libraries, recognizers, and synthesizers. It does not install SDK samples, documentation, COM classes, or compilation libraries. You can also download a runtime-only SAPI5 installation from Chant at www.chant.net/support/downloads. Chant SpeechKit provides components that wrap the low-level SAPI 5 COM classes, in addition to SAPI 4, and IBM SMAPI speech APIs. The SpeechKit CD also includes SAPI 5 for installing the run-time libraries, recognizers, and synthesizers.