Generate Speech is a handy feature of Adobe Audition which allows users to listen to the text instead of reading it. It may sound complex to do that, but it’s not at all. With Audition, you can turn text from web pages, PDF, email, Pages or other documents into MP3, AAC, AIFF, WAV or other audio files in just couple of minutes.
Converting text to audio on Mac with Adobe Audition
Open Launchpad, then start Adobe Audition. Effects > Generate > Speech.
The New Audio File dialog pops up with options you can change, including File Name, Sample Rate, Channels, Bit Depth. In most situations, you do not have to change these settings, but just hit the OK button to proceed. Once the Generate Speech dialog pops up, you can select or change the language, gender, voice of the speech to synthesize, speaking rate, volume of the speech, etc. The default system voice will be selected by default, you can however choose a different language, different gender and voice installed in your Mac system.
Copy text from the original document and paste it to the Generate Speech box, hit the Play button at the lower left corner to hear the speech and make changes accordingly until you are satisfied with the result. Hit the OK button to create speech audio file based on the selected text and settings in Audition. Edit the created audio file in Audition if like. Finally go to export it from Audition to Mac hard disk from File > Save or Save As. You have the option to choose an audio format for the speech, such as MP3, AAC, AIFF, WAV or others you prefer.
Install extra voices and languages on Mac
On Mac, you can go to System Preferences > Accessibility > Speech > System Voice > Customize, then download or install more voices and languages directly from Apple to your Mac.
Record speech audio on Mac
If you do not have Adobe Audition, you can make use of the Speech utility on Mac to convert text to audio files. For example, you can select the text you want to read in Safari, Pages or other apps, right click on it to reveal the context menu and choose Speech > Start Speaking. Then use a sound recorder which is able to grab the internal sound on your Mac. In fact, what you really need is a virtual sound card for Mac.
With such a virtual audio card or device installed on Mac, you will be able to capture internal sound on Mac with Audition, or use any other sound recording app of your liking.