How to Make a Telephone TTS Voice for Menus and Intercoms

Create the voice source before the phone effect

Use Mike for Telephone to generate a short menu prompt, then save the dry WAV. The preset changes SAM synthesis parameters; it does not apply a telephone codec or simulated line noise. Add the channel effect in an editor after the words are clear.

Split the menu into decisions

Write the greeting, choices and repeat instruction as separate sentences. Keep a consistent structure: Press one for status. Press two to repeat. Avoid a long introduction before the listener hears the action they can take.

Spell digits as words when they represent menu choices. For an access code, decide whether the listener should hear each digit or a whole number. Four oh four and four hundred four communicate different things, so choose intentionally.

Start with the actual telephone preset

The default values are Speed 86, Pitch 58, Mouth 95 and Throat 105. To slow the menu, try Speed 96. To shorten it, try 78. The larger Speed number produces slower speech in this engine.

Keep the other three controls fixed during timing tests. If a station name is unclear, test a phonetic rewrite before modifying resonance. Listen to the complete menu after fixing a word, because sentence context can change pronunciation.

Process a copy of the WAV

Import the dry voice into an audio editor. If the scene needs a narrow line sound, reduce the low and high frequency extremes with a band-pass filter. Preview its effect on consonants rather than treating one filter setting as correct for every voice.

Add any static on a separate track and leave enough level difference for the words to remain intelligible. Put a connection click or beep outside the speech, where it will not mask the first syllable. Retain the clean original for revisions.

Make pauses and interruptions in the destination

For a game menu, export each choice as its own file. The game can then stop playback as soon as the player makes a selection. A single long recording is harder to interrupt or reorder cleanly.

For a video, place deliberate silence between prompts on the timeline. Punctuation in TTS is useful for phrasing, but it is not an exact millisecond pause control. Test the complete sequence on a small speaker before the final export.