Speech SDK 5.1 for Windows® applications

The Microsoft® Speech SDK 5.1 adds Automation support to the features of the previous version of the Speech SDK. You can now use the Win32 Speech API (SAPI) to develop speech applications with Microsoft Visual Basic® and other development systems that use Automation.

The SDK also includes freely distributable text-to-speech engines (in U.S. English and Simplified Chinese) and speech recognition engines (in U.S. English, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese).

Speech SDK 5.1 replaces version 5.0, and Speech API (SAPI) version 5.1 is binary compatible with SAPI 5.0. If you are developing speech-enabled desktop applications for Windows®, make sure to download this most recent version of the Speech SDK.

---

Download Speech SDK 5.1 68 MB Download File 5.1 Language Pack 81.5 MB Download File Redist.: All 131.58 MB Download File Redist.: Mike and Mary 3.58 MB Download File Documentation 2.28 MB Download File

CD Ordering Information

Because some Internet connection speeds may not be sufficient to download the SDK, you also have the option of ordering a copy of the Microsoft Speech SDK 5.1 on CD-ROM.

Download Instructions

Before downloading, please review the release notes and licensing information.
Release Notes
Licensing Information

If you want sample code, documentation, SAPI, and the U.S. English Speech engines for development purposes, please download the Speech SDK 5.1 file (SpeechSDK51.exe).

If you want to use the Japanese and Simplified Chinese engines for development purposes, download the Speech SDK 5.1 Language Pack file (SpeechSDK51LangPack.exe) in addition to the Speech SDK 5.1 file.

If you want to redistribute the Speech API and/or the Speech engines to integrate and ship as a part of your product, please download the Speech 5.1 SDK Redistributables: All file (SpeechSDK51MSM.exe).

If you want to get only the Mike and Mary voices redistributable for Windows XP, please download the Redistributable: Mike and Mary file (Sp5TTIntXP.exe). For more information, visit the Licensing Microsoft Speech Technology Web page.

To download just the documentation, download the Documentation file from this page.

Operating System Support and Requirements

Supported Operating Systems

• Microsoft Windows XP Professional or Home Edition; all language versions.
• Microsoft Windows 2000 all versions; all language versions.
• Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition; all language versions.
• Microsoft Windows 98 all versions; all language versions.
• Microsoft Windows NT® 4.0 Workstation or Server, Service Pack 6a, English, Japanese, or Simplified Chinese versions.
• Windows 95 or earlier is not supported.

Software Requirements

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later version. Users of Windows NT 4.0 require Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or later. Download the latest version of Microsoft Internet Explorer.
• Microsoft Visual C++® 6.0, Service Pack 3 or later version is needed to run the SAPI 5 SDK samples. In general, any 32-bit C compiler will work for writing SAPI applications.
• Visual Basic 6.0 is needed to write applications incorporating SAPI automation, or for compiling the Visual Basic sample code. Since SAPI supports COM automation, other languages and compilers may be used with SAPI automation provided it supports OLE automation. Microsoft Visual Studio® .NET is needed to compile the C# examples.
• The Platform SDK is generally not needed although some samples and functionality may require it. See the specific samples for confirmation. If required, the Platform SDK may be downloaded from the Microsoft Platform SDK site.

Hardware Requirements

• A Pentium II or Pentium II-equivalent or later processor at 233 MHz; 128 megabytes (MB) of RAM is recommended.
• A microphone or some other sound input device to receive the sound is required for speech recognition (SR). In general, the microphone should be a high quality device with built-in noise filters. The speech recognition rate is directly related to the quality of the input. The recognition rate will be significantly lower or perhaps even unacceptable with a poor microphone.
• Not all sound cards or sound devices are supported by SAPI 5, even if the operating system supports them otherwise.
• http://www.microsoft.com/speech/download/sdk51/