Control how your bot pronounces content in voice conversations
Bots are generally pretty good at guessing how to pronounce content, but sometimes you’ll want to override the default behaviour to make the content sound better. You can guide pronunciation and pacing by adjusting the plain text your bot reads out.
Ada’s voices are now provided by ElevenLabs, which does not support
Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML). SSML tags — including <speak>,
<break>, <prosody>, <say-as>, <emphasis>, <phoneme>, and
<audio> — are removed before the text is spoken and have no effect on
any voice you can select. Use the plain-text techniques described below
instead.
Anytime a block contains content to read out, the top of the block has a
Play icon 
you can
click to test out your content, so you can fine tune the adjustments you
make.
Pronounce characters individually
By default, bots usually try to pronounce content together as full words
or numbers as opposed to reading out the individual characters. To make
the bot pronounce them separately, space out the characters with a space
between each one (e.g., A S A P).
You can also use this technique with numbers. For example, if a caller
places an order, it’s much easier for the bot to read out the order
number, 12569, as separate numbers (1 2 5 6 9) as opposed to “twelve
thousand, five hundred sixty nine.”
Fix a mispronounced word
If the bot mispronounces a specific word, spell it the way it should sound. Replacing the word with a phonetic spelling — for example, writing a name or an uncommon term the way it’s pronounced rather than the way it’s spelled — guides the voice toward the correct pronunciation. Test the result with the Play icon and adjust the spelling until it sounds right.
Add pauses
Sometimes you might want to add pauses to avoid overwhelming callers with information. You can shape pacing with punctuation:
-
Use an ellipsis (
...) for a short pause. -
Use an em-dash (
—, or--) for a longer break or to signal an abrupt change in thought.
Pauses can be useful in cases like:
-
Separating steps or details in a list
-
Giving callers a chance to gather information (e.g., “Take a moment to find your order number…”)
-
Giving callers a chance to read and respond to an SMS you sent them
Add emphasis
When you’ve got something important to say, write the sentence so the emphasis comes through naturally. Rephrasing to put the key word at the start or end of the sentence, keeping it short, and using punctuation — such as an em-dash before the important point — helps the voice land it clearly. Test how it sounds with the Play icon and adjust the wording until the emphasis reads the way you want.