S6E4 Audio Synthesis in AI: Breaking Down Barriers

Inside Tech Comm with Zohra Mutabanna

Manny graces our show once more to share insights on audio synthesis, a technology that has evolved far beyond robotic voices into sophisticated AI systems. It has made documentation more accessible and enhanced technical communication workflows. Manny and I discuss practical applications, implementation strategies, and ethical considerations for incorporating audio synthesis into documentation.

Key takeaways:

• What is audio synthesis?
• How the "curb cut effect" of audio options benefits everyone, not just those with disabilities
• How can you implement audio synthesis through CI/CD pipelines for docs-as-code or integrated into CMS publication workflows?
• How should you prepare content with alternative descriptions for visual elements like code blocks and diagrams for audio synthesis?
• Considerations for voice cloning and careful ethical consideration to avoid misuse.
• What are some proprietary and open-source options that provide audio libraries?

Guest Bio
A tech writer by day and engineer by night, Manny Silva is Head of Docs at Skyflow, codifier of Docs as Tests, and the creator of Doc Detective. He’s passionate about intuitive and scalable developer experiences and likes diving into the deep end as the 0th developer.
Show Credits

• Intro and outro music - Az
• Audio engineer - RJ Basilio

Kapitler

1. Introduction to Generative AI Season (00:00:00)

2. Meet Manny Silva (00:00:28)

3. Understanding Audio Synthesis (00:02:28)

4. How AI Agents Use Audio Synthesis (00:04:48)

5. Boundaries with AI Interaction (00:11:32)

6. Defining Multimodal AI (00:15:48)

7. Accessibility and the Curb Cut Effect (00:19:28)

8. Integrating Audio Synthesis in Documentation (00:29:00)

9. Voice Cloning Considerations (00:36:13)

10. Future of Multimodal AI Agents (00:44:25)

11. Final Thoughts and Encouragement (00:48:14)