Is SpeechSynthesisUtterance reusable?

[makotokato]

From https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1372325#c14

Sample is the following.

var utter = new SpeechSynthesisUtterance("Hello World");
utter.onend = () => {
  // Edge, WebKit and Blink allow this, but Firefox doesn't.
  window.speechSynthesis.speak(utter);
};
window.speechSynthesis.speak(utter);

Google search page uses that SpeechSynthesisUtterance is reused. But Speech API doesn't define whether this object is reusable.

Edge, WebKit, and Blink allow SpeechSynthesisUtterance is reusable now, but Gecko doesn't. If it allow to reuse this object, we should add spec/document about reusable.

[foolip]

@gshires, do you have thoughts on this?

[foolip]

@gshires poked @minorninth :)

[karlcow]

@foolip and we had a Webcompat issue about it.
webcompat/web-bugs#2966

[minorninth]

I don't have a really strong preference for whether it should be reusable or not, but I agree that we should come to a consensus and document it.

Is there any reason NOT to allow SpeechSynthesisUtterance to be reused? If not, let's file a bug against Gecko to allow it to be reused, and if they accept it, we can document it and then we'll have parity.

[karlcow]

@minorninth

If not, let's file a bug against Gecko to allow it to be reused, and if they accept it, we can document it and then we'll have parity.

This is the origin of this issue. 😄 In the first description, the link is there.
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1372325

[karlcow]

+1 to allow the reuse of it.

• Edge, Chrome and Safari do the same thing
• Google search is using the feature.

[foolip]

Sounds like we should absolutely fix this. The problematic bit in the spec is "The SpeechSynthesis object takes exclusive ownership of the SpeechSynthesisUtterance object. Passing it as a speak() argument to another SpeechSynthesis object should throw an exception."

Is it just a matter of removing this, or does that open up new and hard questions to answer?

[foolip]

Does anyone know who the best contacts for Edge and Safari would be for Speech? In web-platform-tests/wpt#7507 I'm adding OWNERS and would like to include them, and web-platform-tests/wpt#7510 will fail in Safari, so their input would be great.

@patrickkettner @youennf halp?

[eeejay]

The problematic bit in the spec is "The SpeechSynthesis object takes exclusive ownership of the SpeechSynthesisUtterance object. Passing it as a speak() argument to another SpeechSynthesis object should throw an exception."

How does this relate to re-usability with the same SpeechSynthesis instance? Seems like that sentence could stay with a qualifier that re-using an utterance in the same SpeechSynthesis instance is OK.

[foolip]

Oh, I actually hadn't read that very carefully, what it says is actually quite reasonable. Then we should just have a test to prove that it throws when passing to another window's SpeechSynthesis instance.

[patrickkettner]

@foolip I'll track down the right person for you on the edge side of stuff

[foolip]

Thanks @patrickkettner, can you add them to https://github.com/w3c/web-platform-tests/blob/master/speech-api/OWNERS if you find them?

@makotokato, with the added test, I think this issue is resolved, WDYT?

[makotokato]

with the added test, I think this issue is resolved, WDYT?

Yes, as this issue, it is OK.