What VOICE says
When VOICE speaks, what it says, in what order and in what language, how it reads a time, and what it would rather leave unsaid than announce late.
The principle: a display that talks
VOICE receives from FINISH the same broadcast as the TABLEAU displays: the races, the ranking, the laps. FINISH does not send ready-made sentences, but facts (“this athlete has just finished a lap in 31.456 s”) and, for each athlete, their language and options. VOICE builds the sentence. As a result:
- several VOICE computers can listen to the same FINISH (the public address system, a coach's headset), each with its own races and language;
- VOICE can run on a different computer from FINISH;
- a VOICE that restarts in the middle of a race does not repeat past laps: it picks up at the next passings;
- VOICE works on FINISH time (synchronized clocks): the countdown lands on the exact second.
When VOICE speaks
| Moment | What is said | Language | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| An athlete finishes a lap | The lap sentence: “Justine Pelletreau, First position, Last lap! 10.6” | The athlete's | Normal; high with the final time |
| A race starts (if the setting asks for it) | “Pair 3”, otherwise the race name, a few seconds after the start | The computer's | High |
| An athlete is eliminated (elimination race) | “Lotte Verhaegen, uitgeschakeld”; in French “éliminé”, “éliminée” for a female athlete (her gender, otherwise the race's) | The athlete's | High |
| An annotation from FINISH (if the setting asks for it) | “Justine Pelletreau,” then the text of the annotation | The athlete's | High |
| A message typed on the computer | The message | The one chosen next to the field | High |
| The end of a timed race | The countdown “5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Finish!” | The computer's | Interrupts everything |
| The bell sent by FINISH | The bell, and after an elimination bell, a sentence | The computer's | Interrupts everything |
Nothing is announced for a race if the computer is on Mute, if its record in FINISH does not have Speech synthesis, or if it is unchecked in Races received from FINISH. Nothing is announced for an athlete set to mute in FINISH.
The lap sentence
It is assembled piece by piece, in the order the coach needs: who, where they stand, what is left, then the time. Each piece depends on one of the athlete's options (set in FINISH, otherwise the computer's default options):
| Piece | Option | What is said |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Name | First: “Justine Pelletreau”, “Justine” or “Pelletreau” (Spoken name). Not repeated if this athlete has just been named (20 s). |
| Position | Position | “Second position”, only if it has changed (setting); always at the finish. |
| Completed | Completed | “3 laps completed”; timed race: “6 minutes elapsed”, rounded. |
| To go | To go | “2 laps to go”, “Last lap!”; timed race: “4 minutes remaining”, rounded. |
| Lap time | Lap time | “31.4”, according to the athlete's reading. |
| Target | Target | “Too fast!” under the athlete's minimum lap time, “Too slow!” over the maximum. |
| Final time | Final time | Only once, at the finish, always in full: “Final time. 44.9 seconds”. |
| Speed | Speed | “32.5 kilometres per hour”. |
Examples, with the default options (name, position, lap time, to go, final time), for an athlete set to English:
| Situation | Said |
|---|---|
| First passing of a 1500 m on a 400 m track (after 300 m) | “Justine Pelletreau, First position, 3 laps to go, 25.3” |
| Next lap, still first | “Justine Pelletreau, 2 laps to go, 30.9” (position unchanged: not repeated) |
| Last lap, now second | “Justine Pelletreau, Second position, Last lap! 31.2” |
| Finish | “Justine Pelletreau, Second position, 31.7, Final time. 1 minute and 59.1 seconds” |
| Her rival, set to Dutch, on the same lap | “Saskia Brouwers, Eerste positie, Laatste ronde! 31,0” |
- The name alone does not make an announcement: an athlete with only the Name option checked is never announced.
- After the finish, an athlete is no longer announced: their cool-down laps stay silent.
- FINISH sends “PELLETREAU, Justine”; VOICE puts it back in order and in lowercase (“Justine Pelletreau”): some voices spell out a word written entirely in capitals. See Pronouncing names.
- A team pursuit talks about the team: one sentence per team and per lap (“Red, First position, 2 laps to go, 31.4”), its final time or “Red, DNF”.
The languages
Eleven languages: French, English, Dutch, Spanish, German, Italian, Polish, Japanese, Chinese (Mandarin), Korean and Russian. An athlete is announced in their language (set in FINISH), otherwise in the computer's default language; a language VOICE does not know is spoken with the English words. Each language has its own voice.
| Language | 2 laps to go | Last lap | Position | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Français | 2 tours à faire | Dernier tour! | Première… Vingtième position, then “21e position” | 31.4 |
| English | 2 laps to go | Last lap! | First… Third position, then “4th position” | 31.4 |
| Nederlands | nog 2 ronden | Laatste ronde! | Eerste… Twintigste positie, then “21e positie” | 31,4 |
| Español | quedan 2 vueltas | ¡Última vuelta! | Primera… Décima posición, then “Posición 11” | 31,4 |
| Deutsch | noch 2 Runden | Letzte Runde! | “Platz 1”, “Platz 2”… | 31,4 |
| Italiano | mancano 2 giri | Ultimo giro! | Primo… Ventesimo posto, then “Posizione 21” | 31,4 |
| Polski | do końca 2 okrążenia (5: okrążeń) | Ostatnie okrążenie! | Pierwsze… Dwudzieste miejsce, then “Miejsce 21” | 31,4 |
| 日本語 | 残り2周 | ラスト1周！ | 1位, 2位… | 31.4 |
| 中文（普通话） | 还剩2圈 | 最后一圈！ | 第1名, 第2名… | 31.4 |
| 한국어 | 2바퀴 남았습니다 | 마지막 바퀴! | 1위, 2위… | 31.4 |
| Русский | осталось 2 круга (5: кругов; 21: остался 21 круг) | Последний круг! | Первое… Двадцатое место, then “21-е место” | 31,4 |
The decimal separator is part of what the voice reads: a Dutch, Italian, Polish or Russian voice correctly says “31,4”, a Japanese, Chinese or Korean voice “31.4”. In French, the singular is used below two: “1.4 seconde”. Polish and Russian have three forms (“2 minuty”, “5 minut”) and say “jedna”, “dwie”, “одна”, “две” in the feminine (“dwie minuty”, “одна минута”); Japanese, Chinese and Korean count laps with their counter word (周, 圈, 바퀴). Example in full reading: “1分2.4秒” in Japanese, “одна минута и 2,4 секунды” in Russian.
The ten time readings
Each athlete has their own reading (FINISH, Time reading); here is what a lap of 62.456 s gives. Decimals are truncated, never rounded: the voice says the same time as the display.
| Reading (label in FINISH and VOICE) | Said | For whom |
|---|---|---|
| Full | “1 minute and 2.4 seconds” | The public |
| With dot (default reading) | “62.4” | Short lap times |
| Without dot | “62 4” (“sixty-two, four”) | Quicker to say |
| Last second | “2 4” | The coach who knows the tens |
| Point and hundredths | “62.45” | To the hundredth |
| Last second and hundredths | “2 45” | Last digit and hundredths |
| Minutes | “1:02.45” | Minutes and hundredths |
| Minutes to the tenth | “1:02.4” | |
| Minutes to the second | “1:02” | |
| Minutes to the thousandth | “1:02.456” |
Beyond 5 minutes, the readings in seconds switch to minutes (“5:12.40” rather than “312.4”).
Elapsed and remaining time in a timed race
In a timed race, “6 minutes and 12.4 seconds elapsed” on every lap would be too precise and repetitive. VOICE rounds according to progress: coarsely far from the end, finely near the end, and does not repeat a time already said for this race. In a 20-minute race, you hear “18 minutes remaining”, nothing for a few laps, then “16 minutes remaining”… and, 40 s from the end, “45 seconds remaining”. A “time + lap” race says “Last lap!” once the time has run out.
The announcement queue
A sentence lasts two to four seconds; laps arrive in bursts when a pack crosses the line. Sentences therefore wait in a queue, with rules, because a late announcement is worse than no announcement:
- One lap announcement per athlete. If the athlete already has an announcement waiting, the new one (the latest lap) replaces it.
- A short queue. Six lap announcements at most; beyond that, the oldest one is dropped.
- An announcement that is too old is not spoken. After more than twelve seconds of waiting, it is discarded when its turn comes.
- Important things go first. The final time, an elimination, an annotation, the start and a typed message go before the laps and are never discarded.
Each discarded announcement is noted in the log with its reason: “replaced”, “queue full”, “too old”. The three thresholds can be set: Queue.
The end countdown
At the end of a timed race (that is announced), VOICE says “5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Finish!”, each word on its second, on FINISH time, the last one at the exact moment the time runs out. Each word is prepared in advance and started a little before its second (lead time); it cuts off the sentence in progress. During the last ten seconds, only the countdown speaks for this race. A VOICE started 2 s before the end says “2… 1… Finish!”.
The bell
In long track, FINISH works out when an athlete starts their last lap and sends the bell; VOICE rings it on the public address system, cutting off the sentence in progress. A bell received more than two seconds late does not ring: it would fall on another passing. The sound: Bell WAV file.
In an elimination race, FINISH gives the number of athletes who will drop out at the lap that is starting; VOICE follows the bell with a sentence, in the computer's language (two computers in French and English each say it in their own):
| Language | One athlete | Several |
|---|---|---|
| Français | Au prochain tour, 1 coureur sera éliminé. | Au prochain tour, 2 coureurs seront éliminés. |
| English | At the end of the next lap, 1 athlete will be eliminated. | At the end of the next lap, 2 athletes will be eliminated. |
| Nederlands | Na de volgende ronde valt 1 deelnemer af. | Na de volgende ronde vallen 2 deelnemers af. |
| Español | En la próxima vuelta, 1 corredor será eliminado. | En la próxima vuelta, 2 corredores serán eliminados. |
| Deutsch | Nach der nächsten Runde scheidet 1 Teilnehmer aus. | Nach der nächsten Runde scheiden 2 Teilnehmer aus. |
| Italiano | Al prossimo giro sarà eliminato 1 atleta. | Al prossimo giro saranno eliminati 2 atleti. |
| Polski | Po następnym okrążeniu odpadnie jedna osoba. | Po następnym okrążeniu odpadną dwie osoby. (5: odpadnie 5 osób.) |
| 日本語 | 次の周回で1人が脱落します。 | 次の周回で2人が脱落します。 |
| 中文（普通话） | 下一圈结束时，将淘汰1名选手。 | 下一圈结束时，将淘汰2名选手。 |
| 한국어 | 다음 바퀴가 끝나면 1명이 탈락합니다. | 다음 바퀴가 끝나면 2명이 탈락합니다. |
| Русский | После следующего круга выбывает 1 участник. | После следующего круга выбывают 2 участника. (5: участников) |
What VOICE does not say
- Records. FINISH knows the records and shows them on the displays, but VOICE does not announce “track record”: there is no record announcement. To announce one, type it in Say a message.
- Rankings and results of a race or a competition: only what happens on the track, athlete by athlete.
- Past laps for a VOICE started late, nor the start of a race that began more than ten seconds ago.