The Texas Instruments
Speak & Spell

Description:
Children's educational toy which plays 5 spelling games. Utilizes speech technology.
Date of manufacture: 1978 (per copyright on face)
Power: 4 C batteries, or 6 VDC input (on right side of unit)
Sound Output: Built-in speaker on face, or headphone jack on left side of unit (right side on later models).
Display: Vacuum Flourescent Display (VFD)?
Keyboard: Raised buttons on earlier models, membrane on later
Speech Chip: TMS5110 (TMS5220)

Membrane Keypad	Compact Speak & Spell	French Speak & Spell

Raised Button Keypad	Italian Speak & Spell

	German Speak & Spell

I have two versions of the S&S- the one with the membrane keypad as well as the one with the raised buttons. There is apparently a compact version that has only the keypad and voice, but no display. Like the Speak & Math, the larger models both have vacuum flourescent displays, and there is a cartridge port inside the battery compartment where you can plug expansion cartridges in.

Dave Warren had sent me a scan of a February 1983 'Computers & Electronics' article by Larry Dighera which details a project in which you interface a Speak & Spell with a Timex Sinclair computer. I've compiled the jpg scans into a document format so that you can download the entire 1.57MB file talkcheap.max. The article was converted to files (.MAX format) using PaperPort v5.0 software, and in order to view it, you will need to download and install the FREE PaperPort v5.0 Viewer. Here are some items from the article (yeah, I know that it's the same as the ones on the Speak & Math page!):

• The Speak & Spell consists of a pushbutton keyboard, microprocessor, display, ROM (contains speech data), voice synthesizer, and loudspeaker.
• The microprocessor communicates with the speech units through a 6-line bus with CNTL 1, 2, 4, and 8 forming a 4- bit data bus and PDC (processor data clock) and CS (chip select) forming a control bus.
• The ROM contains the binary-coded speech data for synthesis of the spoken word. Each word has a specific starting address. When it is desired to output a particular word, the ROM address of the beginning of the word is sent to the voice synthesizer in five 4-bit nybbles preceded by the LOAD ADDRESS. The data is then clocked into the voice synthesizer by the PDC signal. Once the 5-nybble word address is loaded, READ ROM and SPEAK commands are sent to cause speech to be generated. If the BUSY SPEAKING? command is now sent, the voice synthesizer will raise the CNTL 1 line high until it finishes vocalizing.

There's a free Speak & Spell simulator available for Windows. It's called SASS, and although it's a pretty large file, I thought it was pretty cool and I'd recommend getting it. You can download it on the SASS Homepage. Update:The SASS site has been down for some time now. Here's an alternate download link: http://www.zophar.net/sas.html

There is also a cool online Speak & Spell simulator at http://www.speaknspell.co.uk/

 
Want to own your own Speak & Spell? Many people email me asking where to get one, and the only existing source is to check your local thrift stores, or to search ebay. If you want to check on ebay, click here to search for 'Speak & Spell'.

You can download Speak & Spell sound samples as well as a complete word list here.

View a vintage Speak & Spell TV commercial from the 80's featuring Bill Cosby:

Speak & Spell Video - 372KB Windows Media File (WMV)
In order to view the video, you will need the Windows Media Player

This is a 2 page Speak & Spell pamphlet with a description and specs:
Speak & Spell Pamphlet - 619KB PDF
This interesting article is about the design history of the Speak & Spell:
Design History of the Speak & Spell- 2.2MB PDF

The Smithsonian Institution has a web page with some information on the Speak & Spell with some photos of a white and orange preproduction unit that they say was built for the Summer Consumer Electronics Show.
Visit the Smithsonian Institution Speak & Spell Page

The Smithsonian Speech Synthesis History Project also has some interesting information about the Speak & Spell

If you want to see bent (modified) S&S units, and hear the music that they make, take a look at Khate's site at http://www.khate.org

Return To The Texas Instruments Educational Toys Page.

I'm always looking any more information on the Speak & Spell. If you have anything that you think would be of interest, please contact me at webmaster@99er.org.

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