# Adding the sound of breathing
* and *
This tag is supported only by the standard TTS format.
Natural-sounding speech includes both correctly spoken words and breathing sounds. By adding breathing sounds to synthesized speech, you can make it sound more natural. The `` and `` tags provide breaths. You have the following options:
+ Manual mode: you set the location, length, and volume of a breath sound within the text
+ Automated mode: Amazon Polly automatically inserts breathing sounds into the speech output
+ Mixed mode: both you and Amazon Polly add breathing sounds
**Manual Mode**
In manual mode, you place the `` tag in the input text where you want to locate a breath. You can customize the length and volume of breaths with the `duration` and `volume` attributes, respectively:
+ `duration`: Controls the length of the breath. Valid values are: `default`, `x-short`, `short`, `medium`, `long`, `x-long`. The default value is `medium`.
+ `volume`: Controls how loud breathing sounds. Valid values are: `default`, `x-soft`, `soft`, `medium`, `loud`, `x-loud`. The default value is `medium`.
**Note**
The exact length and volume of each attribute value is dependent on the specific Amazon Polly voice used.
To set a breath sound using the defaults, use `` without attributes.
For example, to use attributes to set the duration and volume for a breath to medium, you would set the attributes as follows:
```
Sometimes you want to insert only a single breath.
```
To use the defaults, you would just use the tag:
```
Sometimes you need to insert one or more average breaths so that the
text sounds correct.
```
You can add individual breathing sounds within a passage, as follows:
```
Wow! That was quite fast. I almost beat my personal best time on this track.
```
**Automated Mode**
In automated mode, you use the `` tag to tell Amazon Polly to automatically create breathing noises at appropriate intervals. You can set the frequency of the intervals, their volume, and their duration. Place the `` tag at the beginning of the text that you want to apply automated breathing to and then close the tag at the end.
**Note**
Unlike the manual mode tag, ``, the `` tag requires a closing tag (``).
You can use the following optional attributes with the `` tag:
+ `volume`: Controls how loud the breathing sounds. Valid values are: `default`, `x-soft`, `soft`, `medium`, `loud`, `x-loud`. The default value is `medium`.
+ `frequency`: Controls how often breathing sounds occur in the text. Valid values are: `default`, `x-low`, `low`, `medium`, `high`, `x-high`. The default value is `medium`.
+ `duration`: Controls the length of the breath. Valid values are: `default`, `x-short`, `short`, `medium`, `long`, `x-long`. The default value is `medium`.
By default, the frequency of breathing sounds depends on the input text. However, breathing sounds often occur after commas and periods.
The following examples show how to use the `` tag. To decide which options to use for your content, copy the applicable examples to the Amazon Polly console and listen to the differences.
+ Using automated mode without optional parameters.
```
Amazon Polly is a service that turns text into lifelike speech,
allowing you to create applications that talk and build entirely new categories of speech-
enabled products. Amazon Polly is a text-to-speech service that uses advanced deep learning
technologies to synthesize speech that sounds like a human voice. With dozens of lifelike
voices across a variety of languages, you can select the ideal voice and build speech-
enabled applications that work in many different countries.
```
+ Using automated mode with volume control. The unspecified parameters (`duration` and `frequency`) are set to the default values (`medium`).
```
Amazon Polly is a service that turns text into lifelike
speech, allowing you to create applications that talk and build entirely new categories of
speech-enabled products. Amazon Polly is a text-to-speech service, that uses advanced deep
learning technologies to synthesize speech that sounds like a human voice. With dozens of
lifelike voices across a variety of languages, you can select the ideal voice and build speech-
enabled applications that work in many different countries.
```
+ Using automated mode with frequency control. The unspecified parameters (`duration` and `volume`) are set to the default values (`medium`).
```
Amazon Polly is a service that turns text into lifelike
speech, allowing you to create applications that talk and build entirely new categories of
speech-enabled products. Amazon Polly is a text-to-speech service, that uses advanced deep
learning technologies to synthesize speech that sounds like a human voice. With dozens of
lifelike voices across a variety of languages, you can select the ideal voice and build speech-
enabled applications that work in many different countries.
```
+ Using automated mode with multiple parameters. For the unspecified `Duration` parameter, Amazon Polly uses the default value (`medium`).
```
Amazon Polly is a service that turns
text into lifelike speech, allowing you to create applications that talk and build entirely new
categories of speech-enabled products. Amazon Polly is a text-to-speech service, that uses
advanced deep learning technologies to synthesize speech that sounds like a human voice. With
dozens of lifelike voices across a variety of languages, you can select the ideal voice and build
speech-enabled applications that work in many different countries.
```