The VoiceBox Shield can be mounted on top of your Arduino, to give it access to all capabilities of the SpeakJet voice and sound synthesizer. The Voice Box Shield uses the SpeakJet chip to convert serial commands into a great robot-sounding voice.

Populated on the VoiceBox Shield are the 18-DIP SpeakJet IC and a two stage audio amplifier with a potentiometer to set the gain. You can connect a speaker directly to the 'SPK+/-' pins or headphones with the 3.5mm audio jack.

You can control the SpeakJet through either its serial line, or the eight event input lines which are connected to digital pins 5-12. A 3-way jumper allows you to connect either the software (D2) or hardware (D1) TX pin of the Arduino to the SpeakJet's serial input. There's also a small prototyping area. Stackable headers are included in the package.