Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

polistra said
Here you go:

http://ipa.typeit.org/

This allows one to type IPA characters, but doesn't appear to sound them out for me. I'm looking for something that can take existing IPA and provide an audio pronunciation of the word, so I can hear how to properly pronounce it.

It looks like you have uncovered a gap. It would seem simple enough. Still, all the leads I uncovered flopped. Failing a digital solution, send the IPA to us and we'll be able to give an analog assist.

[edit: added the following]

I tried a few online programs that were alleged to work, but none of them passed a simple test. The one that got the farthest was able to sound /kæt/ as cat, but when I tried the more challenging /kætʃəp/, a possible pronunciation of catsup / ketchup, it seemed to ignore the IPA symbols it didn't recognize, specifically ʃə, and gave the disturbing rendering that sounded exactly like cat pee.

I call that a wild and flaming failure.