A technique for producing speech output in an automatic dialog system in accordance with a detected context is provided. Communication is received from a user at the automatic dialog system. A context of the communication from the user is detected in a context detector of the automatic dialog system. A message is created in a natural language generator of the automatic dialog system in communication with the context detector. The message is conveyed to the user through a speech synthesis system of the automatic dialog system, in communication with the natural language generator and the context detector. Responsive to a detected level of ambient noise, the context detector provides at least one command in a markup language to cause the natural language generator to create the message using maximally intelligible words and to cause the speech synthesis system to convey the message with increased volume and decreased speed.