diff --git a/usr.bin/beep/beep.1 b/usr.bin/beep/beep.1
--- a/usr.bin/beep/beep.1
+++ b/usr.bin/beep/beep.1
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 .\"
 .\" $FreeBSD$
 .\"
-.Dd November 4, 2021
+.Dd July 11, 2022
 .Dt beep 1
 .Os
 .Sh NAME
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 .Op Fl r Ar sample_rate_hz
 .Op Fl d Ar oss_device
 .Op Fl g Ar gain
+.Op Fl t Ar text
 .Op Fl B
 .Op Fl h
 .Sh DESCRIPTION
@@ -60,6 +61,9 @@
 .It Fl g
 Sets the waveform gain, between 0 and 100 inclusively.
 The default is 75.
+.It Fl t
+Render the given text as 8-bit audio codes starting at the least significant bit, similarly to Braille.
+This option can also be combined with the duration option to either speed up or slow down the audio.
 .It Fl B
 Runs the
 .Nm
diff --git a/usr.bin/beep/beep.c b/usr.bin/beep/beep.c
--- a/usr.bin/beep/beep.c
+++ b/usr.bin/beep/beep.c
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
+#include <assert.h>
 
 #define	SAMPLE_RATE_DEF 48000		/* hz */
 #define	SAMPLE_RATE_MAX 48000		/* hz */
@@ -61,6 +62,7 @@
 static int gain = GAIN_DEF;
 static const char *oss_dev = DEFAULT_DEVICE;
 static bool background;
+static const uint8_t *text;
 
 /*
  * wave_function_16
@@ -129,6 +131,65 @@
 	return (retval);
 }
 
+static void
+render_beep(int32_t *buffer, size_t size, float amp)
+{
+  	size_t slope;
+	size_t off;	/* buffer offset */
+	float p;	/* phase */
+	float d;	/* delta phase */
+
+	/* compute slope duration in samples */
+	slope = (DURATION_MIN * sample_rate) / 2000;
+
+  	/* set initial phase and delta */
+	p = 0;
+	d = (float)frequency / (float)sample_rate;
+
+	/* compute wave */
+	for (p = off = 0; off != size; off++, p += d) {
+		float sample;
+
+		p = p - floorf(p);
+		sample = amp * wave_function_16(p, WAVE_POWER);
+
+		if (off < slope)
+			sample = sample * off / (float)slope;
+		else if (off > (size - slope))
+			sample = sample * (size - off - 1) / (float)slope;
+
+		buffer[off] = sample * 0x7fffff00;
+	}
+}
+
+static void
+render_silence(int32_t *buffer, size_t size)
+{
+	for (size_t x = 0; x != size; x++)
+		buffer[x] = 0;
+}
+
+static size_t
+text_length_in_units(const uint8_t *ptr)
+{
+	size_t units = 0;
+
+	while (*ptr) {
+		uint8_t ch = *ptr;
+
+		for (uint8_t x = 0; x != 8; x++) {
+			if ((ch >> x) & 1)
+				units += 2;
+			else
+				units += 4;
+		}
+
+		units += 4;
+		ptr ++;
+	}
+	return (units);
+}
+  
 static void
 usage(void)
 {
@@ -138,6 +199,7 @@
 	    "\t" "-r <sample rate in HZ, from %d Hz to %d Hz, default %d Hz>\n"
 	    "\t" "-d <OSS device (default %s)>\n"
 	    "\t" "-g <gain from %d to %d, default %d>\n"
+	    "\t" "-t <render given text>\n"
 	    "\t" "-B Run in background\n"
 	    "\t" "-h Show usage\n",
 	    getprogname(),
@@ -153,16 +215,16 @@
 main(int argc, char **argv)
 {
 	int32_t *buffer;
-	size_t slope;
+	int32_t *buffer_short;
+	int32_t *buffer_long;
 	size_t size;
+	size_t units;
 	size_t off;
 	float a;
-	float d;
-	float p;
 	int c;
 	int f;
 
-	while ((c = getopt(argc, argv, "BF:D:r:g:d:h")) != -1) {
+	while ((c = getopt(argc, argv, "BF:D:r:t:g:d:h")) != -1) {
 		switch (c) {
 		case 'F':
 			frequency = strtol(optarg, NULL, 10);
@@ -191,6 +253,9 @@
 		case 'B':
 			background = true;
 			break;
+		case 't':
+			text = optarg;
+			break;
 		default:
 			usage();
 			break;
@@ -224,38 +289,60 @@
 	if (ioctl(f, SNDCTL_DSP_GETODELAY, &c) != 0)
 		errx(1, "ioctl SNDCTL_DSP_GETODELAY failed");
 
+	if (text != NULL)
+		units = text_length_in_units(text);
+	else
+		units = 1;
+
 	size = ((sample_rate * duration_ms) + 999) / 1000;
-	buffer = malloc(sizeof(buffer[0]) * size);
+	buffer = malloc(sizeof(buffer[0]) * size * units);
 	if (buffer == NULL)
 		errx(1, "out of memory");
 
-	/* compute slope duration in samples */
-	slope = (DURATION_MIN * sample_rate) / 2000;
-
 	/* compute base gain */
 	a = powf(65536.0f, (float)gain / (float)GAIN_MAX) / 65536.0f;
 
-	/* set initial phase and delta */
-	p = 0;
-	d = (float)frequency / (float)sample_rate;
-
-	/* compute wave */
-	for (p = off = 0; off != size; off++, p += d) {
-		float sample;
+	if (text != NULL) {
+		buffer_short = malloc(sizeof(buffer[0]) * size * 2);
+		if (buffer_short == NULL)
+			errx(1, "out of memory");
+		buffer_long = malloc(sizeof(buffer[0]) * size * 4);
+		if (buffer_long == NULL)
+			errx(1, "out of memory");
+
+		render_beep(buffer_short, size, a);
+		render_silence(buffer_short + size, size);
+
+		render_beep(buffer_long, 3 * size, a);
+		render_silence(buffer_long + 3 * size, size);
+
+		for (off = 0; *text != 0; text++) {
+			uint8_t ch = *text;
+
+			for (uint8_t x = 0; x != 8; x++) {
+				if ((ch >> x) & 1) {
+					memcpy(buffer + off, buffer_short, 2 * size * sizeof(buffer[0]));
+					off += 2 * size;
+				} else {
+					memcpy(buffer + off, buffer_long, 4 * size * sizeof(buffer[0]));
+					off += 4 * size;
+				}
+			}
+
+			render_silence(buffer + off, 4 * size);
+			off += 4 * size;
+		}
 
-		p = p - floorf(p);
-		sample = a * wave_function_16(p, WAVE_POWER);
+		free(buffer_short);
+		free(buffer_long);
 
-		if (off < slope)
-			sample = sample * off / (float)slope;
-		else if (off > (size - slope))
-			sample = sample * (size - off - 1) / (float)slope;
-
-		buffer[off] = sample * 0x7fffff00;
+		assert(off == (size * units));
+	} else {
+		render_beep(buffer, size, a);
 	}
-
-	if (write(f, buffer, size * sizeof(buffer[0])) !=
-	    (ssize_t)(size * sizeof(buffer[0])))
+	
+	if (write(f, buffer, size * units * sizeof(buffer[0])) !=
+	    (ssize_t)(size * units * sizeof(buffer[0])))
 		errx(1, "failed writing to DSP device(%s)", oss_dev);
 
 	free(buffer);