Hybrid Synthesis For Voice Output Communication Aids

用于语音输出通信辅助的混合合成

• 批准号: 6790229
• 负责人: SUSAN R HERTZ
• 金额: $ 10万
• 依托单位: SYNFONICA, LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-04-01 至 2005-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6790229
• 关键词: bioengineering /biomedical engineering; biomedical equipment development; biomimetics; clinical research; communication disorders; computer program /software; computer system design /evaluation; female; human middle age (35-64); human subject; male; middle childhood (6-11); patient oriented research; phonology; speech recognition; speech synthesizers; voice; young adult human (21-34)

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): NovaSpeech proposes to study an innovative hybrid technique for generating individualized child, adult, female, and male voices. This hybrid speech generation strategy is particularly well suited to the needs of the speech-impaired community. It integrates corpus-based waveform concatenation and rule-based formant synthesis in a novel and principled way, leveraging the strengths of each technique. The proposal presents both a set of preliminary results and a theoretical foundation for expecting that the proposed method will be capable of efficiently generating higher quality speech than is possible using either classical formant or more current, corpus-based techniques. The hybrid system promises to make the generation of mimetic speech--speech that sounds like a designated speaker--more practical and successful, thereby enabling the creation of more effective and satisfactory voice output communication aids. The specific aim of Phase I of the proposed study is to test four key hypotheses by recording child, adult, female, and male speakers; generating spoken test sentences using a variety of hybrid and classical synthesis techniques; and performing formal listening tests to obtain perceptual judgments of the naturalness and mimetic quality of the test sentences. The longer-term objective in Phase II is to develop a complete hybrid speech synthesis system for the generation of unrestricted speech from an abstract linguistic representation. The ultimate objective is to improve the naturalness and mimetic quality of speech synthesized from unrestricted symbolic input, with the particular goal of enhancing the utility and flexibility of voice output communication aids for speech-impaired individuals.

描述（由申请人提供）：NovaSpeech提出研究一种创新的混合技术，用于生成个性化的儿童，成人，女性和男性声音。这种混合语音生成策略特别适合于语言障碍社区的需求。它以一种新颖而有原则的方式集成了基于语料库的波形拼接和基于规则的共振峰合成，充分利用了每种技术的优势。 该建议提出了一组的初步结果和理论基础，预期所提出的方法将能够有效地产生更高质量的语音比可能使用经典共振峰或更当前，基于语料库的技术。这种混合系统有望使模仿语音（听起来像指定说话者的语音）的产生更加实用和成功，从而能够创造更有效和令人满意的语音输出通信辅助工具。 第一阶段的具体目的是测试四个关键假设，记录儿童，成人，女性和男性扬声器;使用各种混合和经典的合成技术生成口语测试句子;并进行正式的听力测试，以获得感知判断的自然性和模仿质量的测试句子。 第二阶段的长期目标是开发一个完整的混合语音合成系统，用于从抽象语言表示生成无限制的语音。最终目标是提高从不受限制的符号输入合成的语音的自然度和模仿质量，特别目标是提高语音输出通信辅助设备对语言障碍者的实用性和灵活性。