Instrumental Quality Estimation for Synthesized Speech Signals

该项目在最初的提案中计划了三年[Möller，Heute，2009]，到目前为止已经批准了两年，旨在对文本到语音（TTS）合成系统的听觉质量进行仪器测量。因此，昂贵的听觉测量（听力测试）不应完全取代;但是，在系统开发或潜在系统候选人的预选期间，可以广泛避免这些测量。目标是仅从TTS合成信号估计质量而没有任何参考信号的测量。它基于属性，即，它就像一个听众一样，从不同的单一方面来汇集总的印象。因此，感知质量空间被一定数量的维度所跨越。对于尺寸，要找到仪器测量，从其中，最后，一个整体的质量措施是要构建。然而，除了直接的积分质量估计，并不同，详细的诊断信息是可用的，有价值的系统developer.In最初的建议[穆勒，Heute，2009]提出了以下问题：哪些方面是相关的感知和质量判断的合成语音在各种应用程序？语音信号中反映了这些方面中的哪些方面？如何用工具来评估单一的质量方面？如何仅从合成语音信号来估计总质量？如何在不同应用的质量配置文件中表示估计值？这种情况适用于哪些合成方法和应用？经过前两年的研究，部分答案已经找到。为了继续研究，增加了以下问题：测量的质量如何取决于TTS扬声器的声音？如何考虑超细分的质量方面？相关特征如何一方面在时变的意义上依赖于时间，另一方面在合理估计可靠性的意义上依赖于时间？哪些特征对短TTS信号的质量分析有用，哪些特征对长序列有用？ 虽然在最初的提案中，已经计划主要在第三年从单个方面汇编整体质量以及有效性问题[Möller，Heute，2009]，但从目前的调查中新增加了语音质量和时间依赖性。此外，超节段质量测量的核心重要性是一个新的观点，现在要考虑。

The project planned for three years in the initial proposal [Möller, Heute, 2009], granted up to now for two years aims at an instrumental measure for the auditory quality of text-to-speech (TTS) synthesis systems. Thereby, expensive auditive measurements (listening tests) shall not be replaced completely; they can, however, be avoided widely during a system development or pre-selection of potential system candidates. The goal is a measure which estimates the quality from the TTS-synthesis signal only, without any reference signal. It is based on attributes i.e., it compiles the total impression, like a listener, from different single aspects. So, the perceptual quality space is spanned by a certain number of dimensions. For the dimensions, instrumental measurements are to be found, from which, finally, an integral quality measure is to be constructed. Beyond, however, and different from a direct integral quality estimation, detailed diagnostic information is available, valuable for the system developer.In the initial proposal [Möller, Heute, 2009] the following questions were raised: Which aspects are relevant for the perception and quality judgment of synthetic speech at various applications? Which of these aspects are reflected in the speech signal? How can the single quality aspects be estimated instrumentally? How can the total quality be estimated from the synthesized speech signal alone? How can the estimated values be represented in a quality profile for different applications? For which synthesis methods and applications does such a profile hold?After the first two years, partial answers have been found. For the continued investigations, the following questions are added: How does the measured quality depend on the TTS speakers voice? How can supra-segmental quality aspects be taken into account? How do relevant features depend on time in the sense of time-variance on one hand, in the sense of a reasonable estimation reliability on the other hand? Which features are useful for the quality analysis of short TTS signals, which ones for longer sequences? While the compilation of the integral quality from single aspects as well as the validity question were already planned mainly for the third year in the initial proposal [Möller, Heute, 2009], the extension towards an inclusion of voice quality and time dependence resulted newly from the present investigations. As well, the central importance of a supra-segmental quality measurement is a novel point of view, now to be taken into account.