RI: Collaborative Research: Foreign accent conversion through articulatory inversion of the vocal-tract frontal cavity

把一个“外国人”变成“外国人”的能力。口音变成了它的“母语”。对应物是第二语言学习者发音训练的宝贵工具。这需要将语音信号中由声道解剖结构决定的部分与由说话者控制声道的特殊方式产生的部分分离开来。虽然这两种声源在声学领域以复杂的方式相互作用，但一些研究表明，它们可能在发音空间，特别是在声道额腔中分离。本研究的目的是确定在何种程度上外国口音转换可以通过发音倒置额腔进行。为此目的，正在研究两个相互补充的问题。首先，现有的发音数据集被用于开发一个在额腔域中操作的外国口音转换模型。其次，正在开发发音反转模型，以从语音声学中估计额腔结构。通过对外国口音、说话者身份和音质的感知测试，系统地验证了这些模型的结果。英语是美国相当一部分劳动力的第二语言。除英语外，减少外国口音变得越来越困难。关键时期?但是对于成年的第二语言学习者来说，发音确实会有实质性的改善。这项工作将刺激新技术的发展，以促进这种改进。其结果也可以应用于电影配音/循环，以及在语音技术（例如，特征提取，数据压缩）。

The ability to transform a ?foreign? accented voice into its ?native? counterpart could be an invaluable tool in pronunciation training for second-language learners. This requires separating those aspects of the speech signal that are determined by the anatomy of the vocal tract from those that result from the idiosyncratic way in which the speaker controls it. While these two sources interact in complex ways in the acoustic domain, a few studies indicate that they may be decoupled in the articulatory space, specifically in the vocal tract frontal cavity.The objective of this research is to determine the extent to which foreign-accent conversion can be performed through articulatory inversion of the frontal cavity. For this purpose, two complementary problems are being investigated. First, existing articulatory datasets are being used to develop a foreign-accent conversion model that operates in the frontal cavity domain. Second, articulatory inversion models are being developed to estimate the frontal cavity configuration from speech acoustics. Results from these models are being systematically validated through perceptual tests of foreign-accentedness, speaker identity and acoustic quality.English is a second language for a significant percentage of the workforce in the United States. Reduction of foreign accent becomes increasingly difficult beyond the ?critical period? of language learning, but substantial improvements in pronunciation do occur for adult second-language learners. This work will stimulate the development of new technology to facilitate such improvements. Its results may also find application for film dubbing/looping, as well as in speech technology at large (e.g., feature extraction, data compression).