Loudmouth:: modifying text-to-speech synthesis in noise

Authors:
Rupal Patel;Michael Everett;Eldar Sadikov
Affiliations:
Northeastern University, Boston, MA;Northeastern University, Boston, MA;Northeastern University, Boston, MA
Venue:
Proceedings of the 8th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers and accessibility
Year:
2006

Citing 1
Cited 3

The influence of acoustics on speech production: a noise-induced stress phenomenon known as the Lombard reflex

Speech Communication - Special issue on speech under stress

The listening talker: A review of human and algorithmic context-induced modifications of speech

Computer Speech and Language
Synthesis and perception of breathy, normal, and Lombard speech in the presence of noise

Computer Speech and Language
Analysis and HMM-based synthesis of hypo and hyperarticulated speech

Computer Speech and Language

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Abstract

Current speech synthesis technology is difficult to understand in everyday noise situations. Although there is a significant body of work on how humans modify their speech in noise, the results have yet to be implemented in a synthesizer. Algorithms capable of processing and incorporating these modifications may lead to improved speech intelligibility of assistive communication aids and more generally of spoken dialogue systems. We describe our efforts in building the Loudmouth synthesizer which emulates human modifications to speech in noise. A perceptual experiment indicated that Loudmouth achieved a statistically significant gain in intelligibility compared to a standard synthesizer in noise.