TTS algorithms (Re: Comments on the Text to Speech "algorithm")

[marc]

Klaus Knopper wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Maybe I'm missing something, but as far as I understood the question,
> marc just asked about a common procedure called "unit selection" which
> is the algorithm of many text-to-speech synthesizers.
> 

Well, I know, in TTS they use some kind of FFT (Fourier Transform) etc 
that mathematically construct a soundwave.

My guess is that mp3/ogg/wav/whatever would sound better.


> Back to unit selection: Because of time-critical issues, selection and
> processing of real recordings requires a lot of IO throughput, so you
> will need a very fast harddisk (maybe raid) or database, possibly cached
> in RAM, or just accept the output data to be generated "offline" with
> playback a few seconds or even minutes after the original text was sent,
> output being in form of a WAV, Ogg or also the aforementioned MP3 if you
> don't mind using a patented format with its problematic legal issues.
> 


Well, ever heard of a tree? If a word starts with:
all words with a in a/
all words with b in b/
...
all words with aa in a/a/
all words with ac in a/c/
..
all words in aaa in /a/a/a
..
all words in prononciation in /p/r/o/n/u/n/c/i/a/t/i/o/n/.words

I suppose you have a fast access here, and after a while, you have a lot 
of these sound files in memory.


> "Mary" from the DFKI uses unit selection, it is open source and written
> in JAVA, but there is no plugin for speechd yet. It may be possible to
> use it as commandline-based external program for speechd still.
> 
> http://mary.dfki.de/

I will take a look at it.

My problem is that my own language (Dutch) does not sound very good in 
synthesised speech ..

And I know some GPSses use ogg/mp3 words (eg the Mappy.fr uses Ogg).

In Belgium, blind/handicapped people get 90% subsidies for ability 
technologies (speech etc), but would an European funding be an idea?
http://cordis.lu


Marc
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