Characterful Speech Synthesis
Matthew Aylett,
CereProc –
Abstract:
Speech synthesis is a key enabling technology for pervasive and mobile
computing as well as a key requirement for accessability. Adding
character to synthetic voices is a requirement for effective
interaction and for devices that wish to present a coherant branded
interface.
In this talk I will argue that current approaches to sythesis, and
current commercial pressures, make it difficult for many systems to
create characterful synthesis. We will present how CereProc’s approach
differs from the industry standard and how we have attempted to
maintain and increase the characterfullness of CereVoice’s
output. (Online demo available at www.cereproc.com)
We will outline the expressive synthesis markup that is supported by
the system, how these are expressed in underlying digital signal
processing and selection tags. Finally we will present the concept of
second pass synthesis where cues can be manually tweaked to allow
direct control of intonation style, and where synthesis can be
seamlessly mixed with pre-recorded prompts to produce extremely
natural output.
We will also demonstrate how we can use synthesis to ‘clone’ celebrity
voices with a brief demonstration of voices copied from George W. Bush
(e.g http://www.idyacy.com/cgi-bin/bushomatic.cgi)
Time permiting I will also demonstrate some experiments looking at
hybrid approaches to parametric/unit selection synthesis.
Date: 2010-Sep-10 Time: 15:00:00 Room: 336
For more information:
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OLISSIPO Summer School in Lisbon | Computational phylogenetics to analyse the evolution of cells and communities

We are happy to announce the OLISSIPO Summer School on Computational phylogenetics to analyse the evolution of cells and communities, which will be held in Lisbon, Portugal, at INESC-ID, between July 2-7, 2023.
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David Posada, University of Vigo (class)
João Alves, University of Vigo (hands-on)
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The school covers a range of machine learning topics, from theory to practice, that are important in solving natural language processing problems arising in different application areas. It is organized jointly by Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), a leading Engineering and Science school in Portugal, the Instituto de Telecomunicações, the Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores, Investigação e Desenvolvimento em Lisboa (INESC-ID), the Lisbon ELLIS Unit for Learning and Intelligent Systems (LUMLIS), Unbabel, Zendesk, and IBM Research.
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31st International Conference on Information Systems Development (ISD 2023)

The 31st International Conference on Information Systems Development (ISD 2023) conference provides a forum for research and developments in the field of information systems. The theme of ISD 2023 is “Information systems development, organizational aspects and societal trends”. New trends in developing information systems emphasize the continuous collaboration between developers and operators in order to optimize the software delivery time. The conference promotes research on methodological and technological issues and how IS developers and operators are transforming organizations and society through information systems.
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