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Basic Principles of Speech Synthesis

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Springer Handbook of Speech Processing

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Abstract

Speech synthesis enables voice output by machines or devices. Text-to-speech (TTS) synthesis does so by using text as input. Ever since the talking machine by von Kempelen in 1791 [19.1], researchers and technologists have endeavored to make machines talk. The first electronic synthesis, Homer Dudleyʼs Voder (Voice Coder), was demonstrated at the 1939 World Fair in New York City [19.2]. Today, TTS systems enjoy wide use in assistive technologies, telecommunications, entertainment, and education. In this chapter we will review the basic principles of this technology, which serves as an introduction to later chapters that provide the reader with more-detailed information.

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Abbreviations

ATR:

advanced telecommunications research

CELP:

code-excited linear prediction

DTW:

dynamic time warping

GMM:

Gaussian mixture model

HMM:

hidden Markov models

HNM:

harmonic-plus-noise model

ITU:

International Telecommunication Union

LPC:

linear predictive coding

PSRELP:

pitch-synchronous residual excited linear prediction

SGML:

standard generalized markup language

SSML:

speech synthesis markup language

TD-PSOLA:

time-domain pitch-synchronous overlap-add

TTS:

text-to-speech

ToBI:

tone and break indices

UCD:

unit concatenative distortion

USD:

unit segmental distortion

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Schroeter, J. (2008). Basic Principles of Speech Synthesis. In: Benesty, J., Sondhi, M.M., Huang, Y.A. (eds) Springer Handbook of Speech Processing. Springer Handbooks. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-49127-9_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-49127-9_19

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