SYNFONICA LLC — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase II: NIDCD

Description

Project SummaryThe expression of emotions through speech is an essential element of human communicationyet individuals with speech impairments who rely on speech generating devicesSGDsto talk are largely deprived of this communicative channelNo one should be forced to sound blaswhen in fact they re elated or to sound apathetic when they intend to scoldWhile certain expressive speech modes are offered by a few currently available SGDsthe range is extremely limitedand the speech often falls short of conveying the desired emotion or intentionFurtherthe few speech modes provided are generally restricted to a single voiceThe proposed project aims to remedy this unfortunate situation by enhancing the rule based Synfonica text tospeech systemS TTSto make it easy and cost efficient to add a broad range of consistently recognizable expressive speech modesall automatically available for all voices offered by the systemS TTS currently produces speech for American English in a neutral reading modeIn the projectfive new expressive conversational modes will be added neutralhappinesssadnessand two types of angerknown as hot anger and cold angerEach mode will be available for four voicesan already existing adult male voicean already existing adult female voiceand two new child voicesone male and one femaleto be developed in the projectUsers of S TTS will be able to customize these voices to create new ones through special voice customization options to be added to the system outside of the projectWhile the system will be tested through standard types of perceptual teststhe expressive modes will also be evaluated in real life situationsFor this purposea simple augmentative and alternative communicationAACapp that incorporates the S TTS voices will be developedand individuals who use SGDs will be recruited to use this app in their daily livesThese individuals will be asked to provide feedback on the effectiveness of the expressive modes for their interactions with othersIn generalthe project will be a major step toward enabling SGD users to speak in the manner they wishThey will at long last be empowered to express themselves through voices that can reflect their feelings and help them realize their intentions Project NarrativeCurrentlyindividuals with speech impairments who rely on speech generating devices for their verbal communication are deprived of the ability to realistically express their emotions through speechThe proposed project aims to address this problem by enhancing Synfonica s text to speech system with expressive speech capabilitiesWith such an enhanced systemdevelopers of speech generating devices will be able to provide users of these devices with genuinely expressive voices