Abstract
We have performed studies and evaluation experiments of more acceptable rapid speech, aimed at implementation in applications such as installation in commercial devices designed for visually impaired persons. Although our method’s playback time is same as the conventional High-speed playback technology, listener might feel playing in slower speeds and listen words clearer. Our proposal technology makes it possible to adaptive speech rate control in utterance position and pitch/power in the speech information, instead of changing the speed of the utterance uniformly. We performed an experiment in Japanese and American subject with visual impairments respectively to compare the conventional high-speed playback technology and that of our adaptive high-speed playback technology in terms of "Listenability". The reaction to our proposal method from subjects with visual impairments has been very positive underscoring its potential as an effective tool for listening to high-speed speech.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Watanabe, T.: A Study on Voice Settings of Screen Readers for Visually-Impaired PC Users. IEICE Transactions on Information and Systems, D-I J88-D-I (8), 1257–1260 (2005) (in Japanese)
Torihara, S.: An Oblique Listening Method for the Blind and Visually impaired. In: The Sixteenth Annual Conference on Technology and Persons with Disabilities, CSUN 2001. California State University, Northridge (March 2001)
Torihara, S., Nakamura, M., Ueda, N., Wada, T., Ishizaki, S.: English “Oblique” Listening System – Rapid Listening System for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and Its Evaluation. In: Miesenberger, K., Klaus, J., Zagler, W.L., Karshmer, A.I. (eds.) ICCHP 2006. LNCS, vol. 4061, pp. 53–60. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)
Nishimoto, T., et al.: Evaluation of text-to-speech synthesizers at fast speaking rates. Technical Report of IEICE, WIT2005-5, pp. 23–28 (May 2005) (in Japanese)
Imai, A., et al.: An Adaptive Speech-Rate Conversion Method for News Programs without Accumulating Time Delay. IEICE Transactions A J83-A(8), 935–945 (2000) (in Japanese)
Asakawa, C., et al.: The optimal and maximum listening rates in presenting speech information to the blind. Journal of Human Interface Society 7(1), 105–111 (2005) (in Japanese)
Imai, A., Takagi, T., Takeishi, H.: Development of Radio and Television Receivers with Functions to Assist Hearing of Elderly People. In: Broadcast Technology No.35, Combined Issue Autumn 2008 - Winter 2009 (NHK Science and Technology Research Laboratories) (2009)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Tazawa, N., Totihara, S., Iwahana, Y., Imai, A., Seiyama, N., Takagi, T. (2010). Rapid Listening of DAISY Digital Talking Books by Speech-Rate Conversion Technology for People with Visual Impairments. In: Miesenberger, K., Klaus, J., Zagler, W., Karshmer, A. (eds) Computers Helping People with Special Needs. ICCHP 2010. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 6179. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14097-6_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14097-6_11
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-14096-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-14097-6
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)