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Integrating coding techniques into LP-based Mandarin text-to-speech synthesis

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Abstract

In this paper, speech coding techniques are integrated into a Mandarin text-to-speech system. By exploiting the intrinsic properties of Mandarin, we encode the acoustic features of 408 syllabic utterances into templates, each containing modeling parameters for speech synthesis. As a result, the developed TTS system demands merely 36 Kbytes to store all syllabic templates.

In the synthesis stage, modeling parameters retrieved from the templates are modified according to the prosody estimated from a hierarchically layered model. To render a general view of the performance of this TTS system, we conduct listening tests and end up with 86.4% intelligibility and 97% comprehensibility. A simplified Mandarin TTS system is also implemented on an FPGA development board. The realization on an FPGA makes us to believe that such a TTS synthesizer can be easily incorporable with other portable devices as a voicing interface.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Ilan University, Ilan, 260, Taiwan

    Hwai-Tsu Hu

  2. Academia Sinica, Taipei, 115, Taiwan

    Hsin-Min Wang

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  1. Hwai-Tsu Hu
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  2. Hsin-Min Wang
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Correspondence to Hwai-Tsu Hu.

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Hu, HT., Wang, HM. Integrating coding techniques into LP-based Mandarin text-to-speech synthesis. Int J Speech Technol 10, 31–44 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10772-008-9015-3

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