A phoneme based portable speech computer

Abstract

Advances in microelectronics and the massive interest in small computers has led to a wide choice of speech synthesis products available to the potential user. The choice of synthesizer depends upon the target user group which in this case is composed of teachers and students in a Speech Therapy Department. A need is identified for a portable speech synthesizer with the ability to manipulate the important acoustic parameters of speech. The available speech synthesis products, either need a fairly expensive host computer for phrase formation, or lack the ability to manipulate a full range of speech attributes. This study deals with the design and production of a 'stand alone' system that is programmed by the user at phoneme level via a specially designed keyboard. The visual display is sufficiently comprehensive as to provide information concerning the amplitude, duration and pitch of each phoneme that make up the spoken phrase' Phrases can easily be stored, recalled and edited. The editor allows the manipulation of the major speech parameters that give the production of a word its linguistic character. Other parameters that affect the production of phrases as a whole can also be defined. The system is easily portable but at present requires a mains supply for its operation. However, stored phrases are not lost when the power to the system is switched off.