The role of voice quality in the perception of prominence in synthetic speech
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Conference PaperDate:
2019Access:
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Murphy, A., Yanushevskaya, I., Ní Chasaide, A., & Gobl, C., The role of voice quality in the perception of prominence in synthetic speech, Interspeech 2019, Graz, Austria, Sept 15-19, 2019, 2543 - 2547Download Item:
Murphy et al 2019_Rd_Interspeech 2019_fin_revised.pdf (Published (author's copy) - Peer Reviewed) 518.4Kb
Abstract:
This paper explores how prominence can be modelled in speech synthesis through voice quality variation. Synthetic
utterances varying in voice quality (breathy, modal, tense) were generated using a glottal source model where the global
waveshape parameter Rd was the main control parameter and f0 was not varied. A manipulation task perception experiment was conducted to establish perceptually salient Rd values in the signalling of focus. The participants were presented with mini-dialogues designed to elicit narrow focus (with different focal syllable locations) and were asked to manipulate an unknown parameter in the synthetic utterances to produce a natural response. The results showed that participants manipulated Rd not only in focal syllables, but also in the pre- and postfocal material. The direction of Rd manipulation in the focal syllables was the same across the three voice qualities – towards decreased Rd values (tenser phonation). The magnitude of the decrease in Rd was significantly less for tense voice compared to breathy and modal voice, but did not vary with the location of the focal syllable in the utterance. Overall, the results suggest that Rd is effective as a control parameter for modelling prominence in synthetic speech.
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http://people.tcd.ie/yanushihttp://people.tcd.ie/cegobl
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http://people.tcd.ie/amurph48
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Interspeech 2019Type of material:
Conference PaperAvailability:
Full text availableKeywords:
Global waveshape parameter Rd, Speech synthesis, Voice quality, Perception test, Prominence, Manipulation taskDOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.21437/Interspeech.2019-2761Licences: