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Do Text-to-Speech Synthesisers Pronounce Correctly? A Preliminary Study

Do Text-to-Speech Synthesisers Pronounce Correctly? A Preliminary Study
Do Text-to-Speech Synthesisers Pronounce Correctly? A Preliminary Study
This paper evaluates 4 commercial text-to-speech synthesisers used by dyslexic people to listen to and proof read text. Two evaluators listened to 704 common English words and determined whether the words were correctly pronounced or not. Where the evaluators agree on incorrect pronunciation, the proportion of correct pronunciations for the four synthesisers is in the range 98.9% to 99.6% of the 704 words. The evaluators also listened to the same synthesisers speaking phrases in which there were 44 pairs of homographs and determined whether each instance of the homograph was correctly spoken or not. The level of correctness for the four synthesisers ranged from 76.3% to 91.3%.
text to speech, synthesised speech, dyslexia
3-540-36020-4
874-881
Evans, D.G.
b58c99fc-4da0-4d7e-b140-f22307befe5e
Draffan, E.A.
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James, A.
861b6a52-1b90-42ca-8aa8-632ca2784079
Blenkhorn, P.
ee6a158a-6fa3-4946-978a-49d3cfae765f
Miesenberger, K.
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Klaus, J.
bb6eaaa3-9042-48a1-91ca-bb5d74084eb7
Zagler, W.L.
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Karshmer, A.I.
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Evans, D.G.
b58c99fc-4da0-4d7e-b140-f22307befe5e
Draffan, E.A.
021d4f4e-d269-4379-ba5a-7e2ffb73d2bf
James, A.
861b6a52-1b90-42ca-8aa8-632ca2784079
Blenkhorn, P.
ee6a158a-6fa3-4946-978a-49d3cfae765f
Miesenberger, K.
c4e1372b-cccd-4a26-b0c4-ddd87e2d7814
Klaus, J.
bb6eaaa3-9042-48a1-91ca-bb5d74084eb7
Zagler, W.L.
44919530-6b44-4cab-8b28-4eb09dd11926
Karshmer, A.I.
2a5b927d-2e72-4631-add2-48ef2401eb47

Evans, D.G., Draffan, E.A., James, A. and Blenkhorn, P. (2006) Do Text-to-Speech Synthesisers Pronounce Correctly? A Preliminary Study. Miesenberger, K., Klaus, J., Zagler, W.L. and Karshmer, A.I. (eds.) Computers Helping People with Special Needs, 10th International Conference, ICCHP2006, Linz, Austria. 11 - 13 Jul 2006. pp. 874-881 .

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Other)

Abstract

This paper evaluates 4 commercial text-to-speech synthesisers used by dyslexic people to listen to and proof read text. Two evaluators listened to 704 common English words and determined whether the words were correctly pronounced or not. Where the evaluators agree on incorrect pronunciation, the proportion of correct pronunciations for the four synthesisers is in the range 98.9% to 99.6% of the 704 words. The evaluators also listened to the same synthesisers speaking phrases in which there were 44 pairs of homographs and determined whether each instance of the homograph was correctly spoken or not. The level of correctness for the four synthesisers ranged from 76.3% to 91.3%.

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More information

Published date: 2006
Additional Information: Event Dates: July 11-13, 2006
Venue - Dates: Computers Helping People with Special Needs, 10th International Conference, ICCHP2006, Linz, Austria, 2006-07-11 - 2006-07-13
Keywords: text to speech, synthesised speech, dyslexia
Organisations: Electronics & Computer Science

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 264149
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/264149
ISBN: 3-540-36020-4
PURE UUID: 29439a08-2bd9-4e86-bd9e-8c8645f5c634
ORCID for E.A. Draffan: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1590-7556

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 08 Jun 2007
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:28

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Contributors

Author: D.G. Evans
Author: E.A. Draffan ORCID iD
Author: A. James
Author: P. Blenkhorn
Editor: K. Miesenberger
Editor: J. Klaus
Editor: W.L. Zagler
Editor: A.I. Karshmer

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