Segmental Intelligibility and Speech Interference Thresholds of High-Quality Synthetic Speech in Presence of Noise

1993 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 790-798 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajinder K. Koul ◽  
George D. Allen
Keyword(s):  
Natural Speech ◽  
Synthetic Speech ◽  
Technological Advancement ◽  
Signal To Noise ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Interference Test ◽  
Female Voices ◽  
Speech Interference

Technological advancement in the area of synthetic speech has made it increasingly difficult to distinguish quality of speech based solely on intelligibility scores obtained in benign laboratory conditions. Intelligibility scores obtained for natural speech and a high-quality text-to-speech system (DECtalk) are not substantially different. This study examined the perceived intelligibility and speech interference thresholds of DECtalk male and female voices and compared them with data obtained for natural speech. Results revealed that decreasing signal-to-noise levels had more deleterious effects on the perception of DECtalk male and female voices than on the perception of natural speech. Analysis of pattern of phoneme errors revealed that similar general patterns of errors tended to occur in DECtalk and in natural speech. The speech interference test did not demonstrate any significant difference between the DECtalk male and female voices. These results were supported by the absence of a significant difference between DECtalk male and female voices during intelligibility testing at different signal-to-noise ratios.

Where is Female Synthetic Speech?

1999 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Henton
Keyword(s):  
Voice Quality ◽  
Present Situation ◽  
Female Voice ◽  
Synthetic Speech ◽  
Text To Speech ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Speech Technology ◽  
Voice Synthesis ◽  
Technology Industry ◽  
Female Voices

There is widespread, immediate and enduring demand for high quality, natural, intelligible synthetic female voices in the expanding speech technology industry. Yet synthetic female voices are scarce, both in parametric text-to-speech (TTS) systems and in concatenative ones. Current female synthetic speech largely lacks naturalness, pleasantness and tolerability. Some acoustic specifications of female voices that are relevant to synthesis are discussed in detail. Recent research pertaining to female voice quality is reported and a ranking of these various considerations is proposed. This paper reviews the present situation and considers why there is a paucity of female voice synthesis.

Aphasic Subjects' Comprehension of Synthetic and Natural Speech

1990 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda M. Huntress ◽  
Linda Lee ◽  
Nancy A. Creaghead ◽  
Daniel D. Wheeler ◽  
Kathleen M. Braverman
Keyword(s):  
Personal Computer ◽  
Natural Speech ◽  
Synthetic Speech ◽  
Speech Comprehension ◽  
Auditory Comprehension ◽  
Speech Synthesizer ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Picture Identification ◽  
Better Than

This study investigated the ability of aphasic patients with mild auditory comprehension problems to respond to synthetic speech produced by an inexpensive speech synthesizer attached to a personal computer. Subjects were given four practice sessions with synthetic speech; testing of synthetic speech comprehension was performed during Sessions 1 and 4. During testing, aphasic subjects' comprehension of synthetic speech was compared with their comprehension of natural speech on four tasks: (a) picture identification, (b) following commands, (c) yes/no questions, and (d) paragraph comprehension with yes/no questions. Aphasic subjects comprehended natural speech better than synthetic speech in Session 1 but not in Session 4. Their synthetic speech scores improved between Sessions 1 and 4. There was also a significant difference among scores on the four tasks for both sessions. The means for picture identification were highest, followed by yes/no questions, commands, and finally paragraph comprehension for both sessions. Although performance by some subjects on some tasks was accurate enough to indicate that an inexpensive speech synthesizer could be a useful tool for working with mild aphasic patients, considerable caution in selecting both tasks and patients is warranted.

scholarly journals Focusing on the Place Model for Optometrists

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 193
Author(s):  
Julie F McClelland ◽  
Karen Breslin
Keyword(s):  
Career Pathways ◽  
Teaching Profession ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Professional Career ◽  
The Public ◽  
Career Trajectories ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Development Methods

Background: The Place Model was developed in order to conceptualize the various roles and career pathways of the teaching profession. It can be used to evaluate long-term professional career trajectories and to encourage the student-teacher to visualize their future personal and professional development. Methods: In the present study, the Place Model has been applied to the Optometric profession. The four categories of the place model have been discussed in terms of Optometry and a survey of undergraduate Optometrists highlights the perception of the model amongst pre-qualified professionals. Results: The majority of participants placed qualified optometrists in the Professional area on the Place Model (87%, n = 88) with the remainder placing qualified optometrists in the De-Professional area on the Place Model (13%, n = 13). There was no statistically significant difference between responses from male and female participants (t-test, p = 0.38). There was also no statistically significant difference between responses from participants in year 1, 2 or 3 of their undergraduate program (one-way analysis of variance [ANOVA], p = 0.10). Conclusion: The Place Model may be an opportunity to discuss with Optometry students their future career pathways and to ensure that we maintain a highly skilled and caring profession that provides high quality eyecare for the public.

scholarly journals PROSODY OF GENDER ON THE BRITISH ISLANDS

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (10(78)) ◽  
pp. 137-141
Author(s):  
Oksana Prysiazhnyuk
Keyword(s):  
Social Factors ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Multicomponent System ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Female Voices ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Regional Types

Gender research is a new area of humanities that is now in the making. It focuses on the cultural and social factors that determine society’s attitudes towards men and women, the behavior of individuals in connection with belonging to gender, stereotypical perceptions of male and female qualities – all that transforms gender issues from the field of biology into the field of social life and culture. The article deals with the difference between male and female voices within frequency, dynamic and temporal characteristics of various regional types of British pronunciation. Intonation appears as a multicomponent system formation in which social and regional peculiarities within individual groups of speakers are refracted in a complex, indirect way, being in constant dialectic unity. The author suggests that frequency of the main tone is one of the main factors which stipulates male and female voices’ specifics. The conducted experiment convinced us that for an objective reflection of the contemporary variation of English intonation on the British Isles, it is necessary to take into account the factors of social and situational variability of speech. A significant difference between male and female voices is observed in the frequency of the descending tones. Both men and women tend to increase descending tones, but women are ahead of men in this direction, increasing the frequency by 22% vs 13%. Accordingly, the frequency of ascending tones decreases, and this trend is largely manifested by women. Consequently, women are particularly sensitive to current trends in the use of tones and become agents of innovation.

Male and Female Voices: Selective Exposure to Sexism Reduction Efforts

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah J. Smith ◽  
Jessica L. McManus ◽  
Danielle C. Zanotti ◽  
Donald A. Saucier
Keyword(s):  
Selective Exposure ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Female Voices

SENSITIVITAS ETIS MAHASISWA ATAS PENGGELAPAN PAJAK

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-195
Author(s):  
Nurma Risa
Keyword(s):  
Tax Evasion ◽  
Female Students ◽  
T Test ◽  
Study Program ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Political Sciences ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Subject ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Management Students

This study aims to prove that there is a difference of perception about ethics on tax evasion in UNISMA Bekasi students, based on selected study program and gender. The sample of this research is the students who have fulfilled the subject of taxation, at the Faculty of Economics (FE) and Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP). Using independent t-test, the results showed that there was no significant difference of perception about tax evasion ethics between FE and FISIP students. But significant differences the perception of tax evasion ethics occur between accounting and management students at FE. Significant differences also did not occur between male and female students

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF ADOLESCENTS WITH REFERENCE TO GENDER

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (24) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nisha Chandel ◽  
Seema Chopra
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Emotional Intelligence ◽  
Female Adolescents ◽  
Intelligence Scale ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Male Adolescents ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Understanding Emotions ◽  
School Records ◽  
Better Than

The present study was undertaken to find out emotional intelligence and academic achievement of male and female adolescents. The sample consists of 82 students( 41 male and 41 female adolescents) from different schools in Hamirpur district of Himachal Pradesh. Emotional intelligence was assessed with the help of Emotional Intelligence Scale developed by Singh and Narain (2014) and academic achievement score were taken from the school records. The results revealed that there exists a significant difference in emotional intelligence of male and female adolescents. It was found that there existed significant difference in academic achievement of female adolescents and male adolescents. The mean emotional intelligence of female adolescents was better than of male adolescents. On the dimensions of emotional intelligence, it was found that there was no significant difference between male and female adolescents on understanding emotions, empathy and handling relations dimensions of emotional intelligence; while it was reported that there was significant difference between male and female adolescents on understanding motivation dimension of emotional intelligence On the other hand, it was found that there existed significant difference in academic achievement of female adolescents and male adolescents.

The Wisdom of Desire in the Song of Songs

2018 ◽  
pp. 260-275
Author(s):  
Carey Walsh
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Arousal ◽  
Song Of Songs ◽  
Aesthetic Appreciation ◽  
Embodied Experience ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Female Voices ◽  
Human Desire

The Song of Songs offers a unique discussion of the experience of sexual longing through dialogues of an unnamed woman and man. The chapter focuses on the use of dialogic structure to frame three prominent discourses of desire: aesthetic appreciation, affective description, and subjective expressions of sexual arousal. These varied discourses affirm a polyphonic view on human desire from the embodied experience of the male and female voices of the Song. With its use of dialogue, the Song is characteristic of the Writings in offering a diversity of perspectives. The chapter further probes the canonical contribution of the Song’s testimony to human longing, sex, joy, and biodiversity.

scholarly journals Impact of Violent Experiences and Social Support on R-NSSI Behavior among Middle School Students in China

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 3347
Author(s):  
Kun Liu ◽  
Xueyan Yang ◽  
Moye Xin
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Influencing Factors ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Female Students ◽  
Male Students ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Self Injury ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
Nonsuicidal Self Injury

Repetitive nonsuicidal self-injury (R-NSSI) is an extreme manifestation of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) behavior that causes bodily harm and emotional and personality disorders. It is a growing concern, especially among adolescents; therefore, this study aims to provide empirical support for effective interventions on R-NSSI behavior among adolescents in China. We used data of about 1180 students from a survey conducted in seven middle schools in Xi’an, China, and applied multiple logistic regression to analyze NSSI and R-NSSI among male and female students, including their influencing factors. We found no significant difference between male and female students’ R-NSSI; however, regarding influencing factors, male students had more violent experiences and less social support than female students. Parental and familial factors played the most prominent role in social support. Social support was found to be a main-effect mechanism in the effect of violent experiences on R-NSSI among male students, whereas the mechanism had both a main effect and a certain buffer effect among female students. R-NSSI was found to be more prevalent among younger children, children with siblings, and those with romantic relationship experiences. We also found that healthy adolescent development involves the participation of families and schools. Health education should be conducted according to the students’ sex and characteristics.

scholarly journals Assessing Stability of Crutch Users by Non-Contact Methods

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 3001
Author(s):  
Achilles Vairis ◽  
Suzana Brown ◽  
Maurice Bess ◽  
Kyu Hyun Bae ◽  
Jonathan Boyack
Keyword(s):  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Time Derivative ◽  
Assistive Devices ◽  
Signal To Noise ◽  
Physically Disabled ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Novice Users ◽  
Noise Ratio ◽  
Physically Disabled People

Enhancing gait stability in people who use crutches is paramount for their health. With the significant difference in gait compared to users who do not require an assistive device, the use of standard gait analysis tools to measure movement for temporary crush users and physically disabled people proves to be more challenging. In this paper, a novel approach based on video analysis is proposed as non-contact low-cost solution to the more expensive alternative with the data collected from processed videos, two values are calculated: the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) of acceleration, and the Signal to Noise Ratio of the jerk (time derivative of acceleration), to assess the user’s stability while they walk with crutches. The adopted methodology has been tested on a total of 10 participants. Five are temporary users of assistive devices with one being a long-term user and the other four novice users, and five are disabled participants who use those assistive devices permanently. Preliminary results show differences between novice users, long-term users, and physically disabled users. The approach is promising and could improve the assessment of crutch user stability, allowing for the correction of gait for individuals while using an inexpensive non-contact setup and preventing unnecessary falls.

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