Foreign accent conversion in computer assisted pronunciation training.

ABSTRACT: Learners of a second language practice their pronunciation by listening to and imitating utterances from native speakers. Recent research has shown that choosing a well-matched native speaker to imitate can have a positive impact on pronunciation training. Here we propose a voice-transformation technique that can be used to generate the (arguably) ideal voice to imitate: the own voice of the learner with a native accent. Our work extends previous research, which suggests that providing learners with prosodically corrected versions of their utterances can be a suitable form of feedback in computer assisted pronunciation training. Our technique provides a conversion of both prosodic and segmental characteristics by means of a pitch-synchronous decomposition of speech into glottal excitation

SUBMITTER: Felps D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2993100 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature