The Effects of Modulating Fundamental Frequency and Speech Rate on the Intelligibility, Communication Efficiency, and Perceived Naturalness of Synthetic Speech.

ABSTRACT: Purpose This study investigated how modulating fundamental frequency (f0) and speech rate differentially impact the naturalness, intelligibility, and communication efficiency of synthetic speech. Method Sixteen sentences of varying prosodic content were developed via a speech synthesizer. The f0 contour and speech rate of these sentences were altered to produce 4 stimulus sets: (a) normal rate with a fixed f0 level, (b) slow rate with a fixed f0 level, (c) normal rate with prosodically natural f0 variation, and (d) normal rate with prosodically unnatural f0 variation. Sixteen listeners provided orthographic transcriptions and judgments of naturalness for these stimuli. Results Sentences with f0 variation were rated as more natural than those with a fixed f0 level. Conversely, sentences wit

SUBMITTER: Vojtech JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6802860 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature