Canned speech

Such systems initially compare unfavorably with TTS in that they require a new set of utterances for each application, compared to a TTS system which would just be deployed once and can be used for any application. Furthermore, the canned speech approach can only say a very fixed number of filings, which can limit the scope of the application (for instance it would be very difficult to speak a user s name). Finally, if the application has to be updated in some way and new utterances added, this requires additional recordings which may incur considerable difficulty if say the original speaker is unobtainable. Despite these apparent disadvantages, caimed speech is nearly always deployed in commercial systems in place of TTS. Part of the reason behind this is technical, part cultural. Technically canned speech is perfectly natural and as users show extreme sensitivity to the naturalness of all speech output this factor can outweigh all others. In recent years, TTS systems have improved considerably in terms of naturalness, and so it is more common to find TTS systems in these applications. There are other non-technical reasons caimed speech is seen as a simple, low-tech solution whereas TTS is seen as complex and hi-tech. The upshot is that most system designers feel that they know where they stand with caimed speech, whereas TTS requires some leap of faith. There may be purely business reasons also while the canned speech approach incurs up front cost in an application, it is a one off cost, and does not increase with the size of deployment. TTS systems by contrast can often be sold like normal soft-... 

The main technical drawback of canned speech is that it can only say a fixed number of things. This can be a severe drawback in even simple applications where for example a telephone number is to be read in an answer machine application. A common solution is to attempt to sphce together recordings of individual words or phrases so as to create new utterances. The result of such operations varies greatly from acceptable (but clearly spliced) to comically awfiil. That said, even the resultant poor naturalness of this is often chosen over TTS in commercial situations. 

Faced with the choice between fully natural but inflexible canned speech, and somewhat unnatural but fully flexible TTS, some researchers have proposed limited domain synthesis systems which aim to combine the benefits of both. There are as many different approaches to this. Some systems attempt to mix canned speech and TTS. Black and Lenzo [52] proposed a system for cleverly joining words and carrier phrases, for use in applications such as a talking clock. The phrase splicing approach of Donovan et al [139] used recorded carrier phrases and cleverly spliced with unit selection synthesis from recordings of the same speaker. A somewhat different approach is to use what is basically the same system as for normal unit selection synthesis but to load the database of recordings with words and phrases fi-om the required domain [440], [436], [394], [9]. 

Toward the end of the dinner laureates representing each prize were called npon for a brief (not more than 3 minutes) remark. I generally don t write down any of my remarks or speeches, bnt this was a special occasion and I was requested to provide a text. Thus I can reprint here what I said ... 

Approximately 500,000 Americans suffer strokes each year. Many of the 80% that survive suffer paralysis and impaired vision and speech, often needing rehabiUtation and/or long-term care. Hence, whereas treatment using rt-PA is likely to be expensive (costs are 2200/dose for treating heat attacks), the benefits of rt-PA could outweigh costs. In the case of heart attacks, the 10 times less expensive microbiaHy derived streptokinase can be used. There is currentiy no competing pharmaceutical for treatment of strokes (18,19). Consequentiy, the cost of manufacture of rt-PA may not be as dominant an issue as would be the case of other types of bioproducts. 

Multireactor Knockout Drum/Catch Tank This interesting system, depic ted in Fig. 26-22, is sometimes used as the containment vessel for a series of closely spaced reac tors (Speechly et al., Trinci-ples of Total Containment System Design, presented at I. Chem. E Noith West Branch Meeting, 1979). By locating the drum as shown in Fig. 26-22, minimum-length vent lines can be routed direc tly to the vessel without any bends. 

The actual noise levels produced by HVAC systems can var) considerably, and it is not possible to generalize the problems that may be encountered. From a safety point of view, it is advisable to start hearing conservation programs for workers. Permanent hearing damage will result when the noise levels exceed 80 dB(A) for a given time period. Whenever possible, it is desirable to control noise pressure levels to meet the requirements of speech communication in this case noise should not exceed 65-70 dB(A). 

Prepare a briefing document, drawn from the PSM proposal and executive summary, that executives, colleagues, and staff can use in responding to media queries or in crafting speeches and other presentations. 

Provide support materials to key people. Prepare a briefing document, drawn from the integration proposal and executive summary, that executives, colleagues, and staff can use in responding to internal or external enquiries or in crafting speeches and other presentations. This document is often framed in terms of providing answers to questions that employees or other interested parties may ask. Some sample questions and answers are provided at the end of this chapter. 

Finally, it is interesting to compare NETtalk s skills with the skills of commercially available text-to-speech systems such as DECtalk. Unlike NETtalk, DECtalk uses both extensive (and labor intensive) look up tables that store the phonetic transcription of common and not so common words and sets of phonological rules for words not in its main look up table. While DECtalk performs undeniably better than NETtalk, the comparison is not really a fair one. DECtalk is a combined r sult of many years worth of careful linguistic analysis and codification. NETtalk, on the other hand, is a self-contained. system that (in the span of a few hours worth of DEC VAX CPU time) can learn enough on its own from a set of simple examples to be both intelligible and accurate. 

Complex partial seizures manifest themselves as bizarre behaviours which are also known as psychomotor or temporal lobe epilepsy, since a lesion (focus) is often found in that brain area. Repetitive and apparently purposeful movements vary from simple hand clenching or rubbing to more bizarre hand movements and walking. These can last a few minutes, often disrupt other ongoing activity or speech and the patient has no subsequent memory of them. Complex seizures may develop from simple ones. 

The first three characteristics are considered to be the positive symptoms of the disorder. The fourth are described as negative symptoms although they can be divided into true negative symptoms, i.e. diminished emotions and speech and reactive ones, i.e. social apathy and withdrawal brought on by the positive symptoms. Schizophrenics do not have a split personality. Normally their reaction to the positive symptoms is to withdraw quietly but occasionally they will react violently to the voices they hear and shout at them. 

Sensorium. Patients with PCP intoxication can have a clear sensorium, or they can be disoriented, confused, stuporous, lethargic, or comatose. Signs of cerebral stimulation, such as pressured speech, verbigerations, and echolalia, may also occur. Frank psychotic symptoms, including hallucinations, delusions, and paranoid ideation, are not unusual. 

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