Project description
Language Technologies
SIMPLE4ALL develops a novel data-driven machine learning framework for speech synthesis that is robust and adaptable to new languages or new voices with only little effort.
The Simple4All project will create speech synthesis technology that learns from data with little or no expert supervision and continually improves itself, simply by being used.
In order to be accepted by users, the voice of a spoken interaction system must be natural and appropriate for the content. Using the same voice for every application is not acceptable to users.
But creating a speech synthesiser for a new language or domain is too expensive, because current technology relies on labelled data and human expertise. Systems comprise rules, statistical models, and data, requiring careful tuning by experienced engineers.
So, speech synthesis is available from a small number of vendors, offering generic products, not tailored to any application domain. Systems are not portable: creating a bespoke system for a specific application is hard, because it involves substantial effort to re-engineer every component of the system. Take-up by potential end users is limited; the range of feasible applications is narrow. Synthesis is often an off-the-shelf component, providing a highly inappropriate speaking style for applications such as dialogue, speech translation, games, personal assistants, communication aids, SMS-to-speech conversion, e-learning, toys and a multitude of other applications where a specific speaking style is important.
We will develop methods that enable the construction of systems from audio and text data. We will enable systems to learn after deployment. General purpose or specialised systems for any domain or language will become feasible. Our objectives are:
* Adaptability: create highly portable and adaptable speech synthesis technology suitable for any domain or language
* Learning from data and interaction: provide a complete, consistent framework in which every component of a speech synthesis system can be learned and improved
* Speaking style: enable the generation of natural, conversational, highly expressive synthetic speech which is appropriate to the wider context
* Demonstration and evaluation: automatic creation of a new speech synthesiser from scratch, and feedback-driven online learning, with perceptual evaluations.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- medical and health sciences health sciences infectious diseases RNA viruses HIV
- natural sciences mathematics applied mathematics statistics and probability
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP7-ICT-2011-7
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Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
EH8 9YL Edinburgh
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.