Objective
The VAESS project involves the development of a communication aid, improved quality and range of synthetic voices in four languages, and automatic speech labelling.
This project will develop a fully portable (hand-held) communicator with versatile, high quality speech output. By combining the latest advances in speech technology with state-of-the-art hardware we will extend the capabilities of current speech prostheses.
Currently the use of speech synthesis based communication aids is adversely affected by their inappropriate and artificial voices, and by limited ability to express emotion efficiently. Provision of a genuinely personalised voice would be a major advantage over current aids.
The methods developed will be tested by implementing male, female, and if time permits, children's voices. An attempt will be made to include a range of attitudes and emotions in the synthesised speech, and to provide efficient user control of these features.
Although the initial aim of the project is to produce a flexible speech communication aid for disabled people, the techniques developed would also have significant potential for exploitation in devices for non-disabled users. In particular, multi-media and home entertainment systems would benefit from more varied vocal styles, or even ones which could be modified by the users.
Other potential aids for disabled people would include 'talking newspapers' and electronic messaging systems (E-mail) with voices customisable by the user to increase intelligibility and reduce 'listening fatigue'.
Overall, the structure of the project will include the following steps:
1) Study and manual labelling of speech features for voices, attitudes and emotion.
2) Development of automatic or semi-automatic labelling of above and conversion into text-to-speech control parameters.
3) Hardware platform development for operation with and without DSP.
4) Development of the user interface.
5) Integration of the systems.
6) User evaluation of the systems and completion of the user interface.
The present Infovox synthesis technology, available for some ten European languages, will be augmented and generalised to enable use in a variety of present and future devices for elderly and disabled people.
All the deliverables from this project have the potential for commercial exploitation. The combination of the Infovox speech technology and the small portable PC based BiDesign platform will offer very strong competition to current European and non-European systems alike. The availability of such systems for two of the most widely used languages world-wide (English and Spanish) should make subsequent exploitation highly profitable.
One area in which it is aimed to establish measurable improvements over existing 'technologies' is in automatic speech labelling. The aim will be to at least halve the error rate in the automatic speech labelling process.
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: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project has not yet been classified with EuroSciVoc.
Be the first one to suggest relevant scientific fields and help us improve our classification service
You need to log in or register to use this function
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.
Data not available
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
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
S1 3JD Sheffield
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.