Project description Language TechnologiesSIMPLE4ALL 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. Show the project objective Hide the project objective 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 medical and health scienceshealth sciencesinfectious diseasesRNA virusesHIVnatural sciencesmathematicsapplied mathematicsstatistics and probability Programme(s) FP7-ICT - Specific Programme "Cooperation": Information and communication technologies Topic(s) ICT-2011.4.2 - Language Technologies Call for proposal FP7-ICT-2011-7 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme CP - Collaborative project (generic) Coordinator Contact Simon King Mr. Coordinator THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH Address Old college, south bridge EH8 9YL Edinburgh United Kingdom See on map Region Scotland Eastern Scotland Edinburgh Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Gordon Marshall (Mr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window EU contribution € 1 118 967,00 Participants (4) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all UNIVERSIDAD POLITECNICA DE MADRID Spain EU contribution € 432 007,00 Address Calle ramiro de maeztu 7 edificio rectorado 28040 Madrid See on map Region Comunidad de Madrid Comunidad de Madrid Madrid Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Gonzalo Leon (Prof.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window AALTO KORKEAKOULUSAATIO SR Finland EU contribution € 754 216,00 Address Otakaari 1 02150 Espoo See on map Region Manner-Suomi Helsinki-Uusimaa Helsinki-Uusimaa Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Mikko Kurimo (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO Finland EU contribution € 535 570,00 Address Yliopistonkatu 3 00014 Helsingin yliopisto See on map Region Manner-Suomi Helsinki-Uusimaa Helsinki-Uusimaa Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Tiia Saarinen (Ms.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window UNIVERSITATEA TEHNICA CLUJ-NAPOCA Romania EU contribution € 259 240,00 Address Str memorandumului 28 400114 Cluj napoca See on map Region Macroregiunea Unu Nord-Vest Cluj Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Mircea Giurgiu (Prof.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window
