Kindle Speech

WillieMcIntyre · 03-14-2011, 07:42 PM

How long before they can develop software so that it doesn't sound like Stephen Hawkings is reading?

susan_cassidy · 03-14-2011, 07:51 PM

Quite a while. Unfortunately, English is probably the worst language to try and interpret via software. Very irregular spelling, etc. Pronunciation has to be context-sensitive to sound like a human, which is quite difficult, given the range of types of books (with content-specific terminology) in the world.

snipenekkid · 03-14-2011, 07:59 PM

there are already a fair number of really good computer generated voices out there. Problem is they cost like a zillion bucks to license and if I remember correctly, the hardware overhead is also fairly high.

So, as Susan mentions it's going to be a long while. The "sound ex" algorithm will be very complicated. Add to this the dictionaries need to be HUGE with a proper phonetic breakdown for each word. It can take years and years to build the lexicon/dictionary alone. But luckily both already exist.

I once wrote a neat "sound ex" for a LIMS I wrote (laboratory info management system) for an environmental lab. It was soooo "fun" dealing with all those chemical names. And this did not involve voices, just checking spelling of compound names. Still have the code somewhere on a floppy, I should try and find it to see if the disk is still good. BTW, it actually was a lot of fun and didn't take that long to complete, less than a month all totaled back in about 1993 using, of all languages, dBase III compatible code in the original Foxpro from Foxsoft.

Giggleton · 03-14-2011, 11:26 PM

Quite awhile?? Does that mean when we reach the Singularity?

This computer sounds allright,

http://www.loquendo.com/en/demo-center/interactive-tts-demo/

Can we get more links please??

snipenekkid · 03-14-2011, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Giggleton

Quite awhile?? Does that mean when we reach the Singularity?

hahaha, thanks for that one...butthead!!

You win this round!

Barty · 03-15-2011, 12:51 AM

Watson sounded pretty good. Of course he would drain the kindle's battery right after "what."

03-14-2011, 07:42 PM	#1
WillieMcIntyre Enthusiast Posts: 28 Karma: 30000 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Scotland Device: Kindle	Kindle Speech How long before they can develop software so that it doesn't sound like Stephen Hawkings is reading?

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03-14-2011, 07:51 PM	#2
susan_cassidy Wizard Posts: 2,251 Karma: 3720310 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: USA Device: Kindle, iPad (not used much for reading)	Quite a while. Unfortunately, English is probably the worst language to try and interpret via software. Very irregular spelling, etc. Pronunciation has to be context-sensitive to sound like a human, which is quite difficult, given the range of types of books (with content-specific terminology) in the world.

03-14-2011, 07:59 PM	#3
snipenekkid Banned Posts: 760 Karma: 51034 Join Date: Feb 2009	there are already a fair number of really good computer generated voices out there. Problem is they cost like a zillion bucks to license and if I remember correctly, the hardware overhead is also fairly high. So, as Susan mentions it's going to be a long while. The "sound ex" algorithm will be very complicated. Add to this the dictionaries need to be HUGE with a proper phonetic breakdown for each word. It can take years and years to build the lexicon/dictionary alone. But luckily both already exist. I once wrote a neat "sound ex" for a LIMS I wrote (laboratory info management system) for an environmental lab. It was soooo "fun" dealing with all those chemical names. And this did not involve voices, just checking spelling of compound names. Still have the code somewhere on a floppy, I should try and find it to see if the disk is still good. BTW, it actually was a lot of fun and didn't take that long to complete, less than a month all totaled back in about 1993 using, of all languages, dBase III compatible code in the original Foxpro from Foxsoft.

03-14-2011, 11:26 PM	#4
Giggleton Banned Posts: 1,687 Karma: 4368191 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Oregon Device: Kindle3	Quite awhile?? Does that mean when we reach the Singularity? This computer sounds allright, http://www.loquendo.com/en/demo-center/interactive-tts-demo/ Can we get more links please??

03-15-2011, 12:51 AM	#6
Barty doofus Posts: 2,517 Karma: 13036221 Join Date: Sep 2010 Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kindle Voyage	Watson sounded pretty good. Of course he would drain the kindle's battery right after "what."