24,223 research outputs found
Expediting TTS Synthesis with Adversarial Vocoding
Recent approaches in text-to-speech (TTS) synthesis employ neural network
strategies to vocode perceptually-informed spectrogram representations directly
into listenable waveforms. Such vocoding procedures create a computational
bottleneck in modern TTS pipelines. We propose an alternative approach which
utilizes generative adversarial networks (GANs) to learn mappings from
perceptually-informed spectrograms to simple magnitude spectrograms which can
be heuristically vocoded. Through a user study, we show that our approach
significantly outperforms na\"ive vocoding strategies while being hundreds of
times faster than neural network vocoders used in state-of-the-art TTS systems.
We also show that our method can be used to achieve state-of-the-art results in
unsupervised synthesis of individual words of speech.Comment: Published as a conference paper at INTERSPEECH 201
Spinal involvement in mucopolysaccharidosis IVA (Morquio-Brailsford or Morquio A syndrome): presentation, diagnosis and management.
Mucopolysaccharidosis IVA (MPS IVA), also known as Morquio-Brailsford or Morquio A syndrome, is a lysosomal storage disorder caused by a deficiency of the enzyme N-acetyl-galactosamine-6-sulphate sulphatase (GALNS). MPS IVA is multisystemic but manifests primarily as a progressive skeletal dysplasia. Spinal involvement is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in MPS IVA. Early diagnosis and timely treatment of problems involving the spine are critical in preventing or arresting neurological deterioration and loss of function. This review details the spinal manifestations of MPS IVA and describes the tools used to diagnose and monitor spinal involvement. The relative utility of radiography, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the evaluation of cervical spine instability, stenosis, and cord compression is discussed. Surgical interventions, anaesthetic considerations, and the use of neurophysiological monitoring during procedures performed under general anaesthesia are reviewed. Recommendations for regular radiological imaging and neurologic assessments are presented, and the need for a more standardized approach for evaluating and managing spinal involvement in MPS IVA is addressed
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