A Stochastic Model Of Intonation For French Text-To-Speech Synthesis

This paper presents a stochastic model of French intonation contours for use in text-to-speech synthesis. The model has two modules, a linguistic module that generates abstract prosodic labels from text, and a phonetic module that generates an F 0 curve from the abstract prosodic labels. This model differs from previous work in the abstract prosodic labels used, which can be automatically derived from the training corpus. This feature makes it possible to use large corpora or several corpora of different speech styles, in addition to making it easy to adapt to new languages. The present paper focuses on the linguistic module, which does not require full syntactic analysis of the text but simply relies on a part-of-speech tagging technique. The results were validated by means of a perception test which showed that listeners did not perceive a significant difference in quality between the sentences synthesized with the original F 0 curve (from a recording), and those synthesized with the..

Experimental Investigation of the Link between Eyebrow Movements and Turn-Taking

Following our work on the relationship between eyebrow movements and the fundamental frequency of the voice, this article presents the results of a study on the temporal location of rapid eyebrow movements with respect to speaking turns during dialogue. We used an automatic movement-acquisition system coupled with the simultaneous, synchronized recording of the vocal production. This procedure permits an objective analysis of eyebrow movements in relation to the vocal production. The data obtained show that the speakers ' rapid eyebrow movements were associated with turn-taking (occurring on or before speaking turn onset). These findings suggest that rapid eyebrow movements are mainly linked to motivation and the intention to communicate.

Effects of L-dopa treatment on the production and perception of intonation by parkinsionians

International audienceIn this study, we tested the perception and the production of intonation by parkinsonian patients with and without pharmacological treatment. Whereas no significant differences were found in the perception tasks, in production, pitch and tonal extent are significantly reduced by Parkinson’s disease and improved by L-dopa treatment. Parkinson's disease (PD) is commonly characterized by a reduction of motor activity and, at the speech production level, by a dysprosody. This trouble is traditionally interpreted as a merely neuro-motor disorder (Darkins et al., Brain Lang., 34, 315-327,1988) affecting the variations of fundamental frequency (F0). The F0 of PD patients is conventionally associated with a global increase in pitch and reduction in range likely due to a greater stiffness and a hypokinesia of the muscles controlling the tension of the vocal folds (Gentil et al., Rev. Neurol., 151, 105-112, 1995). The aim of this study is to precise the origin of the dysprosody of idiopathic PD patients by examining their production and perception of intonation. If this dysprosody is actually a neuro-motor disorder and not a more cognitive alteration of the intonative information processing (Scott et al., J. Neurol. Neurusrg. Psychiatry, 47, 840-843, 1984), we hypothesize that only the production and not the perception of intonation should be affected by PD and improved by L-dopa treatment. We studied a group of ten male PD patients without hearing disorders (mean age: 57.4, (8.9); mean disease duration: 10.9 (4.2); MMS > 25), tested in two clinical conditions: without and with L-dopa treatment. It was compared with a group of six control male subjects (mean age: 61, (6.7)). The perception test consisted in a discrimination task opposing intonative patterns (declarative vs. interrogative), and two tasks of detection and localization of emphatic accents. The production of intonation was evaluated by extracting the F0 from the acoustic signal over the entire reading of a text. We can highlight the tonal and dynamic properties of the frequency distribution by measuring the average pitch, tonal range, limits and dynamic variation of F0 of the global, low, central and high tonal registers for each group of subjects. The results of the perception test show no main statistically significant difference between the PD patients without treatment (OFF), with treatment (ON) and the control subjects (CS), even if the order in term of percentage of good answers for each task is always OFF < ON < CS. In accordance to previous studies, the tonal range and F0 dynamic variation of OFF PD patients are significantly reduced in comparison with normal speakers; but their lower average pitch (OFF < CS) contradicts the results of those studies. Beyond this main effect of PD on intonation, L-dopa treatment significantly increases all tonal factors for at least 50% of the PD patients: OFF < ON. Fairly no significant differences appear between the production of intonation of the PD patients with treatment and the control speakers. These results globally confirm the relative efficiency of dopaminergic treatments on dysprosody of PD patients and the hypothesis of a motor disorder of the parkinsonian dysprosody. Nevertheless, whereas the traditional studies show that the PD patients have a higher F0, our data show opposite results. To account for this phenomenon, we can hypothesize two explanations: i) a muscular stiffness or weakness preventing important and fast tensions of the vocal folds, ii) a reduced subglottal pressure responsible for the decreased intensity and in consequence for the lower pitch. (This work has been supported by a PHRC grant 1997) (Published in Parkinsonism and Related Disorders 5, S1: 121

Voix et maladie de Parkinson : Etude de la hauteur, de l'étendue et de la dynamique tonales

In this preliminary study, we tested the comprehension and the production of tonal events in a group of parkinsonian patients with and withoiut treatment in comparison with control subjects. Significant differences were found in the production task only: pitch, tonal range, and fundamental frequency variations in the parkinsonian group were reduced

The reduction of tonal range and of average pitch during speech production in off parkinsonians are restored by L-DOPA

International audienceThe dysprosody of Parkinsonian’s disease (PD) has been partly interpreted as a disorder affecting the variation of fundamental frequency (F0), the monotonous intonation of speech being the consequence of the tonal range reduction. To date, some controversial results have been reported concerning the average pitch which has been found either increased or comparable to that of control subjects (see Gentil et al., Rev. Neurol., 1995, 151: 105-112). However in most of these studies, the pharmacological status of the patients was not systematically controlled.The aim of this study was to analyse the F0 during speech production in a more exhaustive manner by sampling the signal at every 10 ms interval over the entire reading of a text. The tonal and dynamic properties of the frequency distribution were assessed by measuring the average voice pitch, the limits and the dynamics of tonal variations. 10 male PD patients were tested during "off " state and after L-DOPA treatment; they were compared with an age-matched group of 10 male control subjects.The results showed that comparing to normals the voice intonation of PD patients during "off" state is caracterised by a significant reduction of the tonal dynamics of F0 and by a significant lowering of the average and the maximum limit of voice pitch. In these patients, the L-DOPA treatment significantly increased the tonal dynamics, the average and the maximum limit of voice pitch, so that no significant difference was observed between treated patients and control subjects

A Stochastic Model Of Intonation For French Text-To-Speech Synthesis

This paper presents a stochastic model of French intonation contours for use in text-to-speech synthesis. The model has two modules, a linguistic module that generates abstract prosodic labels from text, and a phonetic module that generates an F 0 curve from the abstract prosodic labels. This model differs from previous work in the abstract prosodic labels used, which can be automatically derived from the training corpus. This feature makes it possible to use large corpora or several corpora of different speech styles, in addition to making it easy to adapt to new languages. The present paper focuses on the linguistic module, which does not require full syntactic analysis of the text but simply relies on a part-of-speech tagging technique. The results were validated by means of a perception test which showed that listeners did not perceive a significant difference in quality between the sentences synthesized with the original F 0 curve (from a recording), and those synthesized with the..

Étude expérimentale des pauses silencieuses chez les parkinsoniens en production orale spontanée et en lecture

International audienceThis work aims at studying the deficits of fluency of parkinsonian patients by using software allowing to detect automatically the present silent pauses in oral productions, and to put in relation these results with those obtained in various neuropsychological tests investigating the memory and the executive functions. The analysis of the pauses was realized on samples of spontaneous verbal production and reading of a text. The pause ratio corresponds, for a given minimal duration, to the quotient of the total duration of pauses reported to the total duration of productions. The comparison of the results of a group of 22 parkinsonians and of 22 control subjects shows that all the studied pause ratios are increased in the group of the patients. The study of the relations between the symptomatic characteristics of the disease and the pause ratios brings to light a connection between these variables. It's the same for the scores in the tests of Wisconsin and of fluency which are in connection with the pause ratios, the duration of which is superior to 350 ms, in certain conditions of production. So, next to the neuropsychological tests, the pause ratio can constitute a supplementary index of cognitive flexibility at these patients, whose relative simplicity of obtaining is compatible with repeated evaluations in longitudinal follow-ups.Ce travail a pour but d'étudier les déficits de fluence de patients parkinsoniens en utilisant un logiciel permettant de détecter automatiquement les pauses silencieuses présentes dans une production orale, et de mettre en relation ces résultats avec ceux obtenus à différents tests neuropsychologiques explorant la mémoire et les fonctions exécutives. L’analyse des pauses a été réalisée sur des échantillons de production verbale spontanée et de lecture d’un texte. Les rapports de pause correspondaient, pour une durée minimale donnée, au quotient du temps total de pause rapporté au temps total de production. La comparaison des résultats d’un groupe de 22 parkinsoniens et de 22 témoins ont montré que tous les rapports de pause étudiés étaient augmentés dans le groupe des patients. L’étude des relations entre les caractéristiques symptomatiques de la maladie et les rapports de pause met en évidence une liaison entre ces variables. Il en est de même pour les scores aux tests de Wisconsin et de fluence qui sont en relation avec les rapports de pause dont la durée est supérieure à 350 ms, dans certaines conditions de production. Ainsi, à côté des tests neuropsychologiques, les rapports de pause peuvent constituer un indicateur supplémentaire de flexibilité cognitive chez ces patients, dont la relative simplicité d’obtention est compatible avec des évaluations répétées de type suivi longitudinal

Analyse acoustique de la production vocale: contribution à l'évaluation de la dysprosodie parkinsonienne

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"Extraction séquentielle de molécules à haute valeur ajoutée à partir de pulpes de raisin en utilisant des fluides supercritiques avec l'eau comme co-solvant

Inspired by the concept of organic waste valorisation and heading towards a sustainable economy, a green chemistry extraction technique involving supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) along with water as a cosolvent was employed for the main winery by-product (grape pomaces). The objective was to selectively extract high-value added molecules, in particular phenolic compounds and polysaccharides. The experimental design involved applying three distinct temperature conditions (40, 60, and 80 °C), and a constant pressure of 400 bar. Phenolic compounds and high-molecular weight isolates (449-478 kDa) containing low methoxyl (% DE = 23) pectic substances were detected in the SC-CO 2 extracts accompanied by water as a co-solvent. The phenolic acids, namely, gallic (GA), protocatechuic (PCA), coumaric (CouA), and caftaric (CTA), and flavonoids, namely, procyanidin B1 (PRC B1), procyanidin B 2 (+) (PRC B 2), (+) catechin (CT), and (−) epicatechin (ECT) were found in all the extracts under the tested experimental conditions. The following study underscores the potential of the pressurized CO 2 /H 2 O medium as an effective solvent with minimal environmental impacts for the comprehensive valorisation of the main winery by-product, specifically targeting polysaccharides and phenolic compounds. Sustainability spotlight This study focuses on the extraction of valuable molecules such as polyphenols and bers from grape pomace, a by-product of wine production, using a green chemistry technique called supercritical uid extraction. These extracted molecules have potential applications as antioxidants in wine production. The research highlights the signicance of specic United Nations sustainable development goals, including affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), industry, innovation, and infrastructure (SDG 9), and climate action (SDG 13)