144 research outputs found
Analysis of unsupervised cross-lingual speaker adaptation for HMM-based speech synthesis using KLD-based transform mapping
Performance Evaluation of The Speaker-Independent HMM-based Speech Synthesis System "HTS-2007" for the Blizzard Challenge 2007
This paper describes a speaker-independent/adaptive HMM-based speech synthesis system developed for the Blizzard Challenge 2007. The new system, named HTS-2007, employs speaker adaptation (CSMAPLR+MAP), feature-space adaptive training, mixed-gender modeling, and full-covariance modeling using CSMAPLR transforms, in addition to several other techniques that have proved effective in our previous systems. Subjective evaluation results show that the new system generates significantly better quality synthetic speech than that of speaker-dependent approaches with realistic amounts of speech data, and that it bears comparison with speaker-dependent approaches even when large amounts of speech data are available
A Vector Quantized Variational Autoencoder (VQ-VAE) Autoregressive Neural F0 Model for Statistical Parametric Speech Synthesis
Unsupervised Cross-lingual Speaker Adaptation for HMM-based Speech Synthesis
In the EMIME project, we are developing a mobile device that performs personalized speech-to-speech translation such that a user's spoken input in one language is used to produce spoken output in another language, while continuing to sound like the user's voice. We integrate two techniques, unsupervised adaptation for HMM-based TTS using a word-based large-vocabulary continuous speech recognizer and cross-lingual speaker adaptation for HMM-based TTS, into a single architecture. Thus, an unsupervised cross-lingual speaker adaptation system can be developed. Listening tests show very promising results, demonstrating that adapted voices sound similar to the target speaker and that differences between supervised and unsupervised cross-lingual speaker adaptation are small
The HTS-2008 System: Yet Another Evaluation of the Speaker-Adaptive HMM-based Speech Synthesis System in The 2008 Blizzard Challenge
For the 2008 Blizzard Challenge, we used the same speaker-adaptive approach to HMM-based speech synthesis that was used in the HTS entry to the 2007 challenge, but an improved system was built in which the multi-accented English average voice model was trained on 41 hours of speech data with high-order mel-cepstral analysis using an efficient forward-backward algorithm for the HSMM. The listener evaluation scores for the synthetic speech generated from this system was much better than in 2007: the system had the equal best naturalness on the small English data set and the equal best intelligibility on both small and large data sets for English, and had the equal best naturalness on the Mandarin data. In fact, the English system was found to be as intelligible as human speech
MR-conditional Robotic Actuation of Concentric Tendon-Driven Cardiac Catheters
Atrial fibrillation (AF) and ventricular tachycardia (VT) are two of the
sustained arrhythmias that significantly affect the quality of life of
patients. Treatment of AF and VT often requires radiofrequency ablation of
heart tissues using an ablation catheter. Recent progress in ablation therapy
leverages magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for higher contrast visual feedback,
and additionally utilizes a guiding sheath with an actively deflectable tip to
improve the dexterity of the catheter inside the heart. This paper presents the
design and validation of an MR-conditional robotic module for automated
actuation of both the ablation catheter and the sheath. The robotic module
features a compact design for improved accessibility inside the MR scanner bore
and is driven by piezoelectric motors to ensure MR-conditionality. The combined
catheter-sheath mechanism is essentially a concentric tendon-driven continuum
robot and its kinematics is modeled by the constant curvature model for
closed-loop position control. Path following experiments were conducted to
validate the actuation module and control scheme, achieving < 2 mm average tip
position error.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, submitted to IEEE ISMR 202
Bone mineral density in residents of care facilities for the aged and effect of pharmacotherapy
Speaker-Independent HMM-based Speech Synthesis System
This paper describes an HMM-based speech synthesis system
developed by the HTS working group for the Blizzard Challenge
2007. To further explore the potential of HMM-based
speech synthesis, we incorporate new features in our conventional
system which underpin a speaker-independent approach:
speaker adaptation techniques; adaptive training for HSMMs;
and full covariance modeling using the CSMAPLR transforms
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