The ESCA Workshop on Speech Synthesis September 25-28, 1990 Autrans, France

Synfrec: Speech Synthesis from Recognition Using Neural Networks

Frank Fallside

Cambridge University Engineering Department, Cambridge, UK

The paper describes a framework for a data-driven approach to the design of text-to-speech synthesis systems, termed speech synthesis from recognition or SYNFREC. This offers an alternative to the conventional rule-based approach where introspection is used both in setting up the rules and adjusting them. The method involves training the synthesiser by connecting its output to the input of a speech recogniser and using data provided by the various levels of the recogniser to train conversion and controller neural networks in the synthesiser system; a completely automatic and data-driven procedure. A very simple example of SYNFREC is given which implements vowel synthesis from symbols.

Full Paper

Bibliographic reference.  Fallside, Frank (1990): "Synfrec: speech synthesis from recognition using neural networks", In SSW1-1990, 237-240.