Abstract / Description of output
We describe a new application of deep-learning-based speech synthesis, namely multilingual speech synthesis for generating controllable foreign accent. Specifically, we train a DBLSTM-based acoustic model on non-accented multilingual speech recordings from a speaker native in several languages. By copying durations and pitch contours from a pre-recorded utterance of the desired prompt, natural prosody is achieved. We call this paradigm “cyborg speech” as it combines human and machine speech parameters. Segmentally accented speech is produced by interpolating specific quinphone linguistic features towards phones from the other language that represent non-native mispronunciations. Experiments on synthetic American-English-accented Japanese speech show that subjective synthesis quality matches monolingual synthesis, that natural pitch is maintained, and that naturalistic phone substitutions generate output that is perceived as having an American foreign accent, even though only non-accented training data was used.
Index Terms— Multilingual speech synthesis, phonetic manipulation, foreign accent, DNN
Index Terms— Multilingual speech synthesis, phonetic manipulation, foreign accent, DNN
Original language | English |
---|---|
Title of host publication | 2018 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP) |
Subtitle of host publication | Calgary, AB, Canada |
Place of Publication | Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
Publisher | Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers |
Pages | 4799-4803 |
Number of pages | 5 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 978-1-5386-4658-8 |
ISBN (Print) | 978-1-5386-4659-5 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 13 Sept 2018 |
Event | 2018 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing - Calgary, Canada Duration: 15 Apr 2018 → 20 Apr 2018 https://2018.ieeeicassp.org/ https://2018.ieeeicassp.org/default.asp |
Publication series
Name | |
---|---|
Publisher | IEEE |
ISSN (Electronic) | 2379-190X |
Conference
Conference | 2018 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing |
---|---|
Abbreviated title | ICASSP 2018 |
Country/Territory | Canada |
City | Calgary |
Period | 15/04/18 → 20/04/18 |
Internet address |