A Comparison of Intelligibility Among Natural Speech and Seven Speech Synthesizers with Listeners from Three Age Groups

Pat Mirenda; David R. Beukelman

doi:10.1080/07434619012331275324

A Comparison of Intelligibility Among Natural Speech and Seven Speech Synthesizers with Listeners from Three Age Groups

Pat Mirenda, David R. Beukelman

Special Education and Communication Disorders

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

71 Scopus citations

Abstract

This investigation examined the intelligibility of natural speech and the synthetic speech produced by the Smoothtalker 3.0 male, Smoothtalker 2.0 male, Smoothtalker 2.0 female, RealVoice female, Attic R65B, Votrax SC02, and Lightwriter voices. All of these are commonly used in portable communication devices currently available on the commercial market. Both single word and sentence intelligibility across listeners from three age groups (7-8 year olds, 11-12 year olds, and adults) were assessed using tasks presented with no contextual cues. The results revealed Age Group X Voice interactions for both the word and sentence tasks, indicating different patterns of intelligibility across the age groups. The individual patterns, their implications, and future research directions arising from this study are described in detail.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	61-68
Number of pages	8
Journal	Augmentative and Alternative Communication
Volume	6
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/07434619012331275324
State	Published - Jan 1990

Keywords

VOCAs
communication devices
intelligibility
speech synthesis

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Rehabilitation
Speech and Hearing

Access to Document

10.1080/07434619012331275324

Cite this

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abstract = "This investigation examined the intelligibility of natural speech and the synthetic speech produced by the Smoothtalker 3.0 male, Smoothtalker 2.0 male, Smoothtalker 2.0 female, RealVoice female, Attic R65B, Votrax SC02, and Lightwriter voices. All of these are commonly used in portable communication devices currently available on the commercial market. Both single word and sentence intelligibility across listeners from three age groups (7-8 year olds, 11-12 year olds, and adults) were assessed using tasks presented with no contextual cues. The results revealed Age Group X Voice interactions for both the word and sentence tasks, indicating different patterns of intelligibility across the age groups. The individual patterns, their implications, and future research directions arising from this study are described in detail.",

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AB - This investigation examined the intelligibility of natural speech and the synthetic speech produced by the Smoothtalker 3.0 male, Smoothtalker 2.0 male, Smoothtalker 2.0 female, RealVoice female, Attic R65B, Votrax SC02, and Lightwriter voices. All of these are commonly used in portable communication devices currently available on the commercial market. Both single word and sentence intelligibility across listeners from three age groups (7-8 year olds, 11-12 year olds, and adults) were assessed using tasks presented with no contextual cues. The results revealed Age Group X Voice interactions for both the word and sentence tasks, indicating different patterns of intelligibility across the age groups. The individual patterns, their implications, and future research directions arising from this study are described in detail.

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A Comparison of Intelligibility Among Natural Speech and Seven Speech Synthesizers with Listeners from Three Age Groups

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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