Activity 3.5 - Human speech synthesis

Learning Aims:
  • Investigating which parameters and how influence the quality of artificial created human speech
  • Finding and formulating a research question concerning the human speech synthesis
Materials:
Software that is able to synthesis recorder sound waveforms (e.g. Java simulation Model of the Human Speech Production  http://www2.spsc.tugraz.at/add_material/courses/scl/vocoder/simulation.html)
    Suggestions for use:

    In this activity students investigate the human speech synthesis.
    This is an open inquiry in which students learn to find and formulate their own research question without strict guidance of their teacher. They learn to setup and successfully finish (possibly adjust along the way) their own practical experiment. With their conclusions, they practice critical thinking. Finally, they get a good picture of the content and (societal, industrial) applications of speech analysis.

    The research questions given below give an idea of the scope of possibilities in this subject, they are not meant to share with the students beforehand, as finding their own research question is an important element of this assignment.
    Possible questions:

    Below, a number of the research questions are listed:

    • How to make a computer or a robots talk?
    • What parameters influence the quality of synthetic speech system?
    • What are applications of the human speech synthesis technology?