A unit selection text-to-speech synthesis system optimized for use with screen readers
Abstract
Currently, unit-selection text-to-speech technology is the common approach for near-natural speech synthesis systems. Such systems provide an important aid for blind or partially-sighted people, when combined with screen reading software. However, although the overall quality of the synthetic speech achieved by such systems can be quite high, this fact alone does not guarantee a high level of user satisfaction. Many issues have to be coped with in order to fulfill users' expectations when integrating such systems with screen reading tools aiming to assist blind users. This work describes the design and the implementation approaches for the efficient integration of this technology into screen reading environments. In particular, the issues of natural language processing, speed optimization, multilingual design and overall quality optimization are mainly addressed in this paper. In order to evaluate the resulting system, we carried out subjective assessment tests where expert users provided feedback about performance, quality and overall experience.
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Shopping preparation makes it easy for users to buy from a list.
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- Authors
- Chalamandaris, A., Karabetsos, S., Tsiakoulis, P., & Raptis, S.
- Affiliations
- Institute for Language and Speech Processing (GR)
- ORCID
- Karabetsos, Sotiris
- Venue
- IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics
- Published
- 2010-08
- Volume
- 56
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 1890-1897
- ISSN
- 0098-3063 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2130596350
- Cited by
- 26
- References
- 27
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 1.69
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics (publishedVersion)
- Cambridge University Engineering Department Publications Database (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Speech Recognition and Synthesis
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Speech and dialogue systems
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Signal Processing › Speech and Audio Processing
- Keywords
- screen readers, blind users, assistive technology, multilingual speech synthesis, user satisfaction
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