---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 12:07:02 -0500 (EST)
From: Will Smith <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Multiple recipients of NFBnet GUI-TALK Mailing List
    <[log in to unmask]>
To: Multiple recipients of NFBnet GUI-TALK Mailing List <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Another promising speech package




I enjoyed reading about the new speech created for the science
contest.  And I also noted the following short article in last Thursday's
N Y Times about a major speech company's latest efforts to make speech
better.

Will
[log in to unmask]

>From the N Y Times for 11/25/99:


     Could That Be a Human Voice Coming Out of the Computer?

     Text-to-speech technology has been around for nearly 20 years as a
     way for the blind to use computers. What has been elusive has been
     the ability to make the computer voice sound human rather than tinny
     and robotic.

     Lernout & Hauspie recently demonstrated its solution to that
     problem, RealSpeak, at a trade show in Manhattan. Lernout & Hauspie
     contends that the program is the first commercially available
     text-to-speech product that sounds human and will run on a standard
     PC or laptop.

     "There has been a lot of interest in using the product on PC's,"
     said Pam Ravesi, senior director of product development at Lernout &
     Hauspie, "and we've been working hard to downsize the program and
     compress it so that it can run on a standard Pentium machine." One
     major application for RealSpeak on PC's will probably be the
     translation of documents from one language to another.

     RealSpeak for the PC will be available before the end of the year.
     The first version will be in American English, followed by versions
     in German, French and Italian. The system is not perfect; there can
     still be slight variations in tone and inflection that remind you
     that the voice is generated by a computer.




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