The 45th Language Lunch
Date: 2014-11-24
Location: Mini Forum 2, Informatics Forum
An investigation of the application of dynamic sinusoidal models to statistical parametric speech synthesis
Qiong,Hu; None; None
This paper applies a dynamic sinusoidal synthesis model to statistical parametric speech synthesis (HTS). For this, we utilise regularised cepstral coefficients to represent both the static amplitude and dynamic slope of selected sinusoids for statistical modelling. During synthesis, a dynamic sinusoidal model is used to reconstruct speech. A preference test is conducted to compare the selection of different sinusoids for cepstral representation. Our results show that when integrated with HTS, a relatively small number of sinusoids selected according to a perceptual criterion can produce quality comparable to using all harmonics. A Mean Opinion Score (MOS) test shows that our proposed statistical system is preferred to one using mel-cepstra from pitch synchronous spectral analysis.rn
Does language prediction entail pre-activation of phonological information?
Aine,Ito; None; None
When comprehending sentences, we can sometimes predict what is likely to be mentioned next. Such prediction is thought to entail pre-activation of features of predictable words, but it is unclear which features are pre-activated and which are not. A visual world eye-tracking investigated whether listeners pre-activate phonological information when listening to highly constraining sentences. Participants heard sentences like ?The man was gathering honey, when he was stung by a bee …?, and eye movements to pictures of the predictable word ?bee? , a phonological onset competitor ?bean?, and an unrelated object ?tiger? were compared. We predicted participants would be more likely to look at phonological competitors (bean) compared to unrelated pictures (tiger) if they pre-activated phonology of the predictable words. The results show a trend that partly fits the prediction, but some results are hard to explain. I hope to hear what you think may be happening.
Lexical Imitation Increases Subjective Rating of Social Interaction
Jaroslaw,Lelonkiewicz; None; None
People in conversation tend to align on the way they speak. Previous research suggests that the tendency to imitate each other?s behaviour plays a crucial role in establishing successful interactions and bonding with other people. There is now evidence that linguistic alignment results in increased group cohesiveness, relationship stability and more positive attitudes towards the conversational partner. In this study, we investigated whether interacting with an imitative partner leads to more positive ratings of the interaction and of the partner himself, as well as if it increases the tendency to cooperate. We found that people who were imitated rated their interaction as more smooth as compared to the group that was counter-imitated.
Attributing modelling errors in HMM synthesis by stepping gradually from natural to modelled speech
Tom,Merritt; None; None
HMM synthesis: we present a framework for separating each of the effects of modelling in turn to observe their independent effects.
