Speech synthesis by linear interpolation of spectral parameters between dyad boundaries.

Abstract

A recent study [Olive and Spickenagel, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 59, 993-996 (1976)] has shown that area parameters derived from linear prediction analysis can be linearly interpolated between dyad boundaries with very little distortion in the resultant synthesized speech. The success of area parameter interpolation raises a question: can other acoustic parameters, such as the power spectrum of the speech waveform, be similarly interpolated? The spectrum is of special interest because speech can be synthesized in real time from spectral parameters on a programmable digital filter. To study this question a speech analysis-synthesis system using spectral parameters (samples of power spectra at different frequencies) was simulated. These parameters were determined from the speech signal at every dyad boundary, and interpolated for intermediate values. Dyad boundaries (representing the limits of transition regions between phonemes) were determined manually. Informal listening tests comparing synthetic speech with and without linear interpolation showed slight degradation in the interpolated speech. This degradation is significantly reduced by using an additional point within the dyad boundaries for interpolation.