Synthesizing styled speech using the Klatt synthesizer

Abstract

This paper reports the implementation of high-quality synthesis of speech with varying speaking styles using the Klatt (1980) synthesizer. This research is based on previously-reported research that determined that the glottal waveforms of various styles of speech are significantly and identifiably different. Given the parameter tracks that control the synthesis of a normal version of an utterance, those parameters that control known acoustic correlates of speaking style are varied appropriately, relative to normal, to synthesize styled speech. In addition to varying the parameters that control the glottal waveshape, phoneme duration, phoneme intensity, and pitch contour are also varied appropriately. Listening tests that demonstrate that the synthetic speech is perceptibly and appropriately styled, and that the synthetic speech is natural-sounding, were performed, and the results are presented.