Copyright: © Copyright Eloquent Technology Inc. 1996, 1997   © Copyright 1997 IBM Corp


A Speaker is a collection of settings that control the behavior of the text-to-speech engine, including language and dialect, voice characteristics, speaking style, and user dictionaries.


This box displays the current speaker.  All of the properties of this speaker are contained in the tabs below.

To choose a new speaker from a set of stored speakers, select one from the drop-down list.


Use the controls on the Voice tab to change the sound of the current speaker's voice.


The current voice is a set of characteristics that affect how the current speaker sounds.  A voice is just one property of a speaker.


This is the label for the current voice.  To choose a different voice from a set of stored voices, use this drop-down list.

If you change any of the voice characteristics, such as Speed or Head size, the phrase "(modified)" will be appended to the voice label.


Click Describe As to view or modify the voice's age and gender classifiers.  Once a voice is created, it is classified as belonging to a particular age group and gender.


Click Store to save your changes to the current speaker's voice.  The Edit Stored Voices window will appear containing your settings.


Click Undo Changes to revert back to the settings that existed the last time you opened this window or selected Store or Apply.


Click Edit Stored Voices to access the library of stored voices.  Changes you make in the Edit Stored Voices dialog will not have any effect on the current speaker, unless you happen to be changing the voice of the current speaker.


Male and female vocal tracts have physical differences that affect the voice.  The vocal tract setting reflects some of these physical differences.  Other differences between male and female voices, namely pitch and head size, are controlled independently.


The Speed controls the overall speaking rate of the voice, measured in words per minute.


The Pitch controls the pitch baseline of the voice, measured in Hertz.  The actual pitch of the voice will rise above and fall below this baseline, unless you set pitch fluctuation to zero, creating a monotone voice.


The Volume controls the volume of the voice, measured in a linear range from zero (absolute silence) to 65535 (maximum volume).


The Head size affects the resonance characteristics of the voice, with larger heads producing the perception of a deeper voice.  The head size is independent of the pitch and vocal tract type (male or female).


The Pitch fluctuation controls how much the pitch varies from the pitch baseline that was set with the Pitch control.  A setting of zero creates a monotone.


The Roughness controls how rough or smooth the voice is.  A rough voice tends to be "creaky."


The Breathiness controls how breathy the voice is, where a setting of 100 creates a whisper.


The Features tab contains controls that you can use set the current speaker's language, dialect, and style of speaking.  This tab also contains tag processing and audio options.


Native language and dialect shows the native language and dialect of the current speaker.  To change the current speaker's language, choose one of the available languages from the drop-down list.


Interpret input text as displays the language of the text being read.  To change the text input language, choose one of the available languages from the drop-down list.  When this entry is different from the native language, the speech will have a foreign accent.


Style displays the current speaker's style of talking:  Normal, Whisper, or Monotone.  To change the current speaker's style, choose one from the drop-down list.


The Tag processing controls affect the interpretation of tags for the current speaker.

Tags are special codes which you can insert into the input text to control the way the ViaVoice Outloud engine behaves.  With these tags you can affect voice characteristics, word emphasis, intonation, and much more.  For example:

\Acc=3\ marks the words that follows with emphasis level three.

\Spd=220\ changes the voice speed to 220 words per minute.

\Phf=LargeFall\ creates "closure" intonation, as found at the end of a paragraph.

Some tags are part of the Microsoft Speech Application Programmer's Interface (SAPI).  ViaVoice Outloud Tags are ViaVoice extensions to the SAPI tags.


 ViaVoice Outloud tags, such as \Hsz=n\ for head size, are extensions to the Microsoft SAPI tags.


Click Interpret to cause ViaVoice Outloud tags to be recognized.  For example, if "Interpret" is selected, the ViaVoice Outloud tag \Acc=3\ will produce a level three emphasis on the word that follows the tag.


Click Treat as unknown tags to cause ViaVoice Outloud tags to be treated as "unknown."  How "unknown" tags are processed depends on the Unknown tags setting.


Unknown tags are tags that aren't supported by Microsoft SAPI or ViaVoice Outloud.  ViaVoice Outloud tags will also be treated as "unknown" if "Treat as unknown tags" is selected.


Click Ignore to cause all unknown tags to be ignored.  When ignored, tags are neither interpreted nor spoken.


Click Speak to cause all unknown tags to be spoken, that is, read out loud.  For example, the unknown tag \Gab=x\ would be heard as "backslash gee ey bee equals eks backslash."


Audio controls the sampling rate associated with the current speaker.


Click PC (11.025 kHz) to optimize the speaker's sampling rate for the computer.


Click Phone (8 kHz) to optimize the speaker's sampling rate for the telephone.


The Dictionaries tab contains controls used to edit user dictionaries or to associate dictionaries with the current speaker.


Dictionary Type lists the three dictionary types associated with every speaker, a Roots dictionary, a Special Words dictionary, and an Abbreviations dictionary.  To add or change a term in one of these dictionaries, choose one of the available dictionaries from the drop-down list and then click Edit.


Click Edit to add to or change a term in the dictionary identified in the Dictionary type box.


Use the Identifiers tab to view the identifiers for the current speaker.  The identifiers are used by software developers.


Description contains the SAPI Mode name for the current speaker.  To change this identifier, click Save Speaker As to create a new speaker.


GUID contains the identifier for the current speaker.


SAPI stands for Speech Application Programmer's Interface, an interface developed by the Microsoft Corporation.

Mode, which SAPI developers are familiar with, is synonymous with the term "speaker."


Click Save Speaker to save the speaker settings from all the tabs (Voice, Features, Dictionaries, Identifiers).  This button is only enabled when the selected speaker is a user-defined speaker.  To save the settings for a predefined speaker, you must use the Save Speaker As button.


Click Save Speaker As to save the current speaker settings under a new name.


Click Delete Speaker to eliminate the currently selected speaker.  This button is only enabled for user-defined speakers.  You cannot delete a predefined speaker.


Speaker is used to enter a name for your new speaker.


Description is used to enter a description for the new speaker you are creating.   For example:

Adult Female-Monotone
or

Whispering Child


GUID displays an ID number that the program generates to identify the new speaker.  This information is provided for software developers.


Click Show Test Panel to change the default test phrase or to compare the current speaker's voice with another voice of your choosing.

Click Hide Test Panel to hide the Test and Compare features.  The Test button will remain.


Click Test to hear how the current speaker sounds using the settings on the Voices and Features tabs.


Click Hide Test Panel to hide the Test and Compare features.  The Test button will remain.


Test phrase contains the phrase that will be spoken when you click the Test button.


Click Compare to hear how the comparison voice sounds.


Comparison voice displays the voice that will speak when you click the Compare button.  To choose a new comparison voice, select one from the drop-down list.


Click Help to get additional help for this window.


Click OK to close this window.


Click this button to close this window.


Click Apply to save the changes you made without closing the window.


Click Save to save the changes you made.  This button is enabled for user-defined voices only.


Click Save As to save this voice under a new name.


Click Undo Changes to revert back to the saved settings.  Undo Changes cannot undo a change once it has been saved.


Click Delete to eliminate the current user-defined voice from the list of stored voices.  You cannot delete a voice that is being used by one or more speakers.


Voice label provides a label for the collection of voice characteristics.  You must provide a label in order to save a voice.


Voice label is used to enter a label for your voice.  For example:

American English Breathy Grandma
or

American English Fast-talking Grandpa


Gender is used to describe the gender (male, female, neutral) of the voice.  This setting is only a description; it has no effect on the voice itself.


Click Male to describe the voice as male.


Click Female to describe the voice as female.


Click Neutral to describe the voice as neither distinctly male nor distinctly female.


Age is used to describe the age of the voice.  This setting is only a description; it has no effect on the voice itself.


Click on an age description for the voice.  This setting is only a description; it has no effect on the voice itself.


Click OK to close this window.


Click Cancel to close this window without saving the changes.


Click Help to get additional help for this window.