Announcing the Final Examination of Mr. Gustavo Alverio for the degree of Master of Science

Discussion on Effective Restoration of Oral Speech Using Voice Conversion Techniques Based on Gaussian Mixture Modeling

Mr. Gustavo Alverio
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
1:00PM - HCEC 450

Abstract


One of the most effective ways to communicate is through the use of speech. The usage of text-to-speech synthesis has been a popular resolution of restoring the capability to use oral speech. Text to speech synthesizers convert text as speech. Although text to speech systems are useful, they only allow for few default voice selections that do not represent that of the user. In order to achieve total restoration, voice conversion must be introduced.

Voice conversion is a method that adjusts a source voice to sound like a target voice. Voice conversion consists of a training and converting process. The training process is conducted by composing a speech corpus to be spoken by both source and target voice. The speech corpus should encompass a variety of speech sounds. Once training is finished, the conversion function is employed to transform the source voice into the target voice. Effectively, voice conversion allows for a speaker to sound like any other person. Therefore, voice conversion can be applied to alter the voice output of a text to speech system to produce the target voice.

The thesis investigates how one approach, specifically the usage of voice conversion using Gaussian mixture modeling, can be applied to alter the voice output of a text to speech synthesizer. Researchers found that acceptable results can be obtained from using these methods. Although voice conversion and text to speech synthesis are effective in restoring voice, a sample of the speaker before voice loss must be used during the training process. Therefore it is vital that voice samples are made to combat voice loss.

Outline of Studies

  • Major: Electrical Engineering
  • Educational Career:
    • B.S.E.E., 2005, University of Central Florida
  • Committee in Charge:
    • Dr. Wasfy B. Mikhael
    • Dr. Damla Turgut
    • Dr. Hassan Foroosh
    • Dr. Thomas Yang