Prosodic Conversion with Application to Mandarin Speaking-Aids

• Main Authors: YaRu-Yang, 楊雅茹
• Other Authors: Wen-Whei Chang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2003
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/17715291935167451241

碩士 === 國立交通大學 === 電信工程系 === 91 === Prosodic conversion is aimed to modify the speech signal of source speaker to match the prosodic properties of the target speaker. This conversion system consists of two subsystems, which are time-scale modification and pitch modification. Using a sinusoidal harmonic model, the former modifies the duration of source speech without changing the characteristics of vocal tract. This task was accomplished by adjusting the length of each frame in accordance with the dynamic time warping. Also proposed are two mapping functions that modify the characteristic features of pitch contour. One is based on scalar quantization and the other is based on vector quantization. Finally, we devise speaking aids to enhance the hearing-impaired speech by integrating spectral conversion and prosodic conversion. Experimental results indicate that the proposed approaches improve the identification accuracy of Mandarin tones, especially in tone2 and tone3.