Turin, October 19th 2004

At SYSTEMS 2004, which will take place in Munich, Germany from October 18th to 22nd, Loquendo, the global speech technology company, will be unveiling the latest advancements in Text-To-Speech Technology: Loquendo TTS Expressive Voices.

Having been among the very first players to adopt the Unit Selection technique, Loquendo is now the first company to bring expressive synthetic speech to the market.

Loquendo's voices have been enriched with a repertoire of "expressive cues", which enable TTS users to enliven their voice prompts. This new development is the first concrete landmark in the direction of expressive synthetic speech.

Developing both stylistically and emotionally expressive synthetic speech has been one of Loquendo's objectives for several years; research has covered both language modeling aspects and techniques to make the TTS software manageable, without compromising on the natural qualities achieved through Unit Selection. In the near future, this research effort will make it possible to synthesize any kind of text with its preferred style (e.g. emphatic, formal, informal, etc.) and with the emotional tone required (e.g. happy, sad, angry, etc.).

"The speech market does not currently offer solutions that are capable of changing the style and tone of voices, upon command or according to the nature of the text itself, without ruining the acoustic quality" states Silvia Quazza, Head of TTS Development at Loquendo. "Loquendo however, is now offering its customers the possibility to make their vocal messages lifelike and expressive. Just like human conversation, expressive intention is conveyed through conventional formulas and interjections, which are pronounced with a natural and colorful intonation. As a result, the entire message becomes expressive."

Audio 1
Would you like to try it for yourself? Be my guest! Type the text of your choice. Is it difficult? Not at all! It's - how can I say - cool. Or better still: Cool! Good luck. Or should I say: Good Luck!

Loquendo's repertoire of "expressive cues" contains conventional figures of speech, like greetings and exclamations ("hello!", "oh no!", 'I'm sorry!"), interjections ("Oh!", "Well!", "Hum"..) and paralinguistic events (e.g. breath, cough, laughter, etc.), which suggest expressive intention (to confirm, doubt, exclaim, thank, etc.).

Audio 2
This is an example. Let's assume I am angry. If I were to say: Hey you. Damn it. Hey. This is terrible. Would you believe me? No! But now, I can also say it like this: Hey you! Damn it! Hey! This is terrible! What do you think? It sounds much more human. Good! Speak to you soon!

The same elements can appear in several variations in order to obtain the greatest degree of naturalness. The same sentence can be pronounced using different styles and intonations, from neutral to emphatic, from sad to amazed.

Audio 3
Goodness! I sound nearly human. Fantastic. Or would you prefer it if I said: Fantastic! Now, you can choose. Goodbye, or: Goodbye! Excuse me please, or: Excuse me please!

Audio 4
Hello! My name is Stefan. I am Loquendo's new male voice. Now I can sound even more human by using emphatic expressions. For example, I can say: oh all right. But I can also say it like this: Oh all right! Or Oh all right!!

The formulas can be typed directly in the text. An easy-to-use interface for prompt editing will suggest the user a repertoire of "expressive cues" available for each voice. The list will be structured according to intuitive linguistic categories, so that appropriate formulas can be rapidly and easily found. It will therefore be easy to construct messages, dialogues, and narrative that Loquendo's synthetic voices will be able to read effectively and realistically.

Audio 5
Stefan: Hello! Any news?
Katrin: Gerd Müller will soon be back on the National Team.
Stefan: Really?
Katrin: Yes. And so will Beckenbauer.
Stefan: No way! I can't believe it!
Katrin: And that's not all! Even Uwe Seeler has been called to play.
Stefan: Wow! Does that mean we're sure to win this time?
Katrin: No, of course not!
Stefan: Damn! ..Hum...Sorry! I meant: what a shame!
Katrin: But it would be nice though, wouldn't it?
Stefan: Of course! Have a nice day! Goodbye!

To meet the Loquendo TTS family, please click here.

About Loquendo - Vocal Technology and Services
With over 30 years of R&D expertise, Loquendo is at the forefront of the global speech technologies market. Its high-quality, high-performance technologies (Loquendo TTS - text to speech, Loquendo ASR - automatic speech recognition, Loquendo Speech Server, Loquendo Speaker Verification) and platforms guarantee systems integrators the best solutions in 16 languages and 35 voices - with more coming soon. From its headquarters in Turin, Italy, Loquendo deploys technologies that power millions of calls every day in the telecommunications and enterprise markets throughout the world.

For more information, visit www.loquendo.com.