Scott J. Bailey & Nikko Strom (2003): "Coarticulated Concatenated Speech," U.S. Patent No. : 6,873,952

Coarticulated Concatenated Speech

Abstract -- Described are methods and systems for reducing the audible gap in concatenated recorded speech, resulting in more natural sounding speech in voice applications. The sound of concatenated recorded speech is improved by also coarticulating the recorded speech. The resulting message is smooth, natural sounding, and lifelike. Existing libraries of regularly recorded bulk prompts can be used by coarticulating the user interface prompt occuring just before the bulk prompt. Applications include phone-based applications as well as non-phone based applications.