CereProc Receives Patent for Emotional Speech Synthesis System
Text-to-speech (TTS) technology provider CereProc has been granted a U.K. patent protecting its exclusive rights to the Emotional Speech Synthesis system, designed to produce full speech synthesis with emotion, for use in multiple sectors.
CereProc’s Emotional Speech Synthesis goes beyond the practices, such as the insertion of laughter or yawns, which are commonplace in the quest to produce more realistic voices. CereProc’s method results in the delivery of custom voices by simulating multiple emotional states. Producing an increased emotional range, in addition to the widely used insertion of pre-recorded sounds, the patented technology centers on the analysis and manipulation of a constrained set of data.
CereProc’s TTS technology is effective for use in consumer engagement and marketing initiatives, building a stronger corporate persona through the distribution of brand-matched custom built voices. The entertainment and computer games industries, particularly those projects that involve animation, also stand to benefit from CereProc’s Emotional Speech Synthesis, while the pioneering technology is increasingly valuable to the Healthcare and Education sectors.
"One of our core aims is to create voices that are authentic and full of expression, and emotion is a part of this," said Chris Pidcock, chief voice engineer at CereProc. "We believe that higher quality, more realistic voices will increase the uptake of text-to-speech technology and open up new markets to us."
"In addition to our other ongoing projects, we are currently working with augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) providers to add emotional TTS to the voice output of their devices. The prospect that these joint ventures could result in enabling people with serious neurological conditions, such as motor neuron disease or cerebral palsy, to speak with emotion, and in some cases for the first time ever, is really exciting. That is something which the team is truly proud of," Pidcock continued.