Voder: Difference between revisions

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== Working Mechanism ==
== Working Mechanism ==
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The Voder is a manually operated speech synthesizer that recreates the physiological characteristics of the human voice. It works by breaking up human speech into its acoustic components using a set of ten contiguous band-pass filters that cover the entire speech frequency range and are connected in parallel. The pass bands of the filters were chosen after a careful analysis of how the human ear interprets speech sounds. The initial sounds produced by either the oscillator or the gas discharge tube were passed through these filters, and their outputs were passed through an amplifier that mixed and modulated them and passed it on to a loudspeaker in order to produce an electronic human speech. The potentiometers (devices that control how much electricity flows through a circuit) controlled by the finger keys were used to operate the band-pass filter outputs.
 
Two basic sounds are used to create speech sounds: the buzz tone and the hissing noise. The buzz tone is used to create voiced vowels and nasal sounds, while the hissing noise is used to create voiceless fricative sounds. The pitch control is achieved by a foot pedal, which also converts the tones and hissing sounds to vowels, consonants, and inflections. The Voder's filters divide speech sounds into their acoustic components, which are then recreated using the buzz and hiss sounds.  
 
The Voder's abilities go beyond human voice, as it can also produce non-speech sounds such as musical tones and sound effects<ref>Diesterhöft, S. (2003). Meyer-Eppler und der Vocoder. ''Seminars Klanganalyse und -synthese, Fachgebiet Kommunikationswissenschaft, Institut für Sprache und Kommunikation, Berlin Institute of Technology''.</ref>. The Voder was used in a variety of applications, including radio broadcasts, sound effects for movies, and even music performances. To improve the operator's performance, the Voder had a recording and playback feature that allowed operators to objectively analyze their areas of improvement. This feature is similar to modern-day contact centers that use call recording and analysis to improve agent performance.


== Key Innovations ==
== Key Innovations ==
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The Voder was among the first devices to allow manual control of speech synthesis. It was a pioneer in electronic sound generation, breaking down human speech into its fundamental acoustic components and reproducing these patterns electronically: this was a significant advancement in the early stages of electronic speech synthesis. Moreover, Voder was the first successful attempt at recreating an important physiological characteristic of the human voice – the ability to create voiced and unvoiced sounds<ref>Dudley, H., Riesz, R. R., & Watkins, S. S. (1939). A synthetic speaker. ''Journal of the Franklin Institute'', ''227''(6), 739-764.</ref>.


== Impact ==
== Impact ==
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The Voder was demonstrated to the public at the 1939 New York World's Fair, attracting widespread attention and showcasing the possibilities of artificial speech production. It was a significant step towards public awareness and interest in the field of speech synthesis.


== Future research ==
== Future research ==
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. <ref>Feng, S., Kudina, O., Halpern, B. M., & Scharenborg, O. (2021). ''Quantifying Bias in Automatic Speech Recognition'' (arXiv:2103.15122). arXiv. http://arxiv.org/abs/2103.15122</ref>
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== References ==
== References ==
To insert a reference, type <nowiki><ref> and paste the source your exported from Zotero (or whatever reference manager you're using) in the pop up box which appears. Make sure links in citations are clickable using proper formatting. Once you do this, a footnote will appear.</nowiki><ref>Glantz, Richard "SHOEBOX: a personal file handling system for textual data." In Proceedings of the November 17-19, 1970, Fall Joint Computer Conference 1970. 535-545. [https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/1478462.1478541]</ref> and a reference comes at the end automatically. Please use this method to cite for Wiki articles only, not for your thesis.<references />
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== Team Members ==
== Team Members ==

Revision as of 23:15, 5 October 2023

Introduction

The Voder, short for "Voice Operation DEmonstratoR," stands as a pioneering achievement in the realm of speech synthesis technology. Conceived and developed by Homer Dudley in the 1930s at Bell Labs, the Voder was a groundbreaking invention that laid the conceptual groundwork for subsequent advancements in the speech synthesis field and paved the way for the sophisticated TTS technologies we rely upon today.

Designed similarly to an organ, a musical instrument with pedals and keys, Voder demanded an operator to manipulate its components effectively: through this manipulation, the machine could approximate speech-like sounds, portraying a semblance of human communication.

Historical Context

Before Voder, several significant milestones have marked progress in recreating human speech artificially. One early attempt was Wolfgang Ritter von Kempelen's Speaking Machine from the late 18th century. This machine used bellows and reeds to simulate limited vowel and consonant sounds, showing the potential for creating artificial speech.

Charles Wheatstone built upon Kempelen's work with his Speaking Machine in the early 19th century. By incorporating a vibrating reed, Wheatstone's machine could produce a wider range of sounds compared to previous attempts, resulting in more accurate and recognizable speech sounds.

The next step was Alexander Graham Bell's Photophone, introduced in the late 19th century. It was an innovative invention that transmitted sound using light beams. Although not primarily intended for speech synthesis, this device revolutionized telecommunications by demonstrating wireless sound transmission over long distances.

Working Mechanism

The Voder is a manually operated speech synthesizer that recreates the physiological characteristics of the human voice. It works by breaking up human speech into its acoustic components using a set of ten contiguous band-pass filters that cover the entire speech frequency range and are connected in parallel. The pass bands of the filters were chosen after a careful analysis of how the human ear interprets speech sounds. The initial sounds produced by either the oscillator or the gas discharge tube were passed through these filters, and their outputs were passed through an amplifier that mixed and modulated them and passed it on to a loudspeaker in order to produce an electronic human speech. The potentiometers (devices that control how much electricity flows through a circuit) controlled by the finger keys were used to operate the band-pass filter outputs.

Two basic sounds are used to create speech sounds: the buzz tone and the hissing noise. The buzz tone is used to create voiced vowels and nasal sounds, while the hissing noise is used to create voiceless fricative sounds. The pitch control is achieved by a foot pedal, which also converts the tones and hissing sounds to vowels, consonants, and inflections. The Voder's filters divide speech sounds into their acoustic components, which are then recreated using the buzz and hiss sounds.

The Voder's abilities go beyond human voice, as it can also produce non-speech sounds such as musical tones and sound effects[1]. The Voder was used in a variety of applications, including radio broadcasts, sound effects for movies, and even music performances. To improve the operator's performance, the Voder had a recording and playback feature that allowed operators to objectively analyze their areas of improvement. This feature is similar to modern-day contact centers that use call recording and analysis to improve agent performance.

Key Innovations

The Voder was among the first devices to allow manual control of speech synthesis. It was a pioneer in electronic sound generation, breaking down human speech into its fundamental acoustic components and reproducing these patterns electronically: this was a significant advancement in the early stages of electronic speech synthesis. Moreover, Voder was the first successful attempt at recreating an important physiological characteristic of the human voice – the ability to create voiced and unvoiced sounds[2].

Impact

The Voder was demonstrated to the public at the 1939 New York World's Fair, attracting widespread attention and showcasing the possibilities of artificial speech production. It was a significant step towards public awareness and interest in the field of speech synthesis.

Future research

-

References

  1. Diesterhöft, S. (2003). Meyer-Eppler und der Vocoder. Seminars Klanganalyse und -synthese, Fachgebiet Kommunikationswissenschaft, Institut für Sprache und Kommunikation, Berlin Institute of Technology.
  2. Dudley, H., Riesz, R. R., & Watkins, S. S. (1939). A synthetic speaker. Journal of the Franklin Institute, 227(6), 739-764.

Team Members

  • Igor Marchenko
  • Wangyiyao Zhou
  • Yaling Deng
  • Dongwen Zhu
  • Sherry Yeh