Literature Reviews
Reviewed research papers, articles, and publications relevant to digital accessibility.
20 results found tagged speech synthesis.
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An Enhanced Electrolarynx with Automatic Fundamental Frequency Control based on Statistical Prediction
This demonstration paper presents a prototype system that enhances electrolarynx speech by automatically controlling pitch (fundamental frequency, or F0) using statistical prediction. An electrolarynx is a speaking aid device used by laryngectomees—p…
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Development and Theoretical Evaluation of Optimized Phonemic Interfaces
This paper presents the development and computational evaluation of optimized phonemic communication interfaces for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) users. Unlike traditional letter-based (orthographic) interfaces like QWERTY keyboard…
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A system for teaching speech to profoundly deaf children using synthesized acoustic and articulatory patterns
This paper describes a PC-based computer-assisted speech training system for profoundly deaf children that integrates a text-to-speech (TTS) synthesizer to generate both acoustic and articulatory models for any typed utterance. The system addresses a…
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Describing online videos with text-to-speech narration
This paper from IBM Research Tokyo presents a technology platform that uses text-to-speech (TTS) synthesis to add audio descriptions (AD) to online videos at minimal cost. The system addresses the two main barriers that prevent most online video crea…
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Towards the Usage of Pauses in Audio-Described Videos
This paper explores the use of "artificial pauses" — brief interruptions inserted into video playback — as a technique for delivering audio descriptions that cannot fit within the natural gaps in a video's soundtrack. Classical audio description is c…
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WebReader: a screen reader for everyone, everywhere
This extended abstract presents WebReader, a free and open source JavaScript library that implements a subset of screen reader features directly within web pages, requiring no software installation beyond a web browser. The project addresses two key …
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Comprehensive Accessibility of Equations by Visually Impaired
This doctoral consortium paper proposes an approach to improving the audio rendering of mathematical equations for people with visual impairments by introducing a complexity metric that adapts how equations are spoken based on their structural comple…
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Personalized and Accessible TV Interaction for People with Visual Impairments
This paper presents the design and implementation of a system that makes Connected TV applications accessible to people with visual impairments by using a smartphone as an accessible second-screen controller. Connected TVs and set-top boxes now offer…
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Voice Creator: Giving Customized Voice to the Voiceless for Online Communication
This extended abstract presents Voice Creator, a web-based prototype that allows people with speech or hearing impairments to create customized synthetic voices for online communication. The work is motivated by research showing that voice-based comm…
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Making Accessible Movies Easily: An Intelligent Tool for Authoring and Integrating Audio Descriptions to Movies
This paper introduces EasyAD, an intelligent tool that automates the process of authoring and integrating audio descriptions (AD) into movies for blind and visually impaired (BVI) users. The traditional AD production workflow is highly labor-intensiv…