Multi-user real-time speech processing facility

Research projects requiring the VAX 11/750 and related peripherals have all focused on speech analysis, perception and recognition. We compared perceptual confusions occurring for natural and synthetic speech syllables which showed that synthetic speech is not equivalent to noisy or degraded natural speech. We conducted a study that indicated that perception of synthetic speech is improved by training. Training with fluent synthetic sentences improves performance for both isolated words and sentences. Training with isolated words improves performance on isolated words but does not improve performance on fluent synthetic sentences. A large-scale series of experiments investigated the effects of noise in a talker's ears on speech production. Words produced in noise are longer, louder and higher in pitch than words produced in the quiet. The tilt of the power spectrum decreased and formant frequencies shifted in noise. nition, I/O, human factors, cognitive processes, and communication sciences.