Phoneme-Level Pitch Control for Expressive Text-to-Speech
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing text-to-speech systems lack the ability to finely tune the pitch of audio output on a phoneme-by-phoneme basis, limiting the control over emotional and semantic nuances in speech generation.
Innovation Solution
A processor system configured to receive text and convert it to speech with adjustable phoneme pitches, allowing users to modify initial pitches using a pitch modification curve or user input elements like sliders or grids, and employing machine learning models like Tacotron 2 and VITS for precise phoneme-level pitch control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If text-to-speech models produce speech from text with fixed pitch, then speech generation is simple and efficient, but developers cannot fine tune the pitch of the audio output
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the speech signal into individual phonemes and applies pitch modification to each phoneme independently. This is achieved by identifying phoneme boundaries in the text-to-speech output and calculating separate pitch values for each phoneme, allowing granular control over pitch without requiring complete redesign of the speech synthesis system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces dynamic pitch adjustment by allowing pitch values to vary across different phonemes based on user input. The system transitions from static pitch (uniform across all phonemes) to dynamic pitch (varying per phoneme) through user-adjustable parameters that modify the pitch of individual phonemes while maintaining the overall speech flow.
2Manufacturing precision
If pitch is modified on a phoneme-by-phoneme basis, then emotional and semantic nuances are enhanced, but the complexity of pitch adjustment increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary layer between the text input and speech output that handles pitch modification automatically. This intermediary component processes the text, identifies phonemes, applies pitch curves or user-defined adjustments, and generates the final speech output, shielding users from the complexity of phoneme-level manipulation while enabling precise pitch control.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs automatic phoneme identification and pitch calculation without requiring manual intervention for each phoneme. The pitch modification curve and user inputs are automatically mapped to corresponding phonemes, and the system self-adjusts the pitch values based on the provided parameters, reducing the operational burden on users.
3Adaptability or versatility
If user input elements like pitch modification curves are used, then phoneme-level pitch control is achieved, but the interface complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal pitch control interface that can handle multiple types of user inputs (pitch modification curves, direct phoneme-level adjustments, preset emotional profiles) through a unified system architecture. This multi-functional interface allows users to control pitch at different levels of abstraction using the same underlying phoneme-based processing engine, reducing the need for separate interfaces for each control method.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are provided for enabling game developers to create speech from text. The pitch of intermediate representations of phonemes is tailored on a phoneme-by-phoneme basis from the pitch output by a text-to-speech model.