Estonian: Some findings for modelling speech rhythmicity and perception of speech rate

Abstract

This paper presents the results of two researches with a common aim: to improve the quality of synthetic speech. The study of the parameters of the three quantity degrees which are carrying the Estonian stress structure reveals that the durational ratio of the vowels of stressed and unstressed syllables is the most appropriate distinctive feature of quantity opposition. Investigation of the perception of different speech rates in blind and sighted shows that screenreader trained blinds prefer a considerably higher speech rate. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.