Voice Creator: Giving Customized Voice to the Voiceless for Online Communication

Abstract

Voice plays an important role in online communications by increasing intimacy among people. Despite the advantages of using voice in computer-mediated communications (CMC), it is difficult for people with speech or hearing impairments to participate in such communication methods. In this study, we investigate different attributes of voices and how it affects users' preference. We also deployed a website called Voice Creator' for people who want to create an online voice by specifying the levels of different voice attributes: Gender, age group, breathiness, smoothness, hoarseness, and variation. We plan to conduct a user study on the target users and study the behavior of voice customization in future work.