Why must my child sound like Stephen Hawking: Personalized Synthetic Voices for Pediatric Assistive Communication
Existing speech synthesis technology allows us to record fluent speech from an individual and, using machine learning, develop a Text To Speech (TTS) “voice” that sounds like the individual. This technology is used for “Voice Banking” by patients diagnosed with neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS who are able to create personal TTS voices for use in communication devices when they are no longer able to speak. This presentation will describe the existing technology for developing personal TTS voices and emerging technology that will allow us to provide personal voices for patients—notably children—whose dysarthria precludes normal voice banking.
Dr. Bunnell received his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from The Pennsylvania State University in 1983, concentrating in human speech perception and the acoustic properties of speech (acoustic phonetics). From 1983 to 1989, he worked as a Research Scientist in the Sensory Communication Research Laboratory (later Center for Auditory and Speech Sciences) at Gallaudet University conducting research on the application of digital speech processing techniques to hearing enhancement, primarily for acoustic hearing aid users. In 1989 he became the director of the Speech Processing Laboratory at the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children where his research interests expanded to include text to speech synthesis and speech recognition. Dr. Bunnell is now the director of the Nemours Center for Pediatric Auditory and Speech Sciences(CPASS) and head of the Speech Research Laboratory within the CPASS. Since 2000, he has also served as director of the Nemours Biomedical Research Department’s Bioinformatics Core, providing expertise in applications development, statistics, data mining, and numerical analysis. Dr. Bunnell’s primary research interests are in biomedical and clinical applications of speech technology for the diagnosis and remediation of hearing and speech disorders, particularly in pediatric patients.
The Innovative Discoveries Series, sponsored by the Delaware Clinical & Translational Science ACCEL program and the Christiana Care Value Institute, features informal presentations on topics relevant to current research and healthcare practice, led by knowledgeable and experienced presenters. There are offerings for researchers, healthcare providers, and community members of varying levels of experience.
These free talks are held Fridays at noon at Christiana Hospital but can be viewed from your home or office computer. Earn CMEs by participating in-person or online. Lunch is served and all are welcome to attend.
To see the full calendar of events, visit the Value Institute Events page or the ACCEL website, or subscribe to the ID Series mailing list.
Contact Sarahfaye Dolman at sarahfaye.f.dolman@christianacare.org with any questions.