TTS issues globally - invite for a discussion

Will Wade

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Dec 9, 2022, 9:27:53 AM12/9/22

to ICoCreAD

Hi all

We've been doing some research into the state of text to speech around the world and are identifying some issues. We'd love to invite anyone to discuss this further. If you can just let me know you intend to come along - or if you'd like to be involved in further discussions of this topic

Have a read of the problem here https://acecentre.org.uk/blog/the-state-of-play-in-the-text-to-speech-technology-for-aac

Date: 18th January

Time: 1.30pm GMT
Location: Microsoft Teams
Teams link
Meeting ID: 380 293 157 485
Passcode: RMqrPq
Toll number: +44 20 4526 6279
Conference ID:
322 158 213#
Local Number : https://dialin.teams.microsoft.com/7829f575-1a89-44dd-bad9-cd515f59e14b?id=322158213

Data view - if you want to explore in a map etc the data that drove this analysis is viewable here

https://datastudio.google.com/reporting/482c29cf-ff83-495c-906d-f264726553cb/page/Zr35C

Many thanks

Will

Will Wade

Research & Development Manager

Ace Centre

Working Days: Mon to Thur

web: acecentre.org.uk

email: ww...@acecentre.org.uk

phone: 0800 080 3115 ext 207

address: Hollinwood Business Centre, Albert Street, Oldham, OL8 3QL

Ace Centre is a registered charity no. 1089313. Registered Company Num: 04268143. VAT Num: 785728278.

Fernando Botelho

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Dec 9, 2022, 2:00:00 PM12/9/22

to Will Wade, ICoCreAD

Hello,

Thank you for sharing this. It is quite helpful.

After a quick read, I noticed that you did not include RHVoice. There are more than 10 languages covered by that technology, and it can be used offline.

Thanks,

Fernando

________________

Fernando Botelho

Programme Specialist, Assistive Technology

Children with Disabilities Section, Programme Group Leadership Team

UNICEF

Three United Nations Plaza, Room 1048 - New York, NY 10017, USA

Mobile/WhatsApp/Signal: +1 (646) 371-6319

E-mail: fbot...@unicef.org | https://www.unicef.org/disabilities

Documents which might be of interest:

Global Report on Assistive Technology, articles on childhood and assistive technology and digital AT, as well as our supplies page and the new Assistive Product Specifications for persons with disabilities from the WHO.

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Fernando Botelho

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Dec 9, 2022, 2:10:21 PM12/9/22

to Will Wade, ICoCreAD

Will,

I would like to join the TTS conversation on the 18^th of January. Can you send a Teams invite or share the link? I have never joined using just the number of the call without having the actual link.

Thanks,

Fernando

________________

Fernando Botelho

Programme Specialist, Assistive Technology

Children with Disabilities Section, Programme Group Leadership Team

UNICEF

Three United Nations Plaza, Room 1048 - New York, NY 10017, USA

Mobile/WhatsApp/Signal: +1 (646) 371-6319

E-mail: fbot...@unicef.org | https://www.unicef.org/disabilities

Documents which might be of interest:

Global Report on Assistive Technology, articles on childhood and assistive technology and digital AT, as well as our supplies page and the new Assistive Product Specifications for persons with disabilities from the WHO.

From: icoc...@googlegroups.com <icoc...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Will Wade
Sent: Friday, December 9, 2022 9:28 AM
To: ICoCreAD <icoc...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [ICoCreAD] TTS issues globally - invite for a discussion

Hi all

--

Will Wade

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Dec 12, 2022, 11:01:15 AM12/12/22

to Fernando Botelho, ICoCreAD

Yep – sure. Its in the text : https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_NjIxYzI1YzQtZGRjNi00OWUyLWJlNTctZDA5MDFlMGFmOTU0%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%224c205c6c-539b-4f81-916a-3f8efde68fac%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%227c978e82-12f1-46e3-90d8-d680c9f9a960%22%7d

FYI – Thanks for the note about RHVoice – It was buried in the dataset – I’m making some changes to make it more obvious. RHVoce is interesting – it's using HTS, and there are several HTS voices out there (and Louderpages seems to be a similar effort, but we have an angle that is a bit different). Catch up in January.

All the best

Will

Will Wade

Research & Development Manager

Ace Centre

Working Days: Mon to Thur

web: acecentre.org.uk

email: ww...@acecentre.org.uk

phone: 0800 080 3115 ext 207

address: Hollinwood Business Centre, Albert Street, Oldham, OL8 3QL

Ace Centre is a registered charity no. 1089313. Registered Company Num: 04268143. VAT Num: 785728278.

Rune Thorsen

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Dec 14, 2022, 6:40:33 AM12/14/22

to icoc...@googlegroups.com, Will Wade, Fernando Botelho

Im very excited about this as the core idea of ICoCreAD is about feedback and improvement of opensource.

Could we use it as a casestudy for the ATPilot rating and evaluating?

Each TTS solution could be rated by IPPA & QUEST by a number of users?

Do you have some users that would be willing to do evaluations?

Rune

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Fernando Botelho

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Dec 14, 2022, 9:18:00 AM12/14/22

to Rune Thorsen, icoc...@googlegroups.com, Will Wade

Please note that requirements for AAC and screen reader users differ meaningfully. So evaluations of TTS voices should take that into account.

Kind regards,

Fernando

________________

Fernando Botelho

Programme Specialist, Assistive Technology

Children with Disabilities Section, Programme Group Leadership Team

UNICEF

Three United Nations Plaza, Room 1048 - New York, NY 10017, USA

Mobile/WhatsApp/Signal: +1 (646) 371-6319

E-mail: fbot...@unicef.org | https://www.unicef.org/disabilities

Documents which might be of interest:

Global Report on Assistive Technology, articles on childhood and assistive technology and digital AT, as well as our supplies page and the new Assistive Product Specifications for persons with disabilities from the WHO.

Rune Thorsen

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Dec 14, 2022, 9:37:37 AM12/14/22

to Fernando Botelho, icoc...@googlegroups.com, Will Wade

Fernando, that is very insightful information you give us. Can IPPA and QUEST capture these requirements in a meaningful way? If not, why not?

Rune

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Gavin Henderson

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Dec 14, 2022, 9:42:39 AM12/14/22

to Fernando Botelho, Rune Thorsen, icoc...@googlegroups.com, Will Wade

Hey,

I’m not sure it makes sense to rate TTS solutions as they are not something that are accessed directly by users, as Fernando mentioned they are accessed via AAC Apps and other assistive technology (and lots of other technology).

If my understanding is correct QUEST and IPPA is designed to measure ‘assistive technology’, I would argue that on its own TTS is not actually an assistive technology, but part of an entire solution, it would be hard or impossible to answer some of the QUEST questions regarding a TTS system.

For example, a TTS System might be ‘Azure Cloud Voices’, which a user might access via a screen reader. How would a user meaningfully rate just the TTS system and not the screen reader?

Not to pre-empt January’s discussion too much but our main goal is to increase access to TTS systems across various existing assistive technologies rather than actually creating any new technology (at this stage).

Thanks
Gavin

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thorsenrune

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Jan 19, 2023, 5:47:06 AM1/19/23

to ICoCreAD

Dear Will, Gavin and Fernando.

Thanks for the presentation about TTS issues yesterday.

It seems indeed like an important topic that require a global collaborative effort as an open source project. What do you say?

Surely big tech are doing a good job, but it is risky to rely on their core components if you want to assure inclusion across regions and economic capacities.

For example the google documents TTS has stopped working on my end and judging from their response I guess that they are replacing the free service with something new.

It would have been nice to hear experiences from other countries.

Fernando Botelho

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Jan 19, 2023, 8:52:54 AM1/19/23

to thorsenrune, ICoCreAD

Thank you Thorsen,

I agree that the need is there and that open source makes sense strategically. I have already been working with other organizations on addressing the challenge of TTS voices for under-represented languages, and it seems to me that my approach is also relevant for accents; but at this time I need to prioritize new languages.

However, technically speaking, the approach being proposed by Will and Gavin, seems designed for AAC applications and sub-optimal for many applications I need to consider (such as screen reading for the blind). In any case, I need to watch the last 30 minutes of the presentation, to make sure I am not misunderstanding what they are proposing.

Best wishes,

Fernando

________________

Fernando Botelho

Programme Specialist, Assistive Technology

Children with Disabilities Section, Programme Group Leadership Team

UNICEF

Three United Nations Plaza, Room 1048 - New York, NY 10017, USA

Mobile/WhatsApp/Signal: +1 (646) 371-6319

E-mail: fbot...@unicef.org | https://www.unicef.org/disabilities

Documents which might be of interest:

Global Report on Assistive Technology, articles on childhood and assistive technology and digital AT, as well as our supplies page and the new Assistive Product Specifications for persons with disabilities from the WHO.

From: icoc...@googlegroups.com <icoc...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of thorsenrune
Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2023 5:47 AM
To: ICoCreAD <icoc...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [ICoCreAD] Re: TTS issues globally - invite for a discussion

Dear Will, Gavin and Fernando.

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Gavin Henderson

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Jan 25, 2023, 9:33:57 AM1/25/23

to Fernando Botelho, thorsenrune, ICoCreAD

Hey,

Huge thanks to those who came along to our talk about our new Voice Conductor initiative.

In case you missed it, here is the video presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTS7xvGlqQw

We completely agree that this project should be open source. There are details about what kind of license to apply but that’s a conversation for further down the road.

Admittedly, we did produce our system design with AAC systems in mind, mainly because that is what Ace Centre specialises in and we have the most experience in. The project is not meant to be limited to AAC though so we are keen to hear the input from users or professionals working with other Assistive Technologies and how they rely on TTS to see if we can make our solution work for more people in more situations.

We are planning on having a follow up meeting to discuss where we go from here and how we can adapt the current idea to suit more users so we encourage you to come along to that!

Thanks
Gavin Henderson

Gavin Henderson

Software Engineer

Ace Centre

web: acecentre.org.uk

email: ghend...@acecentre.org.uk

phone: 0800 080 3115 ext 234

address: Hollinwood Business Centre, Albert Street, Oldham, OL8 3QL

Ace Centre is a registered charity no. 1089313. Registered Company Num: 04268143. VAT Num: 785728278.

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