Author Topic: correcting pronunciation  (Read 6643 times)

aozolins

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correcting pronunciation
« on: November 22, 2006, 10:23:16 am »
Hi, I'm just checking out the evaluation version of Ultra Hal. My main need is for text to speech for all the things I need to read from screen like email, web pages, etc.

There are some things that are not pronounced correctly and I'm looking for the way to provide corrections. The only likely place is a  button labeled "Pronunciation" but it doesn't work -- is that the place to look? does it not work in the eval version?

Basic question is whether I can supply HAL with custom pronunciations.

Andrejs
 

Prospbob

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correcting pronunciation
« Reply #1 on: November 23, 2006, 01:08:48 am »
i got a register version 5.0 and i wasn't able to get hal to pronounce Ohio correctly using the british female voice, but the male english pronounced it ok.  hope that helps you.
 

aozolins

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« Reply #2 on: November 23, 2006, 09:01:14 am »
Thanks, but what I'm looking for is a way to change or define individual words. E.g., the abbreviation CIA should be said as three letters. In ReadPlease, there is a dialog in which I can define it like this:
CIA = see eye a
You can tinker with how you define things to make it say them just the way you want. It becomes a dictionary of special pronunciations. I'm looking for something that provides the same function for Hal.

I can't get into whatever is behind the "Pronunciation" button. Is there something there for individual words? If not, what *is* there?
 

Bill819

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correcting pronunciation
« Reply #3 on: November 23, 2006, 11:22:13 am »
I am not sure if this will work but when we speak of the CIA we tend to ingnore the fact that is an initialized word. Try C.I.A. which is the proper way to abbrebiate the word. The other way even though we understand what you mean is not correct. Just give it a try.
Bil819
 

aozolins

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correcting pronunciation
« Reply #4 on: November 23, 2006, 02:39:28 pm »
Again, thanks, Hal does fine with C.I.A. But, what I'm asking is if I can get Hal to pronounce CIA as C.I.A. In the only other program I know that's any use to me, it's possible to make the computer say it *my* way.

Once more I ask, however: What is supposed to happen when you push the "Pronunciation" button?

The place I meen is in "Ultra Hal Assistant Options, "Speech" category. I get w window that has, in the top half, "Test Voice", "Pronunciation", and "Advanced/About" -- the only one of these buttons that works is "Test Voice."

My hunch is that, if there is an answer to my need for pronunciation modifications, it's behind the "pronunciation" button.

Can someone try their version and tell me a) if the button works, and b) what options you get when it works.

I'm just fascinated by the differences in how people use this program.
 

spydaz

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correcting pronunciation
« Reply #5 on: November 24, 2006, 08:31:57 pm »
hi.

it is possible by adding a script to process the replacement

replace "cia" "C.I.A"

then when hal pronounces c.i.a he will pronounce correctly correcting "Your Mistpe"

spydaz

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correcting pronunciation
« Reply #6 on: November 24, 2006, 08:37:51 pm »
Ps: i cant remmeber the script off hand but its in there ....

look under process replacements

Bill819

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« Reply #7 on: November 24, 2006, 09:24:37 pm »
One last suggestion. Try C I A with a space between the letters.
Bill
 

Bill DeWitt

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correcting pronunciation
« Reply #8 on: November 24, 2006, 09:50:05 pm »
quote:
Originally posted by aozolins
Once more I ask, however: What is supposed to happen when you push the "Pronunciation" button?
Can someone try their version and tell me a) if the button works, and b) what options you get when it works.


Well, I am using the LH speech package, and apparently when I press that button, I get their pronuciation dictionary dialog box. It seemed to work, after messing around for a while, and I got it to say "See eye ay" fairly well.

Then, when I exited after saving the new dictionary file, it threw an error and killed my iteration of Hal. I had to restart it, but then it pronounced "CIA" properly. I tested, and it did not interfere with the pronounciation of "special" as I feared it might.

What speech engine are you using, maybe I can switch to that and try again. I think that button only calls up the default dialog for the speech engine being used.


aozolins

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correcting pronunciation
« Reply #9 on: December 05, 2006, 05:20:24 pm »
I guess I'm just not ready to use this stuff.

I have no idea what speech engine I'm using, nor really much idea of what it all means. I really wanted to install a program that reads stuff to me, and don't have time right now to study up on these things. So much to know, so little time.

It turns out that when I used the best voice (I think it was VW Kate), the "pronunciation" button did nothing. With another voice (forget which) the button got me a Microsoft dialog to edit pronunciation. Unfortunately, that voice isn't good enough for me to bother training it. So, there's something aout the VW Kate situation that's the problem.

Because the voice/reading was so excellent, I sent in my dough and got the Hal Reader package with Neospeech. Yesterday the CD came in the mail. I uninstalled the demo version of TTS as well as HAL Assistant; and installed what was on the CD. Upon the first launch of Hal Reader I got the error "LOADTTS_ENG ERROR!!" in a little dialog box with the title "VOICETEXTENGSAPI50" So, now I can get the really foolish sounding robot voices to read, but my beloved VW Kate just produces that error msg. Ironic that the demos worked much better than this.

I guess I better post this new bafflement in some more appropriate location. I did send an email to zabaware, but no answer in two days.