INTELLIGIBILITY OF SPEECH PRODUCED BY TEXT-TO-SPEECH SYSTEMS IN GOOD AND TELEPHONIC CONDITIONS

In order to investigate the difference between the intelligibility of text-to-speech systems in good condition and over the telephonic chann el, we ran an experiment for evaluating the segmental intelligibility of six Italian systems, using an open-response test where all phonemes known by the listeners were possible responses. VCV and CV sequences of meaningful and meaningless Italian words were used as phonetic mate rial, allowing the evaluation of consonants in both initial and centra l position. Two groups of subjects listened to the stimuli in good con ditions over a headphone and through a telephone channel over a standa rd handset, respectively. The results show a decrease in intelligibili ty of synthetic speech through a telephone channel.