DECTALK AND MACINTALK SPEECH SYNTHESIZERS - INTELLIGIBILITY DIFFERENCES FOR 3 LISTENER GROUPS

This study examined word level intelligibility differences between DEC Talk and MacinTalk speech synthesizers using the Modified Rhyme Test i n an open format transcription task. Three groups of listeners partici pated: inexperienced, speech-language pathologists, and speech synthes is experts. Results for between-subjects ANOVA showed that he expert g roup correctly identified a significantly higher number of words than each of the other listener groups. For the within-subjects factor of v oice, simple effects ANOVA and post hoc contrasts within each group sh owed that listeners had higher intelligibility scores for the DECTalk male voice, Perfect Paul, than for the MacinTalk male voice, Bruce. No other pairwise gender/age-matched differences were found between the two synthesizers.