Speech transformation system

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395 212, 395 2, G10L 300

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053275217

ABSTRACT:
A high quality voice transformation system and method operates during a training mode to store voice signal characteristics representing target and source voices. Thereafter, during a real time transformation mode, a signal representing source speech is segmented into overlapping segments, analyzed to separate the excitation spectrum from the tone quality spectrum. A stored target tone quality spectrum is substituted for the source spectrum and then convolved with the actual source speech excitation spectrum to produce a transformed speech signal having the word and excitation content of the source, but the acoustical characteristics of a target speaker. The system may be used to enable a talking, costumed character, or in other applications where a source speaker wishes to imitate the voice characteristics of a different, target speaker.

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