Newsgroups: comp.speech
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From: jpcampb@afterlife.ncsc.mil (Joe Campbell)
Subject: Re: Cheap speech project
Message-ID: <1993Aug26.033714.20838@afterlife.ncsc.mil>
Organization: The Great Beyond
References: <25fumiINNdm2@mephisto.gatech.edu> <shaun.746313026@capella>
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 1993 03:37:14 GMT
Lines: 20

The cheapest electronic speech synthesis device I'm aware of was the one
laminated between the pages of a special issue of Business Week a couple
years ago in a TI ad (I believe it cost $0.75; I wonder how this compares
with the gizmo in my Pee-Wee Herman doll with the pull string ;^).  When
you lifted a flap on the page, it talked for about a minute!  As I recall,
it was a single die, piezo transducer, and 2 slim watch batteries.  (I
imagine having this stuff in the magazine was problematic for recycling).
I believe it used a variable bit rate LPC (to reduce RAM) with manually
optimized parameters (for decent quality).  It sounded pretty good and mine
still works and it makes a great demo in my speech classes.

If you don't mind using a TI ad for the phrases in your project, perhaps
this will do the trick ;^)

Joe
-- 
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; Dr. Campbell  N3JBC  jpcampb@afterlife.ncsc.mil  74040.305@compuserve.com ;
; My opinions are mine!   Happiness = Reality - Expectations, Click & Clack ;
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