Grants and Contributions:

Speech Generation for Indigenous Language Education

1002592

$308,017.00

Jan 15, 2023 - Nov 15, 2025

This proposed research contributes to the wider Small Teams project, which aims to develop text-to-speech synthesis voices to support learning of Indigenous languages in Canada. It will be made possible to hear words and phrases pronounced authentically and in a variety of voices on demand, so enriching language learners’ self-study. Educators will have a tool to author speech passages such as stories or dialogues for students. Furthermore, this collaboration aims to adapt synthesis to better suit language learning in two ways: i) to enable a user to hear synthesized words in a carefully spoken form, so helping beginners learn pronunciation and vocabulary; ii) allow to influence and manipulate the synthesis in a maximally intuitive way, so to ensure speech samples sound exactly as a educator-user intends. Finally, the project will also aim to improve ways both of evaluating synthetic speech automatically and to streamline listening tests to reduce demands on human listeners.

National Research Council Canada

In the short term, anticipated outcomes will be strengthened collaborations across industry, academia, and government to support research excellence. In the medium term, anticipated outcomes will be the development of new and potentially disruptive technologies with collaborators. In the long term, find collaborative solutions to public policy challenges and create stronger innovation systems.

EDINBURGH, GB

172-2022-2023-Q4-1002592

Grant

Grants and Contributions

Academia

The University of Edinburgh

Collaborative Science, Technology and Innovation Program - Collaborative R&D Initiatives

Collaborate on multiparty research and development programs to catalyze transformative, high-risk, high-reward research with the potential for game-changing scientific discoveries and technological breakthroughs in priority areas.

541710