Developing an Artificially Intelligent Voice: A Brief History of Text-to-Speech

The history of text-to-speech (TTS) technology has evolved from traditional synthesis techniques like articulatory, formant, and concatenative synthesis to more advanced deep learning methods using neural networks. Modern TTS systems leverage these networks to generate natural and human-like voices that understand context, intonation, and emotional cues. Voice cloning is a specialized application of speech generation technology that aims to replicate a specific individual's voice by capturing unique characteristics like pitch, tone, and accent from a few speech samples. Both TTS systems and voice cloning share common steps in processing input, analyzing it, and synthesizing speech output, with advancements in neural network architectures improving their quality, naturalness, and efficiency. Applications of text-to-speech include assistive devices for the visually impaired, educational tools, personalized advertisement, dubbing for movies or video games, and communication aids for individuals who have lost their ability to speak.