[EAS] Why we need Text-To-Speech

[Adrienne Abbott]

Emergencies don't happen in quiet offices or cubicles. You have to remember that the message most likely is being issued by a Battalion Chief or Watch Commander working on a lap top in the back of an SUV or pickup truck while surrounded by other emergency vehicles, equipment and radios. All that noise will be heard in the background of an audio message. At the same time this emergency official will have to double-check the TTS message in that noisy environment. It's tough enough to text accurately...I think we will have a lot of training to do.
Adrienne


On Mar 21, 2012, at 5:03 PM, Sean Donelan <sean at donelan.com> wrote:

> On Mon, 19 Mar 2012, Dave Turnmire wrote:
>> This HUMAN doesn't know how to pronounce the first or last example of
>> above... and I'm afraid to try pronouncing the second...
> 
> Yep, that's why I said Richard was taking a better approach by not making
> it about people.  Whether its a professional, trained emergency management 
> official, an experienced state governor, professional broadcast announcer;
> they could all sometimes make mistakes.  That's why there are so many 
> blooper videos on Youtube.
> 
> If you listen to the original sound file Richard posted, the announcer
> was fine.  It was a problem with the transmission/reception.
> 
> If you expect the emergency management official to adjust the text to 
> work with TTS before sending the message so the TTS software does the 
> right thing, you really need a way for the message originator to both 
> proof-read and proof-listen to the message unless you don't mind the 
> occasional weird result.  Training isn't a substitute for hearing the 
> result.  That's just setting emergency management officials up for trouble 
> when the TTS mangles a message that they could have fixed, if they had
> been able to review it before sending.
> 
> I worked on DECtalk software (the same TTS previously used by weather 
> radio) for libraries for the blind and physically handicapped throughout 
> the 1990's. Although TTS systems have improved, customized speech 
> dictionaries are not yet a replacement for proof reading and 
> proof listening.
> 
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