The Role of Voice Persona in Expressive Communication:An Argument for Relevance in Speech Synthesis Design

We present an approach to imbuing expressivity in a synthesized voice by acquiring a thematic analysis of 10 interviews with vocal studies and performance experts to inform the design framework for a real-time, interactive vocal persona that would generate compelling and appropriate contextually-dependent expression. The resultant tone of voice is defined as a point existing within a continuous, contextually-dependent probability space. The inclusion of voice persona in synthesized voice can be significant in a broad range of applications. Of particular interest is the potential impact in augmentative and assistive communication (AAC) community. Finally, we conclude with an introduction to our ongoing research investigating the themes of vocal persona and how they may continue to inform proposed expressive speech synthesis design frameworks.