
25 Jul CereProc has launched the world’s first commercially available Irish language synthetic voice
Grassroots Radio partner CereProc has launched the world’s first commercially available Irish language synthetic voice as part of the Grassroots Radio project.
CereProc’s Text-to-Speech technology will be used by a community radio station on Bere Island in south-west Cork to generate spoken content when the station cannot be staffed by presenters, enabling the community to maintain a local radio station with relevant news supporting both English with an Irish accent, and the Irish language.
“Existing digital voices such as Alexa or Siri are dull and all very similar,” says Dr Matthew Aylett, Chief Scientific Officer at CereProc. “They are limited to generic accents and regions. It’s time for technology to support diversity rather than encourage conformity. Companies and individuals now have access to a range of personalised, human-like voices that have character and express emotion in regional accents and less resourced languages. The Irish language is key to Irish identity and our voice can be used in tandem with our Irish-accented English language voice to create a more personalised experience for the Irish market and beyond.”
Besides Irish, CereProc’s Text-to-Speech technology will be used to reproduce the languages of the other two countries involved in Grassroots Radio: Romania and Portugal.
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