Tag Archives: voice

VoiceAI brings natural language speech to virtual voices @ CES 2023



VoiceAI natural language voice synthIn the last few years, artificial intelligence (AI) has become a major part of the tech industry. From rooting out inappropriate comments on social media to content creation, everything seems to be affected by AI – for better or worse. However, one of the spaces where AI is making a difference for a number of industries is text-to-speech capabilities. One company working to improve this technology is Acapela Group, which announced VoiceAI at CES 2023.

What is Acapela Group?

Acapela Group is a company specializing in voice technology. The company’s VoiceAI technology allows users to take written content and turn it into vocalized content. This can be anything from a script for a YouTube video or a reading of a news article. The content itself doesn’t matter – so long as it is readable, the system will turn it into voice using AI.

VoiceAI is intended for a wide audience of users. For example, the ability to listen to a news article on a website or through an app has become a regular experience. Those companies can choose to have an employee or contractor read and record the article, or run it through VoiceAI to get the audio. This is a great accessibility feature for those who struggle to see or read, or to add the ability to keep up with the news while driving.

Another use for VoiceAI could be voiceovers for online marketing videos. These types of short, guided videos have become popular online, but producing them can be an annoying process if you’re not a regular content creator. By using VoiceAI, you can avoid the process of having to record the voiceover and outsource it to technology.

Why use VoiceAI?

One of the important differentiators between VoiceAI and other text-to-speech platforms is the company’s focus on natural voice tones and inflections. You’ve likely heard other digital voices, including Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant. Those voices could never be confused for a real human, mostly because the inflection in the voices is far from natural.

VoiceAI takes the process of virtually reading content and makes it more natural. This is done by training the AI system off of real voices. A person reads certain scripts in a normal and natural way, teaching the system how inflections would be produced by a real person. This allows the voice output to sound more natural – in many cases indistinguishable from a real voice.

In addition, the company’s technology is available in over 30 languages. This means that, whether you need English, Czech, or even Japanese, you can use the VoiceAI technology in your project. This also means that you can use a singular system to localize your product, service, or content.

Summary

If you are looking for a way to integrate a large amount of vocal content into a project, VoiceAI by Acapela Group might be your best way in. With natural voice processing and an easy text-to-speech process, VoiceAI can be used by anyone.

To learn more about Acapela Group or VoiceAI, check out the company’s website.

Interview by Marlo Anderson of The Tech Ranch.

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Sugr makes for clearer digital assistant experiences @ CES 2021



Sugr voice enhancement systemAnyone who has ever owned a virtual assistant has had the experience of calling them without them ever responding. Or, even weirder, is when you don’t summon them and they respond. After they are paying attention, it’s not guaranteed that things will go as planned. Commands can be misinterpreted or completely ignored. A lot of this has to do with the sound happening around you. Fortunately, Sugr has a solution for the future.

The company provides embedded voice technology to improve experiences. The technology can be built into many devices, making the voice of the user clearer to the listener. That listener could be a virtual assistant, or it could be someone on a headset or speakerphone. This can be a big win for many people in many scenarios.

One example where Sugr’s technology can make a great impact is in the car. Obviously, when in the car, there is a lot of external noise. The car itself makes noise, there’s road noise while in motion, other cars can honk their horn, etc. Trying to use a voice assistant in the car, therefore, can be a really hit or miss experience. Amazon tried to address the issue by including extra hardware to create a better version of regular noise cancelation – a third microphone.

Sugr’s voice technology is able to produce a better noise cancelation, and therefore a better Alexa experience, without the extra microphone. Less physical hardware means less to break and less inherent cost. Plus, the voice isolation can be used while on the phone, reducing the background noise, which is something the person you talk to on the phone will appreciate.

If you are a device manufacturer looking for voice technology to improve their product, you can learn more at the Sugr website.

Interview by Scott Ertz of F5 Live: Refreshing Technology.

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