The Institute for Natural Language Processing (IMS) at the University of Stuttgart, Germany, has made a significant contribution to the field of text-to-speech (TTS) technology with the introduction of ToucanTTS. Supported by PyTorch and Python, ToucanTTS brings to the table a language support encompassing more than 7,000 languages, marking a strong influence on the multilingual TTS scene.
ToucanTTS functions as a superior TTS toolbox enabling contemporary speech synthesis models to learn, train, and operate. Being built on PyTorch and Python makes it efficient, functional, and at the same time, beginner-friendly. Its unique selling point lies in its multilingual support, which caters to extensive international user groups. It stands as the most multilingual TTS model in existence, recognized for its ability to synthesize speech in over 7,000 languages.
It also supports multi-speaker voice synthesis that enables users to copy the rhythm, stress, and intonation of various speakers. This distinctiveness is particularly propitious for applications seeking style variation and voice personalization. Additionally, it features a human-in-the-loop editing system that comes in handy for literary studies and poetry readings. Using this feature, users can tailor the synthesized speech to their personal needs and preferences.
Underlying ToucanTTS is the core built on the FastSpeech 2 architectural design. The model includes enhancements such as a PostNet based on a normalizing flow inspired by PortaSpeech. The implementation of this design ensures natural-sounding, high-quality speech synthesis. The package also includes a self-contained aligner that is trained with Connectionist Temporal Classification (CTC) and spectrogram reconstruction catering to different needs.
One of the standout attributes of ToucanTTS is its capacity to use articulatory characteristics of phonemes as inputs. This form of input significantly enhances the quality and functionality of speech synthesis for languages with limited resources. It also allows the system to leverage multilingual data effectively.
In conclusion, with its wide language gamut and user-friendly design, ToucanTTS is a significant stride in TTS technology. It offers particular advantages to educators, researchers, and developers. Its capabilities and open-source approach guarantee that it will play a pivotal role in the enhancement and democratization of the speech synthesis technology. The toolkit, as an added advantage, offers interactive demonstrations for several applications, such as voice design, style cloning, multilingual speech synthesis, and human-edited poetry reading.
