[asterisk-biz] Pre-recorded first and last names audio database

[SIP]

John Vogel wrote:
> Thanks for the suggestion, Dean
>
> I've tried ATT Natural Voices
> (http://www.research.att.com/~ttsweb/tts/demo.php) and Microsoft Speech
> Server just to see how the current state-of-the-art TTS performs. They do
> fine with easy names like "John" and "Smith" but even something as simple as
> "Martinez" gets mangled (accent on the wrong syllable).
>
> In general TTS seems to work better on first names (which tend to be
> shorter) then last names.
>
> Regards,
> John
>   
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You're really not going to find a perfect solution for this in any form 
or fashion. Consider the possible number of first and last names and the 
numerous different pronunciations for each. Take my wife Atsuko, for 
instance. Pronunciation for her name is 'Ahts ko'   however, when 
dealing with Americans, she usually pronounces it 'Aht soo ko' since so 
many of them seem to have trouble with it. Now... if everyone in your 
company is named Bob, Bill, Tim, or John, then you're golden.  But the 
reality is, what happens when Minesh (who prefers to call himself Min), 
Poppadomalon (who calls himself Pop), Huawei (who calls himself Harry), 
and Kyung-Mi (who uses her given name) come to work? Chances are, no 
database of names you have is going to be able to handle it, nor is ANY 
TTS system.

Is there any way you can get your users themselves to record their names 
using just some sort of initialisation thing for when they first sign 
onto their phones, and then use their own info? (i.e.  "Please record 
your first name."  "Please record your last name." )

N.