8. Talking computers

The words leaf and feel, played forwards.

The same words played in reverse backwards.

Concatenative speech synthesis.

Recordings 8.2 and 8.3 are all examples of Text To Speech systems producing the following text:

The North Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger, when a traveler came along wrapped in a warm cloak. They agreed that the one who first succeeded in making the traveler take off his cloak should be considered stronger than the other.

8.2 AT&T "Mike"

8.3 AT&T "Crystal"

8.4 Nuance “Tom”

8.5 Nuance “Samantha”

8.5a A single synthesized phrase

8.6 Cereproc “William”

8.7 Cereproc “Heather”