Comparing alignment toward American, British, and Indian English text-to-speech (TTS) voices: influence of social attitudes and talker guise
Text-to-speech (TTS) voices, which vary in their apparent native language and dialect, are increasingly widespread. In this paper, we test how speakers perceive and align toward TTS voices that represent American, British, and Indian dialects of English and the extent that social attitudes shape pat...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-07-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Computer Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomp.2023.1204211/full |
| _version_ | 1797789225280602112 |
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| author | Nicole Dodd Michelle Cohn Georgia Zellou |
| author_facet | Nicole Dodd Michelle Cohn Georgia Zellou |
| author_sort | Nicole Dodd |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Text-to-speech (TTS) voices, which vary in their apparent native language and dialect, are increasingly widespread. In this paper, we test how speakers perceive and align toward TTS voices that represent American, British, and Indian dialects of English and the extent that social attitudes shape patterns of convergence and divergence. We also test whether top-down knowledge of the talker, manipulated as a “human” or “device” guise, mediates these attitudes and accommodation. Forty-six American English-speaking participants completed identical interactions with 6 talkers (2 from each dialect) and rated each talker on a variety of social factors. Accommodation was assessed with AXB perceptual similarity by a separate group of raters. Results show that speakers had the strongest positive social attitudes toward the Indian English voices and converged toward them more. Conversely, speakers rate the American English voices as less human-like and diverge from them. Finally, speakers overall show more accommodation toward TTS voices that were presented in a “human” guise. We discuss these results through the lens of the Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT). |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T01:47:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-88958b2cf4e14547b6473b3b39c9d68e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2624-9898 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T01:47:41Z |
| publishDate | 2023-07-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Computer Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-88958b2cf4e14547b6473b3b39c9d68e2023-07-03T05:51:01ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Computer Science2624-98982023-07-01510.3389/fcomp.2023.12042111204211Comparing alignment toward American, British, and Indian English text-to-speech (TTS) voices: influence of social attitudes and talker guiseNicole DoddMichelle CohnGeorgia ZellouText-to-speech (TTS) voices, which vary in their apparent native language and dialect, are increasingly widespread. In this paper, we test how speakers perceive and align toward TTS voices that represent American, British, and Indian dialects of English and the extent that social attitudes shape patterns of convergence and divergence. We also test whether top-down knowledge of the talker, manipulated as a “human” or “device” guise, mediates these attitudes and accommodation. Forty-six American English-speaking participants completed identical interactions with 6 talkers (2 from each dialect) and rated each talker on a variety of social factors. Accommodation was assessed with AXB perceptual similarity by a separate group of raters. Results show that speakers had the strongest positive social attitudes toward the Indian English voices and converged toward them more. Conversely, speakers rate the American English voices as less human-like and diverge from them. Finally, speakers overall show more accommodation toward TTS voices that were presented in a “human” guise. We discuss these results through the lens of the Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT).https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomp.2023.1204211/fullvoice-activated artificially intelligent (voice-AI) assistanthuman-computer interactionphonetic accommodationdialect imitationapparent guise |
| spellingShingle | Nicole Dodd Michelle Cohn Georgia Zellou Comparing alignment toward American, British, and Indian English text-to-speech (TTS) voices: influence of social attitudes and talker guise Frontiers in Computer Science voice-activated artificially intelligent (voice-AI) assistant human-computer interaction phonetic accommodation dialect imitation apparent guise |
| title | Comparing alignment toward American, British, and Indian English text-to-speech (TTS) voices: influence of social attitudes and talker guise |
| title_full | Comparing alignment toward American, British, and Indian English text-to-speech (TTS) voices: influence of social attitudes and talker guise |
| title_fullStr | Comparing alignment toward American, British, and Indian English text-to-speech (TTS) voices: influence of social attitudes and talker guise |
| title_full_unstemmed | Comparing alignment toward American, British, and Indian English text-to-speech (TTS) voices: influence of social attitudes and talker guise |
| title_short | Comparing alignment toward American, British, and Indian English text-to-speech (TTS) voices: influence of social attitudes and talker guise |
| title_sort | comparing alignment toward american british and indian english text to speech tts voices influence of social attitudes and talker guise |
| topic | voice-activated artificially intelligent (voice-AI) assistant human-computer interaction phonetic accommodation dialect imitation apparent guise |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomp.2023.1204211/full |
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