The Genesis of Speech Synthesis in Japan

In order to study the acoustical cue of Japanese phonemes and syllables, speech sounds were synthesized and hearing tests were carried out at Radio Research Laboratories(RRL), Ministry of Postal Services, from 1959 to 1960. For those experiments, a terminal analog synthesizer electronically controlled was built by RRL.

• Stimuli to make F1-F2 contour of Japanese vowels.(about 260KB)
• Vowel 1
• Vowel 2
• Vowel 3
• Vowel 4
• Vowel 5
• Vowel 6
• Vowel 7
• Samples of fricative. (followed by vowels) (about 150KB)
• Fricative 1
• Fricative 2
• Fricative 3
• Fricative 4
• Fricative 5
• Fricative 6
• Samples of Semivowel.(about 350KB)
• /ja/,/wa/
• /ju/,/jo/
• Change in the pitch.
• /haihai/("Yes.") (about 200KB)
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• Change in the intonation.
• /ohajoo/("Good morning.") (about 170KB)
• 1
• 2
• 3
• /ee soodes/("Yes, it is.") (about 200KB)
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• Change in the pitch and the speaking rate.
• /uchuutsuusiN/("Space communication") (about 220KB)
• 1
• 2
• Several words and a phrase.
• /juuseeshoo/("Japan Ministry of Posts and Teleommunications") (216KB)
• /deNpa/("radio wave") (194KB)
• /keNkjuu/("research") (194KB)
• /oNsei/("speech") (194KB)
• /ijades/("I don't.") (173KB)