Text-to-Speech Synthesis provides a complete, end-to-end account of the process of generating speech by computer. Giving an in-depth explanation of all aspects of current speech synthesis technology, it assumes no specialised prior knowledge. Introductory chapters on linguistics, phonetics, signal processing and speech signals lay the foundation, with subsequent material explaining how this knowledge is put to use in building practical systems that generate speech. Including coverage of the very latest techniques such as unit selection, hidden Markov model synthesis, and statistical text analysis, explanations of the more traditional techniques such as format synthesis and synthesis by rule are also provided. Weaving together the various strands of this multidisciplinary field, the book is designed for graduate students in electrical engineering, computer science, and linguistics. It is also an ideal reference for practitioners in the fields of human communication interaction and telephony.

'According to Taylor, 'in written language the author may take the liberty of explaining something in a complicated fashion knowing that the reader can go back and read this several times'. However, this is not true in the case of his book. Taylor so clearly presents the concepts, that re-reading is unnecessary.' Joao Luis G. Rosa, Computing Reviews

Paul Taylor received his PhD from the University of Edinburgh, and is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Phonetic Arts Ltd. He has previously been Lecturer and Director in the Centre for Speech Technology Research at the University of Edinburgh, a visiting lecturer at the University of Cambridge, and was founder and Chief Technical Officer of Rhetorical Systems.