Acoustic characteristics of speaker individuality: control and conversion

Abstract This paper introduces some recent studies on voice quality control and conversion technologies. After briefly summarizing some basic scientific findings on the acoustic correlates of speech individuality, we review the latest developments in speech technologies related to voice control and speaker characteristic copying. The main focus is on a survey of non-parametric methods for spectral segmental characteristics mapping between speakers, introducing some different types of spectral mapping methods that have evolved in relation to the speaker adaptation techniques being developed in speech recognition research.