System and method for prosodically modified unit selection databases

A system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
• decomposing, via a residual-excited linear prediction algorithm, speech units from a speech unit database into residual coefficients and linear predictive coder coefficients;
• determining a cost of modifying the residual coefficients to yield a determination;
• modifying, via a pitch synchronous overlap and add algorithm, the residual coefficients, to yield modified residual coefficients based on the determination;
• and
• combining, via the residual-excited linear prediction algorithm, the modified residual coefficients with the linear predictive coder coefficients, to yield new speech units, such that a new prosodic curve corresponding to the new speech units conforms to a desired prosodic curve, wherein speech can be generated based on the new speech units.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage device having instructions stored which, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

• decomposing, via a residual-excited linear prediction algorithm, speech units from a speech unit database into residual coefficients and linear predictive coder coefficients;
• determining a cost of modifying the residual coefficients to yield a determination;
• modifying, via a pitch synchronous overlap and add algorithm, the residual coefficients, to yield modified residual coefficients based on the determination;
• and
• combining, via the residual-excited linear prediction algorithm, the modified residual coefficients with the linear predictive coder coefficients, to yield new speech units, such that a new prosodic curve corresponding to the new speech units conforms to a desired prosodic curve, wherein speech can be generated based on the new speech units.