Text-to-speech pre-processing

A system for text-to-speech (TTS) pre-processing, the system comprising:

• a memory comprising computer readable instructions;
• and
• a processing device for executing the computer readable instructions for performing a method, the method comprising:
• receiving, by a processing device, an automated speech recognition output comprising an n-best list and associated confidence scores;
• performing, by the processing device, a TTS pre-processing on the n-best list and associated confidence scores to generate a read back message, wherein the read back message comprises a read back instruction;
• and
• sending, by the processing device, the read back message to a TTS speech synthesizer for generating an audible signal based on the read back message to cause an audio device to present the read back message, wherein the audible signal is generated at a volume level based on a noise level detected via a microphone in a vehicle, and wherein the volume level is adjusted based on a signal-to-noise ratio.

A computer program product for text-to-speech (TTS) pre-processing, the computer program product comprising:

• a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, wherein the computer readable storage medium is not a transitory signal per se, the program instructions executable by a processing device to cause the processing device to perform a method comprising:
• receiving, by a processing device, an automated speech recognition output comprising an n-best list and associated confidence scores;
• performing, by the processing device, a TTS pre-processing on the n-best list and associated confidence scores to generate a read back message, wherein the read back message comprises a read back instruction;
• and
• sending, by the processing device, the read back message to a TTS speech synthesizer for generating an audible signal based on the read back message to cause an audio device to present the read back message, wherein the read back instruction comprises a pause instruction indicating a length of time of a pause, an enunciation instruction presented as bold text that represents text to be read back with more enunciation than non-bold text, an intonation instruction as a visual indicator, the visual indicator being one of an up arrow or a down arrow, wherein the up arrow denotes an increase in intonation, and wherein the down arrow denotes a decrease in intonation, and a volume instruction, the volume instruction indicating a volume level based on a noise level detected via a microphone in a vehicle, and wherein the volume level is adjusted based on a signal-to-noise ratio.