SPEECH RATE CONVERSION

摘要

A method of converting the speech rate of a speech signal (2) with a pitch period below a maximum expected pitch period comprises the steps of dividing the speech signal into segments, estimating the pitch period in a segment, copying a fraction of the speech signal in the segment, said fraction having a duration equal to said estimated pitch period, providing from the fraction an intermediate signal having the same duration, and expanding the segment by inserting the intermediate signal pitch synchronously into the speech signal of the segment. A segment size longer than the maximum expected pitch period but shorter than twice the maximum expected pitch period is used. A considerably smaller amount of data has to be processed for each segment, so that the method can be implemented with the limited computational resources of e.g. a mobile telephone. A similar device is also provided.