[humaine news] Job offer: Researcher in expressive speech synthesis

[Marc Schroeder]

The German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI GmbH), with 
sites in Kaiserslautern, Saarbrücken, Bremen and Berlin is the leading 
German research institute in the field of innovative software technology.

DFKI's Language Technology Lab is looking for a Researcher to work in 
either Saarbrücken or Berlin in the DFG-funded project PAVOQUE ( 
PArametrisation of prosody and VOice QUality for concatenative speech 
synthesis in view of Emotion expression). The contract should start on 1 
November 2009 or 1 December 2009, and is limited to the project duration 
of one year.



Main Tasks

* Develop and extend speech synthesis technologies in the speech 
synthesis system MARY TTS, in view of the realisation of prosody and 
voice quality modifications in unit selection;
* Develop and apply algorithms to annotate prosody and voice quality in 
expressive speech synthesis corpora;
* Carry out a listener evaluation study of expressive synthetic speech.



Profile

The ideal candidate holds a PhD, or is close to finishing a PhD, in a 
relevant topic area such as speech signal processing or computer 
science. The candidate must have demonstable experience with programming 
algorithms of unit selection synthesis, speech signal processing and/or 
voice conversion, and should have experience with Java programming. 
Knowledge in the area of planning, carrying out and evaluating 
perception tests would be a plus. Highly valued personal qualities 
include creativity, open-mindedness, team spirit, and a willingness to 
address novel challenges. Fluency in English as a working language is 
required.

For more information about MARY TTS, see http://mary.dfki.de.


Contact for Questions
Dr. Marc Schröder
Tel. +49-681-302-5303
http://dfki.de/~schroed
marc.schroeder at dfki.de

Closing date: 20 October 2009

Please send your electronic application with all usual documents to: 
lt-jobs at dfki.de


-- 
Dr. Marc Schröder, Senior Researcher at DFKI GmbH
Coordinator EU FP7 Project SEMAINE http://www.semaine-project.eu
Portal Editor http://emotion-research.net
Team Leader DFKI Speech Group http://mary.dfki.de

Homepage: http://www.dfki.de/~schroed
Email: schroed at dfki.de
Phone: +49-681-302-5303
Postal address: DFKI GmbH, Campus D3_2, Stuhlsatzenhausweg 3, D-66123 
Saarbrücken, Germany
--
Official DFKI coordinates:
Deutsches Forschungszentrum fuer Kuenstliche Intelligenz GmbH
Trippstadter Strasse 122, D-67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany
Geschaeftsfuehrung:
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Wolfgang Wahlster (Vorsitzender)
Dr. Walter Olthoff
Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrats: Prof. Dr. h.c. Hans A. Aukes
Amtsgericht Kaiserslautern, HRB 2313