Espeak Sounds Harsher with Certain Consonants in Master Compared to 2013.3 Release

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Reported by dgoldfield on 2014-02-07 16:29
In the latest master builds, I notice a harshness in the way Espeak pronounces some consonants, such as the v in the word "level" which I notice on Web pages with phrases such as "heading level 1." When I submitted a note about this to the Espeak list, Jonathan Duddington suggested that I download the latest sapi5 version 1.48.02 to see if the effect is noticeable. The voice sounds normal when using the sapi5 version. I normally use the English US voice with the Male3 variant. This does not happen when using the same variant and language with NVDA 2013.3.

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Comment 1 by jteh on 2014-02-08 01:30
This is strange, since the version of eSpeak in 2013.3 is the same as the version in master. Are you sure there's nothing different in your settings or the like; e.g. different audio output selected or something?

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Comment 2 by dgoldfield on 2014-02-10 09:56
In both 2013.3 and even with the latest master with Espeak 1.48.02, The audio output settings are both set to Microsoft Sound Mapper. I downloaded the latest master and the effect is still present. It reminds me of what things sound like when certain audio enhancements in the sound card are enabled, but this is not the case in the Windows 7 systems I've used for testing. I can hear the difference if I unload the master and immediately load 2013.3.

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Comment 3 by Michael Curran <mick@... on 2014-03-05 01:42
In [d6f7652]:

Upgrade eSpeak to 1.48.03 to fix badly compiled phonemedata Re #3860

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Comment 4 by mdcurran on 2014-03-05 02:07
Please download and run this try build of NVDA using eSpeak 1.48.03:
http://community.nvda-project.org/try/t3860/nvda_snapshot_try-t3860-9921,d6f7652.exe
Please report if the issue is gone in this build.

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Comment 5 by dgoldfield on 2014-03-05 02:33
Yes, the sound is less harsh. I do notice that, with both the RC and the try builds, that words ending in either ton or ten are pronounced differently, such as button, rotten, forgotten, etc. This may be an issue with espeak and not with NVDA. However, the harshness I reported in this ticket appears to be gone, or at the very least diminished. thank you for noticing this.

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Comment 6 by mdcurran on 2014-03-05 02:36
And this was a direct comparison with another copy of NVDA you were running exactly before you ran the try build? I.e. you can rule out your memory playing tricks? Sorry to have to ask that, but we really must be sure that this change, and this change alone is exactly what we are dealing with, as it will delay the release if we go with the change.

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Comment 7 by dgoldfield on 2014-03-05 02:52
It's a valid question. I can definitely hear the difference when I immediately switch from the rc2 version to this try-build. The try-build sounds like the older Espeak: I'm running it without installing it so I can jump back to rc2 quickly and the difference in the harshness is noticeable. I will leave it up to you as to whether it's worth holding off for another week. Myself, I'm holding onto this try-build.

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Comment 8 by Michael Curran <mick@... on 2014-03-05 04:33
In [d2aa359]:

Merge branch 't3860' into rc. Fixes #3860

Changes:
State: closed

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Comment 9 by jonsd on 2014-03-05 07:49

Words ending in either ton or ten are pronounced differently, such as button, rotten, forgotten, etc.

This is a different issue. It's a pronunciation change to the "en-us" voice that was requested by a user.