- From: Jon Rimmer <jon.rimmer@gmail.com>
- Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2012 10:51:54 +1000
- To: "Jens O. Meiert" <jens@meiert.com>
- Cc: www-style@w3.org
On 23 July 2012 14:56, Jens O. Meiert <jens@meiert.com> wrote: > > What is the definition of a “neutral” voice (family)? It seems the > spec so far fails to define this [1]? > > > [1] http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-speech/#voice-props-voice-family Well, the note accompanying <gender> says... "Note that the interpretation of the relationship between a person's age or gender, and a recognizable type of voice, cannot realistically be defined in a universal manner as it effectively depends on numerous criteria (cultural, linguistic, biological, etc.)..." So, perhaps it's not possible to really define it further, as it's only intended as a hint whose meaning is left up to the speech synthesis engine? However, a question worth addressing might be: Is "neutral" intended to communicate, "I don't care about the gender, use whatever is the cultural default", or "I do care about the gender, and I want the voice to be gender non-specific if possible." If it were the former, the speech engine would default to a male voice, but if it were the latter, it would use a distorted or robotic voice. My interpretation would be that it is the latter, but perhaps it should be made clear. Jon
Received on Tuesday, 24 July 2012 00:52:22 UTC