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Clicks at start and end of sentences and paragraphs

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jeffs
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2015/04/26 20:28:36 (permalink)

Clicks at start and end of sentences and paragraphs

Firstly thanks for a great product! I use the paid version regularly :)
 
It may be my cheap phone but I get an audible click at the start and end of sentences and paragraphs. I suspect this happens as sound playback is stopped and restarted to create the silent pauses between talking. If that's the case it could be fixed by having an option to play silent or very near silent sounds for the pauses between talking. That way something is always playing.
 
So I think it is currently doing.. 
"Plays first sentence", stops playing (click), pauses, starts playing (click), "plays second sentence".
 
I think clicks could possibly be fixed if it was continuously playing something...
"Plays first sentence" , "plays a silent or near silent sound file", "plays second sentence"
Although I don't know if this is possible to get working within the limitations of TTS engines. 
 
I think an alternative fix could be to just continuously play a silent or near silent sound file in the background all the time.
Very similar to how playing music in the background works but as an option built into the software. 
 
Thanks for your very useful program and any help
 
Jeff
 
 
 
 
post edited by jeffs - 2015/04/26 20:53:16
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    jeffs
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    Re: Clicks at start and end of sentences and paragraphs 2015/04/26 20:52:28 (permalink)
    Hi again, I have just tried using the "Let music play in the background" option. Playing quiet music in the background does keep the sound on and fix the clicks for me :)
     
    Although It would be a bit of a clunky workaround I could potentially make and start playing a near silent music file every time I use @Voice Aloud. I hope the option can be built into @Voice :) that would be perfect!!!
     
    The next issue I did find is that with the play in the background option turned on the volume of reading is way louder than normal! To loud to be comfortable for very long even on the lowest @voice volume setting. So even though it fixes the clicks I can not even comfortably use this workaround for now.
     
    Hope this info will be of some help to you
     
    Jeff
     
    PS I've just downloaded a silent mp3 to play on repeat in the background and it keeps the speakers on and fixes the clicks like a charm (volume still to loud). Adding this as an inbuilt "Keep Speakers On" option would be awesome thanks :) 
    post edited by jeffs - 2015/04/26 22:12:45
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    Re: Clicks at start and end of sentences and paragraphs 2015/04/27 08:10:07 (permalink)
    This is strange, I have never heard of such problem... There is nothing in @Voice app that would provoke such clicks. Could you maybe try if using another TTS voice (maybe from a different company) changes that? Also, how do you play your texts - through the device internal speaker, a wired headset, or through some Bluetooth headset or speakers? I know some Bluetooth speakers turn off and on as the sound stops playing and starts again (so it would be the case for sentences in @Voice), and such turning off and on again could provoke clicks in some buggy devices.
     
    Greg
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    Re: Clicks at start and end of sentences and paragraphs 2015/05/01 21:57:00 (permalink)
    Hi Greg 
     
    I normally use an IVONA voice. I tried a Google and Pico voice and they have the same noises. I get the noise with both the wired headphones and the internal speaker. It's more noticeable with the headphones. I don't have a Bluetooth speaker to test. 
     
    The phone is a fairly new cheap clone of the Samsung Alpha. So high probability of being related to cheap sound hardware. With the internal speaker, as well as the click noise, I also get the sound volume starting quieter and ramping up to normal over about a second. Sounds like she is whispering at the start of every paragraph. Again all fixed If I play a silent mp3 in the background.
     
    Just tried playing the silent mp3 on it's own, without @voice, and can recreate the clicks by hitting pause and play. While playing the silent mp3 there is a very quiet background hiss or white noise likely from the cheap sound hardware that goes totally silent when I hit pause. 
     
    Cheers
    Jeff
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    jeffs
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    Re: Clicks at start and end of sentences and paragraphs 2015/05/01 22:17:25 (permalink)
     
     
    Hi Greg 
     
    I found another workaround :)
     
    Setting "Additional pause at sentence/paragraph end" both to 0 works. No more clicks without having to play the silent mp3. The Document just reads like one very long sentence!!! I much prefer a more natural sounding 100ms pause for sentences and 300ms for paragraphs.
     
    If the additional pauses for sentence/paragraph where either silent mp3 or an equivalent active silent file playback rather than passive no sound at all then I think we would have a winner :)
     
    Thanks
    Jeff
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    Re: Clicks at start and end of sentences and paragraphs 2015/05/02 08:12:26 (permalink)
    I really cannot play a silent mp3 for pauses between the sentences. I have to tell the speech engine to make a silence of that length. It's all asynchronous, many things happen at the same time. Maybe another work-around would be to record the reading of any file to a sound file - there is such function in @Voice now - and then listen to that file instead... It seems that the device you have is just buggy, it should not generate any clicks at all when starting and stopping sound. I never had such a device and never heard of any other users having this problem... Maybe you could check with the device manufacturer if they have some software update for it and this issue.
     
    Greg
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