L&H REALSPEAK TO PROVIDE VOICE FOR VIRTUAL NEWSCASTER `ANANOVA'
(The following is a reformatted version of an electronic mail press
release issued by L&H Realspeak.)
L&H(tm) REALSPEAK AWARD WINNING TEXT TO SPEECH TO PROVIDE HUMAN SOUNDING
VOICE FOR WORLD'S FIRST VIRTUAL NEWSCASTER ``ANANOVA'
Ananova Delivers News and Information to Users Real-Time Utilising L&H's
Natural Sounding Text-To-Speech Technology
Ieper, Belgium and Burlington, MA., April 18 -- Lernout & Hauspie,
(Nasdaq: LHSP, Easdaq: LHSP) (L&H), a global leader in speech and
linguistic products, technologies and services, today announced an
agreement with the Press Association to provide the voice for the world's
first virtual newscaster, ``Ananova".
The L&H(tm) RealSpeak's(tm) human-sounding synthesised voice
technology will give Ananova a distinct, natural sounding voice with which
to broadcast personalised news and information on demand. Ananova's
selection of L&H's RealSpeak technology demonstrates the flexibility,
accuracy and authenticity of the L&H synthesized voice technology.
Ananova, who goes live on her web site www.ananova.com on the 19th
April 2000, combines 3D games-style animation techniques with sophisticated
instant news processing and publishing systems to deliver real-time on-
demand news bulletins over the Internet. Ananova will deliver live breaking
news, sport and entertainment from around the UK.
``The creation of a human sounding synthesized voice that can speak on
demand in real-time has been the proverbial 'holy grail' in the speech and
language industry - in fact we believe L&H has met the challenge,' said
Patrick De Schrijver, President of L&H's Technologies and Solutions
Division. ``Ananova is a superb example of pioneering use of our
technology.'
``We have spent the last year researching and developing the way
Ananova looks, sounds and behaves. She has to be someone you could trust
and warm to' stated Mark Hird, Publishing Director at Ananova Limited.
``And one area which was critical to the success of the project was the
voice of L&H, RealSpeak.'
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