DFG project on phonetic convergence extended

The German Research Foundation (DFG) has granted a three year extension of their funding for the research project "Phonetic convergence in human-computer interaction (CHIC)", directed by Prof. Bernd Möbius and Dr. Ingmar Steiner.

Phonetic convergence is an increase in similarity of the speech patterns of two interlocutors in communicative interaction. In the first year of funding we have demonstrated that human experimental subjects show patterns of phonetic convergence when being exposed to synthetic voices that are similar to the convergence patterns observed in human-to-human interaction.

In the second funding phase the project will develop a quantitative model of phonetic convergence in spoken HCI, build synthetic voices that are capable of adapting their speech output to the user's speech patterns, and derive implications for the design of conversational interfaces in speech technology. Research in the project will be supported by Iona Gessinger and Eran Raveh.