University of West Bohemia – Department of Cybernetics Research profile • speech recognition Large vocabulary continuous speech recognition for Slavonic languages (Czech, Russian, Slovak) • speech synthesis Text-to-speech synthesis, available for Czech, Slovak, German, further languages under development • audio-visual speech synthesis Parametrically controllable 3D realistic face animation as a visual supplement of the text-to speech system • audio-visual speech recognition Lip-reading support for the acoustic speech recognition, increase of recognition rate in noisy environment • speech corpora for synthesis and recognition Text and speech corpora for speech recognition, especially for the Czech language, including audiovisual speech corpora • speaker identification and verification • speech signal processing • methods of intelligent diagnostics • voice dialogue systems • sign language synthesis and recognition Milos Zelezny Assistant Professor Research activities: • audio-visual speech synthesis and recognition • sign language synthesis and recognition • gestures and emotions University of West Bohemia – http://ui.zcu.cz Milos Zelezny – zelezny@kky.zcu.cz 19.4.2005

Project proposal – INFOSIGNER Aim: • Development of information dialog system for hearing-impaired people based on sign language and audio-visual speech processing Technology: • Sign language synthesis (avatar animation) and recognition • Audio-visual speech synthesis (facial animation – talking head) and recognition (lip-reading) • Recognition and synthesis of gestures and emotions Applications: • Various autonomous dialog systems for hearing-impaired people • Signing virtual agents for speech-to sign or text-to-sign translation • Communication aids helping hearing-impaired people to communicate with computer or with normally hearing people University of West Bohemia – http://ui.zcu.cz Milos Zelezny – zelezny@kky.zcu.cz 19.4.2005

Project proposal – INFOSIGNER Instruments: • SO 2.5.11 e-Inclusion, Call 5 „To develop next generation assistive systems that empower persons with (in particular cognitive) disabilities and aging citizens to play a full role in society, to increase their autonomy and to realize their potential.“ • IP – integrated project, perhaps STREP Partnership: • PREFERENCE: Join IP proposal with the same or similar subject • Create consortium with reliable partners • Partners from domains: technology (audio-visual speech/sign language processing), industrial implementators, user associations Multilanguage processing: • Spreading of partners across different countries should assure development of the system for different languages University of West Bohemia – http://ui.zcu.cz Milos Zelezny – zelezny@kky.zcu.cz 19.4.2005