Cepstral Announces Technology Partnership with SpeechWorks

PITTSBURGH, PA - Cepstral LLC announced a technology agreement with SpeechWorks (Nasdaq: SPWX). Cepstral is working with SpeechWorks on the development of a small footprint, multilingual unit selection TTS system. Under the agreement, Cepstral has been licensed to resell certain SpeechWorks technologies incorporated in its products. In addition, Cepstral will provide voice building and customization services. "We are pleased to be working with Cepstral to develop an exciting breed of TTS solutions," said Mike Phillips, CTO, SpeechWorks. "High quality, small footprint TTS solutions, such as the kind being developed by Cepstral and SpeechWorks, are ideal for use in embedded devices and automobiles. With the TTS solution, people can hear emails, retrieve directions and reminder services, and more just by listening to their device. This type of TTS is particularly important for device and automotive manufacturers because it allows them to enhance the personality and brand identity of their products, thereby increasing consumer appeal." Cepstral, founded by CTO Alan W. Black and CEO Kevin Lenzo, specializes in speech synthesis and custom voice creation. Cepstral's flagship product, Theta, was the world's first unit selection text-to-speech engine that was small and fast enough to fit on handhelds and portable devices. "SpeechWorks technology has led the field, and this partnership allows us to offer speech products, as well as great voices in a broad variety of languages," said Lenzo. "We are pleased that the leader in speech technologies has chosen our technology to work with."