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<H1 style="LINE-HEIGHT: 1.24" id=stream_title
class="headline instapaper_title entry-title"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 37.5pt">This is what computer-synthesized speech sounded like
in 1963.</FONT></FONT></H1>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: 1.24"
class="headline instapaper_title entry-title"><FONT face="Times New Roman">By
</FONT><A style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal" class="author fn"
href="http://www.theverge.com/users/bcbishop"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Bryan
Bishop</FONT></A><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <SPAN style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal"
class=publish-date>on <TIME class=updated datetime="2012-12-26 22:20:43+0000"
pubdate="">December 26, 2012 05:20 pm.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: 1.24"
class="headline instapaper_title entry-title"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal" class=publish-date></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV class=social-col>
<DIV
class="social-media-column clearfix instapaper_ignore entry-unrelated"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">While the </FONT><A
href="http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/3/3449916/siris-strange-movie-reviews-its-tough-being-a-robot"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">latest from Apple</FONT></A><FONT face="Times New Roman">
and </FONT><A
href="http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/27/3121964/google-now-hands-on-with-jelly-beans-siri-competitor"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Google</FONT></A><FONT face="Times New Roman"> may be
shaping modern expectations for what talking computers should sound like, people
have been working on the technology for decades. Taking a look into the past,
the </FONT><A href="http://www.ubu.com/outsiders/365/2003/062.shtml"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">365 Days Project has a recording</FONT></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> of several tests done by Bell Telephone Laboratories
back in 1963. While the technology we use today is undoubtedly improved, it's
intriguing to hear how some of the fundamental problems with computer-generated
speech still haven't been resolved almost 50 years later. You can </FONT><A
href="http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/DP/2003/03/365-Days-Project-03-03-bell-telephone-labs-computer-speech-1963.mp3"
target=_blank><FONT face="Times New Roman">listen to the full audio
here</FONT></A><FONT face="Times New Roman"> — and don't forget to hear the
rendition of "Daisy," a test that is said to have inspired HAL's dying singsong
in <I>2001</I>.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
class="social-media-column clearfix instapaper_ignore entry-unrelated"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV class="social-media-column clearfix instapaper_ignore entry-unrelated"><A
title=http://www.theverge.com/2012/12/26/3805784/this-is-what-computer-synthesized-speech-sounded-like-in-1963
href="http://www.theverge.com/2012/12/26/3805784/this-is-what-computer-synthesized-speech-sounded-like-in-1963">http://www.theverge.com/2012/12/26/3805784/this-is-what-computer-synthesized-speech-sounded-like-in-1963</A></DIV>
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