Naturalness in synthetic speech is one of the most intractable problems in information technology today. Although speech synthesis systems have improved considerably over the last 20 years, they rarely sound entirely like human speakers.

Why is this so, and what can be done about it?
* Prosodic processing must be rendered more varied and more appropriate to the speech situation


* Timing, melodic control and the relationships between the various prosodic parameters need increased attention


* Signal processing systems must be...