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First TTS system developed for Efik language

Researchers have developed the first end-to-end text-to-speech (TTS) system for Efik, a low-resource tonal language spoken in Nigeria. The study involved creating a corpus of 2,632 utterances and evaluating four neural models: VITS, MMS-TTS, SpeechT5, and Orpheus-TTS. MMS-TTS performed best, achieving a MOS of 3.80, though it still exhibited tonal errors. The findings underscore the need for larger datasets and tone-aware modeling for African languages. AI

IMPACT This research provides a baseline for developing speech synthesis technologies for underrepresented African languages, potentially improving accessibility and digital preservation.

RANK_REASON Academic paper detailing a new TTS system for a low-resource language.

Read on arXiv cs.CL →

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First TTS system developed for Efik language

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COVERAGE [2]

  1. arXiv cs.CL TIER_1 English(EN) · Offiong Bassey Edet, Emmanuel Oyo-Ita, Archibong Okon Archibong, David Effanga Bassey, Mbuotidem Sunday Awak ·

    Towards Digital Preservation of Efik: TTS for a Low-Resource African Language

    arXiv:2607.04515v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Efik, a tonal language spoken by about 3 million second language speakers and 1.5 million native speakers in Southeastern Nigeria, remains underrepresented in speech synthesis research. We present the first documented end-to-end tex…

  2. arXiv cs.CL TIER_1 English(EN) · Mbuotidem Sunday Awak ·

    Towards Digital Preservation of Efik: TTS for a Low-Resource African Language

    Efik, a tonal language spoken by about 3 million second language speakers and 1.5 million native speakers in Southeastern Nigeria, remains underrepresented in speech synthesis research. We present the first documented end-to-end text-to-speech study for Efik, introducing a curate…