Human Read vs Computer Generated (TTS) Audiobooks

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MaryAnnSpiegel
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Post by MaryAnnSpiegel »

As we begin a New Year, I’ve been thinking about the unique place that LibriVox fills in an increasingly technological world. Our FAQs put it this way:
hugh wrote: January 10th, 2006, 8:47 am What's this all about then?
At LibriVox, volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain into digital audio (eg. mp3), and then make the audio files available to the world, for free (through our catalog, a podcast, and in a variety of other formats at Archive.org)

Why are you doing this? What's in it for you?
We love reading, love books, love literature, think the public domain should be defended and enriched, we like free stuff, we like to hear people read to us, and we like reading to other people. It's fun, it's a great community, it's a rewarding public service to the world. And "nothing" is in it for us, except the satisfaction of participating in a wonderful project.
The LibriVox project and community exists to create and share human read audiobooks. By that I mean audio recordings of books being read aloud in real time by humans.

Is there any other kind of audiobook? Well, yes. Text-to-speech (TTS) technology speaks aloud digital text using a computer-generated voice, or a highly manipulated human voice. There are plenty of websites and software programs out there where you can convert text to an MP3 file. There’s a lot of money to be made commercially by having TTS systems sound like real people. Whether it’s Google, DeepMind, WaveNet, or a myriad of others, the technology is advancing quickly. I respect the people who are developing these systems, and those who would like to use these systems to improve the lives of others. I’m sure the day is coming when a multitude of TTS audiobooks will be available, on both subscription and free platforms.

But LibriVox is not a platform for creating and sharing TTS audiobooks, it’s a place for real people to read to real people. We value the act of reading, we love communicating with our listeners, adding our own interpretation, friendliness and expression to all that we create. We've worked hard to make LibriVox a welcoming place for our volunteers to share their love of reading aloud with others.

So why do I bring this up now? Well, because last year we had several volunteers (BC/DPLs) flag files as questionable. We ended up rejecting several files after determining that they were not read in real time by a real person. We've also had potential volunteers tell us that they would like to use TTS technology in creating files for LibriVox and we've had to explain to them that LibriVox is a site for audiobooks read in real time by real people.

If you’d like to experiment with TTS, wonderful. If you’d like, you can use TTS to "read" a whole book and upload it to Archive.

But please, don’t submit a TTS file to LibriVox. Don’t try to pass it off as a real person reading out loud in real time. That’s not what we are about. Please respect LibriVox and our community and keep your readings real.

Thanks to all of the volunteers who made 2020 a record breaking year for LibriVox and for free [human-read] audiobooks! I love working with you and look forward to another banner year in 2021!

And if you are a BC or a DPL who suspects that a voice may be artificial, please send a PM to your MC and let them know. The admins will review the file and decide how best to address the situation.

MaryAnn
TheDinosaurPlanet
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Post by TheDinosaurPlanet »

I appreciate the fact that Librivox only includes recordings that feature real people reading or voicing lines.
- Antonio @ https://librivox.org/reader/15663

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lurcherlover
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Post by lurcherlover »

Computer generated (TTS) audiobooks fail because a computer never has emotion (or emotional reaction) and does not have understanding of the text. End of story!
GraceBuchanan
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Post by GraceBuchanan »

I have been inclined to disregard fears of TTS replacing our efforts. I can't comprehend a computer being programmed to effectively meet the human appetite for stories that are interpreted for comprehension and emotional impact.

But Artificial Intelligence and millions of dollars recreated lost sections of a Rembrandt painting!
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/23/arts/design/rembrandt-night-watch-artificial-intelligence.html

Or, if you don't have a subscription:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/23/arts/design/rembrandt-night-watch-artificial-intelligence.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuonUktbfqohkTlUZACbcR8Q86RGLnvnAxvsmi3r0NiGTRSoHyeUaA5TF5E7RbqombsEv3jqaT95INPouQuB_yuteMEFrQATuooeBnN5NBRQJnr-JfzF82YPRD_d_-CX2b2K9JaAjzuOy70qPa33pD6HazXEkLA968ZFvcEWp3ScKkvzGFLN13IZuzLx2UMABMDQHbCGAuPntDQwve4nVK0GBtXRlHr1RSjrRntaD6r0fcwk0CVnOSXp35GxU-8oLcZpMf_65d0h8DZK41bYBCWVoLJOrAYkzT-XXlLZssL3Lq3-c2WS3r4YADa-9wlXFtYO_cSY&smid=url-share

If Rembrandt can be replicated, can we? What are art experts saying about the results? How is the general public responding?
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BengtW
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Post by BengtW »

Since I manage our YouTube channel I get a lot of comments on our recordings. Mostly positive but sometimes it does imply that the reader is not human but an automated voice. I have not followed up on these comments but is there a possibility that some "fake" recordings has made it to be listed?
TriciaG
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Post by TriciaG »

BengtW wrote: August 26th, 2021, 10:05 am Since I manage our YouTube channel I get a lot of comments on our recordings. Mostly positive but sometimes it does imply that the reader is not human but an automated voice. I have not followed up on these comments but is there a possibility that some "fake" recordings has made it to be listed?
Possible, but we'd hope our PL's would be able to distinguish well enough. If you want to share the readers' names that are suspect, please do so by PM to an admin. :)
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Post by philchenevert »

BengtW wrote: August 26th, 2021, 10:05 am Since I manage our YouTube channel I get a lot of comments on our recordings. Mostly positive but sometimes it does imply that the reader is not human but an automated voice. I have not followed up on these comments but is there a possibility that some "fake" recordings has made it to be listed?
LibriVox has a YouTube channel? Cool. Or is this some other organization that has the channel?
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Post by GraceBuchanan »

BengtW wrote: August 26th, 2021, 10:05 am Since I manage our YouTube channel
Thank you so much for managing that! I really appreciate it.

When people express concern about AI, I point out that when I've done (tiny) samples comparing the number of views of an audiobook on the LV channel with the number of views on other channels, the results have always been overwhelmingly impressive! LV gets a huge response in many cases, while other channels have no or few views.

Thanks for doing your part in attracting people to our free, non-monetized channel. You're doing it well!
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BengtW
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Post by BengtW »

Thank you yes we do reach a lot of people at YouTube. The channel has grown a lot last year. It is not monetized but YouTube introduced a new rule this year allowing them to put ads on any content so it might not be completely ad free. I have not noticed this though. We have more than 65 thousand subscribers and I really hope it brings more people here to take part of our projects.
BengtW
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Post by BengtW »

TriciaG wrote: August 26th, 2021, 10:19 am Possible, but we'd hope our PL's would be able to distinguish well enough. If you want to share the readers' names that are suspect, please do so by PM to an admin. :)
I did follow up on a few this morning and they were quite monotone in some cases but real voices for sure and not computer generated. I am not worried about this anymore.
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Post by lightcrystal »

I have had factions that I have written put into a computer voice by a publisher. Nothing ruins writing, pathos and atmosphere more. It's also awful to listen to. Human reads are the only projects that I want to be in. Even if it's a flawed read with mistakes. I'd take that over a computer narration.
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Cruelle
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Post by Cruelle »

When I was at University, I used a basic TTS software to read articles aloud to me. Although it did sort of do the job in the sense that it enabled me to process the information that I needed, I don’t think it is ready to replace human-read audiobooks for quite a few years to come. I honestly feel a strong emotional connection to some of the readers of Librivox, and it is something that I want to hold onto for as long as possible.
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Post by lightcrystal »

BengtW wrote: August 26th, 2021, 12:33 pm Thank you yes we do reach a lot of people at YouTube. The channel has grown a lot last year. It is not monetized but YouTube introduced a new rule this year allowing them to put ads on any content so it might not be completely ad free. I have not noticed this though. We have more than 65 thousand subscribers and I really hope it brings more people here to take part of our projects.
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RajVO
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Post by RajVO »

Automated voice or audio can be used for mechanical and technical purposes, like guides/ instructions.
But to tell a story with emotions, computer generated audio may not work :)
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SowasVon
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Post by SowasVon »

I wonder whether a time will come where AI can do as good a job as human readers. Who knows. Not yet, at least.
If you find a good voice, TTS can at least be handy to get stories and books read out to you for which there is no audio book version at all. I've done it before with some mega long fan fictions (quite unlikely these will ever get audio books!) and at least one nonfiction book. If you don't mind it sounding like someone reading a news article, it's somewhat convenient and allows you to do something else in parallel.
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