Blizzard Challenge 2016 Workshop

The Blizzard Challenge 2016 workshop is a satellite event of SSW and Interspeech.

Call for participation

The Blizzard Challenge 2016 Workshop is the culmination of the Blizzard Challenge 2016 which is an open speech synthesis evaluation campaign using common data sets and a large listening test. The aims of the workshop are to present the results from the listening tests and for participants in the Challenge to describe their systems.

Who can attend the workshop ?

The workshop is open to all and we encourage participation from anyone interested in speech synthesis.

Who can submit a paper to the workshop ?

All participants in the Challenge are expected to submit a paper describing their entry (even if they cannot attend the workshop in person). Papers will be refereed by the Programme Committee and the Expert Committee.

Organisers

• Simon King, University of Edinburgh, UK
• Kishore Prahallad, IIIT Hyderabad, India
• Alan W. Black, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
• Keiichi Tokuda, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan

Paper submission instructions

• Use the Interspeech 2016 authors' kit, but your paper should be up to SIX pages in length
• Remember that Blizzard is a scientific investigation - we are all trying to understand why some techniques work better than others.
• With this in mind, please write a detailed, technical paper aimed at a specialist audience. Focus on analysis and evaluation. Try to explain WHY your system performed the way it did, and what makes it different from other systems. Explain why your system is designed in a particular way. For example, report internal evaluations you have done to select certain methods.
• Submit your paper by email to blizzard@festvox.org by the deadline given in the official timeline and we will notify you of acceptance within a week. If you need an earlier notification (e.g., in order to obtain travel permission from your employer), then please contact us.

Location and date

Date: Friday 16th September 2016 (all day)

Venue: The Blizzard Challenge 2016 Workshop will take place at the following address:

De Anza 3 Theater

Apple Inc

10500 N De Anza Blvd

Cupertino, CA 95014-2033

United States

Programme

The workshop format is single-track with oral presentations from the participants in the Challenge, and the organizers.

Each system presentation slot is 20 minutes and presenters should speak for 15 minutes to allow time for questions and changeover. Presenters should bear in mind that the audience will mainly comprise speech synthesis experts; therefore presentations do not need to include extensive background material, but should focus on technical detail and go deep in to the specifics of each system. Please bring your own laptop to present, and a video adapter if you need one.

Presentations must include plenty of audio examples to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of the system! We suggest including at least one paragraph in your audio examples, as well as several individual sentences.

The venue this year has a strictly limited capacity, so all attendees must obtain tickets in advance (see below)

• 09.00 Registration
• 09.30 - 10.20 Welcome, introduction, summary of results
  • Welcome from Simon King, on behalf of the organisers
  • Message from sponsor, Apple
  • Message from sponsor, Google
  • Message from sponsor, Amazon
  • Summary of Blizzard Challenge 2016 from Simon King

• 10.20 - 11.00 System presentations: 2 x 20 minutes (15 mins presentation + 5 minutes questions)
  • NII
  • ADAPT

• 11.00 - 11.20 Coffee break

• 11.20 - 13.00 System presentations: 5 x 20 minutes (15 mins presentation + 5 minutes questions)
  • NLPR
  • IIITH
  • I2R_NWPU_NTU
  • MARYTTS
  • UTokyo

• 13.00 - 14.30 Lunch break

• 14.30 - 15.30 System presentations: 3 x 20 minutes (15 mins presentation + 5 minutes questions)
  • Meraka
  • IRISA
  • NITech

• 15.30 - 16.00 Coffee break

• 16.00 - 17.00 System presentations: 3 x 20 minutes (15 mins presentation + 5 minutes questions)
  • CSTR
  • INNOETICS
  • USTC_NELSLIP

• 17.00 - 18.00 Conclusion
  • Announcements
  • Introduction to the 2017 Challenge from Simon King
  • Wrap-up, final discussion about future Blizzard Challenges

• 19.00 evening social event - location will be announced soon - very probably in Sunnyvale (not Cupertino)

Practical information

Registration procedure

Advance registration is required. Deadline for registration was 30th August 2016 but late registrations are being accepted (but you'll only be admitted if there is spare space).. Please DO NOT just turn up on the day without a ticket.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/blizzard-challenge-2016-workshop-tickets-26276278055

Cost

There is no cost to attend the Blizzard Workshop this year: the venue is generously provided by Apple.

Accommodation and travel

No accommodation is arranged by the workshop: please make your own arrangements.

Published proceedings

The papers will be published on festvox.org