A speech synthesis system is disclosed that utilizes a pitch contour
resulting in a more natural-sounding speech. The present invention
modifies the predicted pitch, b(t), for synthesized speech using a low
frequency energy booster. The low frequency energy booster interpolates
the discrete pitch values, if necessary, and increase the amount of
energy of the pitch contour associated with low frequency values, such as
all frequency values below 10 Hertz. The amount of energy of the pitch
contour associated with low frequency values can be increased, for
example, by adding band-limited noise (a carrier signal) to the pitch
contour, b(t), or by filtering the pitch values with an impulse response
filter having a pole at the desired low frequency value. The present
invention serves to add vibrato to the to the original pitch contour,
b(t), and thereby improves the naturalness of the synthetic waveform.