So long Perfect Paul. A new, more natural sounding voice is on tap for the nationwide series of radio stations broadcasting weather forecasts and warnings. The new system is expected to be in place by early next year, according to the National Weather Service. NWS will have both male and female versions of the “voice” available to replace an older, mechanical sounding voice synthesis system — called “Perfect Paul” by many —that had been in place.
The new system — which uses real human voices, with sounds divided into syllables then recombined into the necessary words and sentences by computer — was developed for NOAA by Siemens Information and Communication Network.
