Tweaking computer voices on TomTom Go 740

[misterbk]

Hello,

Has anyone had any luck tweaking the TTS voices on their TomTom?

I'm hoping to correct the bad pronunciation of key destinations like San Francisco and San Jose, because they are used very frequently to indicate a direction on a highway.

So far the following things have had absolutely NO effect, and I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong:

* Changing voice pitch, speed, age, etc. in e.g. LoquendoTTS\data\voices\Dave\Dave.vde
* Adding entries to LoquendoTTS\data\roadnrEnglishUS.lex
* Moving entries to various different places within roadnrEnglishUS.lex, i.e. end of <section>, very end of file, beginning of file.
* capitalization, i.e. no difference between "francisco = " and "Francisco = "

I even tested crazy entries for debugging. Inserting "francisco" = "monkeyfart" still didn't change the pronunciation of San Francisco.

Has anyone successfully tweaked these voices? Seems like the plaintext config files aren't being used at all.

 

[dhn]

I think they are but I also thing an encrypted one is utilized as well. That may be the issue.

 

[misterbk]

Just tried something I was sure would work and it didn't... This one kinda confuses me.

I opened the pronunciation database using an SQLite editor, looked up the record for "Francisco" which had some oddities in it including an aspiration mark between the "fra" and the "ncisco" (would indicate fra-ha-ancisco which is one of the problems.)

I deleted the record and overwrote the database file on the TomTom and again nothing changed.

File I'm talking about:

LoquendoTTS\data\languages\English\EnglishUs.dbl


Deleted the file entirely, and the English TTS voices stop working. It must be referencing the file somehow.

When I looked in the folder again, the database file had been recreated blank.

Replaced the phonetic entry for Francisco with the contents of the entry from "Gesundheit". Voices now work again but still say "Fran-;-theeskaw".

UK datatbase does not have an entry for Francisco, but pronounces it correctly.

Tried adding an entry for "sanfrancisco" pronounced like "yamaguchi" and keeping "Francisco" pronounced as "gesundheit". TTS still says "Fran-;-theeskaw"


so yeah. Confused.

 

[misterbk]

No, I thought if there was an application update it was supposed to show in Home. I'll go poking around and see if I can find some instructions.

 

[mvl]

If you're not on app 9.026 and no newer app update doesn't show in HOME, delete ttgo.bif, and then disconnect and power off/on the Tomtom. Then try plugging it in and updating again.

For California road names, you may want to try one of the Spanish or Mexican Spanish voices. If you keep you language set to English, they'll speak English with a Spanish accent, which may be better for you in California.

 

[misterbk]

No luck deleting ttgo.bif.

I connected the device, deleted the file (it was on the root folder), ejected using the eject button in Home. Allowed it to reboot into the GPS (clicked NO do not connect to 'computer'), shut it down, turned it back on, clicked YES to connect to the computer. It searched for updates, still no newer application.

These same four updates appear every time I connect:

Fuel Prices USA
Safety Cameras - USA, CAN
QuickGPSfix
Map Share - map updates for North America

If I install them they come back the next day which seems reasonable for those items, I assume that's normal.

EDIT: Opened up the ttgo.bif and I see these troublesome lines considering it's a Go 740:

DeviceName=TomTom GO 520
DeviceVersionHW=GO 520

EDIT (again sorry): The previous ttgo.bif had the correct model number.

Honestly most of the reason I'm complaining about the text to speech, is it seems like a huge step backwards even from where the technology was ten years ago. If you go to the Loquendo (sp?) site and listen to their interactive onsite demo, it sounds ten times better. If switching to the ancient open source espeak software brings an improvement in legibility, somewhere there was a job that somebody didn't do.

Like picking up a cake from the bakery and they didn't know how to make frosting, so they tried dumping sugar water on the cake. "You know guys, people have known how to make frosting for a long time."

Can I navigate with it? Well yeah. It's just distracting and I wish it wasn't resisting my attempts to fix it.

 

[misterbk]

Interesting advancements, though I'm well aware nobody else might be interested...

Editing the following file allows you to turn on logging for the Loquendo TTS program:
/LoquendoTTS/default7.session

"LogFile" = stderr

Change to: "LogFile" = "/mnt/sdcard/LoquendoTTS/log.txt"
You can use any valid filename or location. Looks like the root of the folder structure you can browse with your computer is /mnt/sdcard.

You probably do not want to leave the file logging permanently. It will grow in size and at very least cause excessive re-writing of the flash card which reduces its life.

After doing this I can see a bunch of Loquendo errors popping up in the log. Some select examples:

15/01/2010 - 04:10:12.632 - (pid:00394) - Unable to open defaultEnglishUs configurator file "/mnt/sdcard/LoquendoTTS/data/defaultEnglishUs.ycf"
15/01/2010 - 04:10:50.269 - (pid:00394) - Switching style to defaultEnglishUs failed
15/01/2010 - 04:10:50.280 - (pid:00394) - Unable to open file /mnt/sdcard/LoquendoTTS/data/defaultEnglishUs.lex
15/01/2010 - 04:10:50.281 - (pid:00394) - Error opening lexicon file "/mnt/sdcard/LoquendoTTS/data/defaultEnglishUs.lex". Check INI file or registry settings
15/01/2010 - 04:10:50.282 - (pid:00394) - Unable to load lexicon file /mnt/sdcard/LoquendoTTS/data/defaultEnglishUs.lex
15/01/2010 - 04:10:50.283 - (pid:00394) - Unable to load lexicon /mnt/sdcard/LoquendoTTS/data/defaultEnglishUs.lex
15/01/2010 - 04:10:50.811 - (pid:00394) - Unable to open ENG; configurator file "/mnt/sdcard/LoquendoTTS/data/ENG;.lcf"
15/01/2010 - 04:10:50.812 - (pid:00394) - Switching language to ENG; failed
15/01/2010 - 04:10:50.826 - (pid:00394) - Unknown phoneme in Sampa string "=TELEATLAS;("paU|@l"
15/01/2010 - 04:10:52.327 - (pid:00394) - Duplicates found in file /mnt/sdcard/LoquendoTTS/data/ROADNREnglishUs.lex

The "Duplicates found" error message was my fault. In a desperate fit to get a change I made to have some effect I put copies of "francisco" = "sidewalk" in nine different syntactical locations in the file. (Fixed now. And no nothing changed.)

But why is it looking for files called defaultEnglishUs?

I tried making copies of all the "roadnrEnglishUS" files, naming them "defaultEnglishUS" instead. Now the only error message that routinely shows is this:

15/01/2010 - 06:53:21.071 - (pid:00400) - Unknown phoneme in Sampa string "=TELEATLAS;(%sAn"

But still I cannot change how anything is pronounced.

As another last-ditch effort to make SOMETHING happen, I replaced all instances of "street" with "fountain". Still no change so I had a thought and held the power button for 15 seconds to reboot.

Still no change.

At this point I've looked at every file that is user editable in any way I can fathom, even to the point of whipping out a SQLite database editor and directly accessing what looks like the central phonetic database.

I think it's safe to say that it is not possible for an end user to change the pronunciation of words on a Tomtom.

(But why then have there been people talking about doing it, and listing instructions?)

It still doesn't add up, but now I've encountered navigational issues with the GPS, so I'm done with this unit and it's going back to the store. (At no insignificant cost to me I might add... It has to be shipped halfway across the country at this point!)

Specifically what it did was, it told me to stay in the left lane (those words exactly) immediately followed by an "Exit Right", on a 6-lane highway, causing me to miss my exit. Fortunately traffic was abnormally light and I could make the next one, but only barely and I'm sure I pissed some people off doing it. I've driven this same area with a 5 or 6 year old cheap-o Garmin unit and the directions and pronunciation were both solid.

 

[mvl]

I've been able to make some changes using these files to smaller streets, but longer-named signposts ignore my edits.

You're misnamed file issues seem strange. Try resetting your Loquendo data as something may be corrupt.

- delete the entire Loquendo folder on the Tomtom
- delete mydocuments\tomtom\home\download\complete\computervoice (if present)
- do this to reinstall the app and core Loquendo files
- re-download Susan from "Add voices" in HOME

I'll check my log later today to see if it's reporting errors with the longer signposts.

 

[mvl]

If I install them they come back the next day which seems reasonable for those items, I assume that's normal.

EDIT: Opened up the ttgo.bif and I see these troublesome lines considering it's a Go 740:

DeviceName=TomTom GO 520
DeviceVersionHW=GO 520

EDIT (again sorry): The previous ttgo.bif had the correct model number.

That ttgo.bif error is pretty big, definitely something wrong with your 740 model. Explains all the bugs you've been having with with TTS in other threads (they can be customized, and it doesn't work for you). The 520 has Loquendo 6.9 and the files are all different from Loquendo 7 that is supposed to be on a 740. So if the application misidentifies the hardware as a 520, it's going to look for Loquendo files that aren't there and will definitely cause all your TTS issues.

 

[misterbk]

The reset went through and the voices are still the same as they started. I'm testing some routes before I touch anything. (Also to make sure I didn't just happen to drive the one worst-case glitchy route in the area.)

Found a particularly funny one:

"Marina Blvd" = "mari nipple lovard"

 

[dhn]

Without being able to get too detailed (sorry), I came across a situation where:

SW instead of coming out as "South West" came out as 'software'

 

[misterbk]

Well I spent a few hours "stress-testing" the area to try and expose problems. It's starting to look like my first trip with the Tomtom was just a particularly glitchy route, and probably could be repaired by complaining to Tomtom.

I picked routes that required lots of turns through messy spaghetti neighborhoods full of spanish names (the ones I would have difficulty navigating without a GPS). I tested four or five neighborhoods and found the following problems:

Told to "go straight on" at a 5-point intersection which required an acute left turn, and given a road name that doesn't exist for the road to "not turn" on. (i.e. badly needs a map correction... ) See image:

"Blackfield Dr." -> "Bloodfield Drive"
"Rancho" -> fit of hiccups on Susan, "Ronchooah" on Dave
"Judson Lane" -> "chtsn'- Lane" (no vowels?)
"Santa Barbara Road" -> sss' 'ahn TUH barbarid
"Alta Vista Path" -> All Tubbystar Path
"Colorado Avenue" -> Cul'rk'rk'rk'drk Avenue"
"Milland Drive" -> "Nrrdlinn Drive"

In one neighborhood, stopped saying names or calling turns entirely, only gave "in 1/4 mile turn left" and then silence.

For that list though there were four or five times the number of roads that came out ok. In each case, looking at the screen did tell me exactly which way to go. I think my problem is I was trying to use the GPS as an "audio only" navigator, i.e. it was sitting face-down on the passenger seat and I was listening to it. If I mounted it on the dash next to the steering wheel it would not be as confusing to navigate with.

However my tests ARE exposing some kind of core map-reading bug, what with a 90-degree turn being called "straight on" and showing the wrong road name. (Choosing that road manually in map browser shows Frontage Road like it should.) As shown on the Google Maps screenshot, Seminary Drive does not exist in that location. It's the name of the highway exit, which dumps out onto Frontage Road. Seminary Drive is off the top of the map in the image.

 

[dhn]

Can you refresh my memory, please.......

What is your model? Your application? Your map and version?

(tap the satellite bars to see the application installed. tap the version number to see the map installed and its version number).

Thanks.

 

[misterbk]

Here's an mp3 of the freeware Linux 'espeak' system saying the same road names.

 

[misterbk]

Model: Tomtom Go 740 Live
Application 8.371 (450680/091021) OS: 450540
GPS v1.20, Boot 5.512
Map: North_America_2GB v825.2157
Language: English US

 

[dhn]

Sorry, dumb of me to ask the model when you said it in the subject title!

Your map is 9 months old. I'll try to check later whether the 840 map shows the proper street names.

 

[misterbk]

What's funny is the street names are labeled correctly on the map, but the turn is announced and shown incorrectly. The street you're on, when it says "go straight on, Seminary Drive" is Redwood Hwy Frontage Road". The street you turn on is also Frontage Road. The street to the right is De Silva Rd., and the streets to the left are Hwy 101 North and an exit ramp that you can't enter. It's not for about 1/4 mile that you encounter Seminary Drive, and all of that seems to be accurate on the GPS map if I browse map and click on streets.

My theory is the GPS is assuming that since the exit was called Seminary Drive, then it exits to Seminary Drive. Ideally that would be the case but around here they have a nasty habit of naming the exit for the closest road that they think is more important.

This particular intersection doean't bother me as much as the idea that there are likely a lot more of them.

Google Maps Link to the area

In the Tomtom's defense, it did properly navigate the horrible tangle of spaghetti roads in the hilly neighborhoods in North Berkeley.

 

[dhn]

Is it too much of a problem to provide the lat/long of the intersection where this is all happening?

 

[misterbk]

Didn't think of it. Here you go:

N 37deg 53.311'
W 122deg 30.969'


I found it while randomly spot checking directions from one location to another in the Bay area. I've only tested maybe five or six routes, mostly within neighborhoods.

 

[dhn]

Well, this is what the 840 map shows:

doesn't even seem to show the sharp left turn.

And this is the 2D view: