voice echos?

[akita]

Hi,
we have TomTom Ease. When I use computer voice (Susan, Dave), when it tries to pronounce some of the street names, it sounds like there are two voices trying to say a word simultaneously. It's bad enough that i can't understand what it's saying even if I know what it's trying to say.

I've looked in the forums but no one else seems to report this problem.

it's hard to explain, but when it tries to pronounce a name (e.g. Antonio) you can hear the word "Antonio" being said but there is also another voice overlaid on top of it (almost sounds like "tonyonio" being said the same time as "antonio") that blends into what is being said, it's virtually not understandable.

any thoughts?

 

[dhn]

Not heard that one before, as I remember.....

Have you tried resetting the unit (take off the back cover and to the right of the usb port is a reset hole).

 

[akita]

I removed what I think is the back cover (there's a clip where I can disengage the dial/suction cup). but there is no hole where I can stick anything to reset it.

is the back cover you refer to something beyond taking off the dial/suction cup? do I have to pry something off?

 

[dhn]

If your model doesn't have a reset hole, try holding the power button about 10 seconds till you hear the drum sounds.

 

[Andy_P]

Does this help?

^ Here's the reset hole.


Next... I'll try a long shot...What country are you in and are you using a voice intended for that country?

 

[akita]

hi. yes. the photos helped. surprised how easily the cover popped off!

I reset it, but it still sounds very strange sometimes. we in the US (CA), and use english. it almost sounds as if the computer voice is trying to say two sounds simultaneously. may be it's pronouncing it too fast and syllables overlap? I did read through some of the forum and removed the cphoneme.dat file. not sure if it helped much.

it sometimes sounds like Max Headroom that quickly repeats certain syllables in very quick succession, except it only repeats/overlaps a syllable once. but in the TomTom, it sounds more like an echo. hard to explain.

 

[Andy_P]

"Stuttering" has long been a problem with TomTom text to speech voices. It seems to be worse if the unit is "thinking hard" i.e. a lot is going on at once.

So anything to reduce the processor load may help (I'm thinking reducing the number of POIs shown on screen MIGHT make a bit of difference).

 

[akita]

hi. thank you for the input. I think I have all non-essential things turned off as the screen on EASE is so small, i am trying to minimize clutter. but I will poke around to see if there are ways to further reduce CPU load..

thank you. good to know i'm not the only one with this problem. I was afraid there was something defective!

 

[Andy_P]

Well your issue is maybe a bit different, I don't remember the effect being described as a doubling or echo before.

 

[canderson]

Not my recollection, either, and I had 'other' effect with that one 8.XXX build that was so bad. In that case, it was what was being called 'stuttering' and 'hesitation', but not doubling of any sounds.

 

[akita]

Hm. I do hear stuttering and repeating of words sometimes. but when it happens on a word, it almost sounds like it's trying to say two syllables at once... may be it's all the same thing...