Dennis H. Klatt (March 31, 1938 – December 30, 1988) was an American researcher in speech and hearing science. Klatt was the pioneer of computerized speech synthesis and created an interface which allowed for speech for non-expert users for the first time. His research was commercialized as

DECtalk DECtalk is a speech synthesizer and text-to-speech technology that was developed by Digital Equipment Corporation in 1983, based largely on the work of Dennis H. Klatt, Dennis Klatt at MIT, whose source-filter algorithm was variously known as ...

. The default male voice in DECTalk, Perfect Paul, is based on Klatt's own voice. Prior to his work, non-verbal individuals would need specialist support to be able to speak at all.

Stephen Hawking Stephen William Hawking (8January 194214March 2018) was an English theoretical physics, theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author who was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge. Between ...

used Perfect Paul, and which Hawking chose to keep even after others became available.

Biography

Dennis Klatt was born in

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, on March 31, 1938. He received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

from

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

West Lafayette West Lafayette ( ) is a city in Wabash Township, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, Wabash and Tippecanoe Township, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, Tippecanoe Townships, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, approximately northwest of the state capit ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, in 1960 and 1961, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in communication sciences from the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

Ann Arbor Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...

, in 1964. He joined the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

as an assistant professor in 1965, becoming a senior research scientist in 1978, and remained a member of the MIT faculty until his death. An author of more than 60 scientific papers, Klatt was awarded the

Silver Medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

in Speech Communication by the

Acoustical Society of America The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is an international scientific society founded in 1929 dedicated to generating, disseminating and promoting the knowledge of acoustics and its practical applications. The Society is primarily a voluntary org ...

for "fundamental and applied contributions to the synthesis and recognition of speech", and the

John Price Wetherill Medal The John Price Wetherill Medal was an award of the Franklin Institute. It was established with a bequest given by the family of John Price Wetherill (1844–1906) on April 3, 1917. On June 10, 1925, the Board of Managers voted to create a silv ...

by the

Franklin Institute The Franklin Institute is a science museum and a center of science education and research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named after the American scientist and wikt:statesman, statesman Benjamin Franklin. It houses the Benjamin Franklin ...

"for the design of a machine that can articulate written language", both in 1987. Klatt developed a complete system for synthesis of speech from English text, and his research led to a detailed specification of rules for segmental durations in English. Throughout his career Klatt retained a keen interest in seeing the results of his work applied to the special needs of blind and other handicapped persons, such as his work on Stephen Hawking's voice synthesizer. He died in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

, on December 30, 1988, after a long struggle with cancer which also took his voice.

References

External links

KlattSyn
Online demo of a Klatt formant synthesizer, an open-source browser-based web application written in TypeScript. {{DEFAULTSORT:Klatt, Dennis H. Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty Purdue University alumni Purdue University College of Engineering alumni University of Michigan alumni 1938 births 1988 deaths Writers from Milwaukee 20th-century American male writers Fellows of the Acoustical Society of America Deaths from cancer in Massachusetts 20th-century American writers