SPEECH REPRODUCING SYSTEM WITH EFFIECIENT SPEECH-RATE CONVERTER

In a speech reproducing system, a speech coder receives an input speech signal to output a speech coded information including a pitch information of the input speech signal and a mode information indicative of a short-time characteristics of the input speech signal, and a speech decoder receives and decodes the speech coded information to generate a decoded speech signal. A speech-rate converter receives the pitch information and the mode information included in the speech coded information and the decoded speech signal, to convert the speech-rate of the decoded speech signal by using the pitch information and the mode information, thereby to generate an output speech signal.