VOICE CONVERSION USING INTERPOLATED SPEECH UNIT START AND END-TIME CONVERSION RULE MATRICES AND SPECTRAL COMPENSATION ON ITS SPECTRAL PARAMETER VECTOR

A voice conversion rule and a rule selection parameter are stored. The voice conversion rule converts a spectral parameter vector of a source speaker to a spectral parameter vector of a target speaker. The rule selection parameter represents the spectral parameter vector of the source speaker. A first voice conversion rule of start time and a second voice conversion rule of end time in a speech unit of the source speaker are selected by the spectral parameter vector of the start time and the end time. An interpolation coefficient corresponding to the spectral parameter vector of each time in the speech unit is calculated by the first voice conversion rule and the second voice conversion rule. A third voice conversion rule corresponding to the spectral parameter vector of each time in the speech unit is calculated by interpolating the first voice conversion rule and the second voice conversion rule with the interpolation coefficient. The spectral parameter vector of each time is converted to a spectral parameter vector of the target speaker by the third voice conversion rule. A spectrum acquired from the spectral parameter vector of the target speaker is compensated by a spectral compensation filter or power ratio. A speech waveform is generated from the compensated spectrum.