From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from mta01bw.bigpond.com ([139.134.6.78]) by speech.braille.uwo.ca with esmtp (Exim 3.34 #1 (Debian)) id 16r9GY-0006ny-00 for ; Fri, 29 Mar 2002 22:10:54 -0500 Received: from data.home ([144.135.24.84]) by mta01bw.bigpond.com (Netscape Messaging Server 4.15) with SMTP id GTRNI800.4AR for ; Sat, 30 Mar 2002 13:10:56 +1000 Received: from CPE-144-136-137-64.qld.bigpond.net.au ([144.136.137.64]) by bwmam06.mailsvc.email.bigpond.com(MailRouter V3.0i 47/2642346); 30 Mar 2002 13:10:56 Received: from geoff by data.home with local-esmtp (Exim 3.12 #1 (Debian)) id 16r9GY-0000QV-00; Sat, 30 Mar 2002 13:10:54 +1000 Date: Sat, 30 Mar 2002 13:10:51 +1000 From: Geoff Shang To: speakup@braille.uwo.ca Subject: Speex: Open-source, patent-free speech coding (fwd) Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: QUOTED-PRINTABLE Sender: speakup-admin@braille.uwo.ca Errors-To: speakup-admin@braille.uwo.ca X-BeenThere: speakup@braille.uwo.ca X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.8 Precedence: bulk Reply-To: speakup@braille.uwo.ca List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: Speakup is a screen review system for Linux. List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: Hi al: Here's a long-awaited development. Definitely something to keep an eye on. Geoff. From: Jean-Marc Valin Hi, We would like to announce the first release of the Speex project. Speex (http://speex.sourceforge.net) is an open-source (LGPL), patent-free compression format allowing an alternative to expensive proprietary codecs. Unlike Ogg Vorbis which compresses general audio, Speex is designed especially for speech. For that reason, Speex is meant to be a complement to Vorbis. Since it is specialized for voice communications, it is possible to attain lower (compared to Ogg Vorbis/MP3) bit-rates in the 8-32 kbps/channel range. Possible applications include Voice over IP (VoIP) applications, Internet audio streaming at low bit-rate and archiving of speech data (e.g. voice mail). This first version of Speex supports fixed bit-rate CELP coding at 14.5 kbps for speech sampled at 8 kHz (narrowband) and at 28.5 kbps for 16 kHz (wideband) speech. Future releases will likely provide a wider choice of bit-rates, better quality, as well as variable bit-rate (VBR) and discontinuous transmission (DTX). Disclaimer: Note that this is a preliminary release and that bit-rates, quality and bitstream definition will change in the future. This means that the format used in this release will not be compatible with future releases. Also note that this software has so far received only a minimum amount of testing, so it may break or do unexpected things. --=20 Jean-Marc Valin, M.Sc.A. LABORIUS (http://www.gel.usherb.ca/laborius) Universit=E9 de Sherbrooke, Qu=E9bec, Canada