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<title>Voder</title>

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<span id="openzim-page-title" class="mw-page-title-main"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Voder</span></span>

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</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Not to be confused with <a href="Vocoder" title="Vocoder">Vocoder</a>.</div>

<p>The <a href="Bell_Labs" title="Bell Labs">Bell Telephone Laboratory's</a> <b>Voder</b> (abbreviation of <b>Voice Operating Demonstrator</b>) was the first attempt to electronically <a href="Speech_synthesis" title="Speech synthesis">synthesize human speech</a> by breaking it down into its acoustic components. It was invented by <a href="Homer_Dudley" title="Homer Dudley">Homer Dudley</a> in 1937–1938 and developed on his earlier work on the <a href="Vocoder" title="Vocoder">vocoder</a>. The quality of the speech was limited; however, it demonstrated the synthesis of the human voice, which became one component of the vocoder used in voice communications for security and to save bandwidth.<sup id="cite_ref-Gold11_2-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Gold11-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>The Voder synthesized human speech by imitating the effects of the human <a href="Vocal_tract" title="Vocal tract">vocal tract</a>. The operator could select one of two basic sounds by using a wrist bar. A buzz tone generated by a <a href="Relaxation_oscillator" title="Relaxation oscillator">relaxation oscillator</a> produced the voiced vowels and nasal sounds, with the pitch controlled by a foot pedal. A hissing noise produced by a white noise tube created the sibilants (voiceless <a href="Fricative_consonant" class="mw-redirect" title="Fricative consonant">fricative sounds</a>). These initial sounds were passed through a bank of 10 <a href="Band-pass_filter" title="Band-pass filter">band-pass filters</a> that were selected by keys; their outputs were combined, amplified and fed to a loudspeaker. The filters were controlled by a set of keys and a foot pedal to convert the hisses and tones into vowels, consonants, and inflections. Additional special keys were provided to make the <a href="Plosive" title="Plosive">plosive</a> sounds such as "p" or "d", and the <a href="Affricate_consonant" class="mw-redirect" title="Affricate consonant">affricative sounds</a> of the "j" in "jaw" and the "ch" in "cheese". This was a complex machine to operate. After months of practice, a trained operator could produce recognizable speech.<sup id="cite_ref-Gold11_2-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Gold11-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

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<p>Performances on the Voder were featured at the <a href="1939_New_York_World's_Fair" title="1939 New York World's Fair">1939 New York World's Fair</a> and in <a href="Golden_Gate_International_Exposition" title="Golden Gate International Exposition">San Francisco</a>. Twenty operators were trained by Helen Harper, particularly noted for her skill with the machine. The machine said the words "Good afternoon, radio audience."<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>The Voder was developed from research into compression schemes for transmission of voice on copper wires and for voice encryption. In 1948, <a href="Werner_Meyer-Eppler" title="Werner Meyer-Eppler">Werner Meyer-Eppler</a><sup id="cite_ref-meyer-eppler_5-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-meyer-eppler-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> recognized the capability of the Voder machine to generate electronic music, as described in Dudley's patent.

</p><p>Whereas the vocoder analyzes speech, transforms it into electronically transmitted information, and recreates it, the voder generates synthesized speech by means of a console with fifteen touch-sensitive keys and a pedal. It basically consists of the "second half" of the vocoder, but with manual filter controls, and required a highly trained operator.<sup id="cite_ref-wendycarlosQA_6-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-wendycarlosQA-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-120years-HomerDudley_7-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-120years-HomerDudley-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

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<ul><li><a href="Formant" title="Formant">Formant</a></li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

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<li id="cite_note-bell1940a-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-bell1940a_1-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFBell_System_Technical_Journal1940">Bell System Technical Journal 1940</a>, p. 509, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/stream/bellsystemtechni19amerrich/bellsystemtechni19amerrich#page/509/mode/1up">Fig.8 Schematic circuit of the voder</a></span>

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<li id="cite_note-Gold11-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Gold11_2-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Gold11_2-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text">Ben Gold, Nelson Morgan, Dan Ellis, <i>Speech and Audio Signal Processing: Processing and Perception of Speech and Music</i>. John Wiley & Sons, 2011; <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">

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</style><a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>1118142918</bdi>, pages 9‒13</span>

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<li id="cite_note-bell1940-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-bell1940_3-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFBell_Telephone_Quarterly1940">Bell Telephone Quarterly 1940</a>, p. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/stream/belltelephonemag19amerrich/belltelephonemag19amerrich#page/64/mode/1up">65</a>, "At the New York World's Fair", <span style="font-size: 85%;"><b>THE VODER FASCINATES THE CROWDS</b> - "<i>The manipulative skill of the operator's fingers makes the Voder's voice almost too good to be true</i>"</span></span>

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<li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFGuernsey2001" class="citation news cs1">Guernsey, Lisa (August 9, 2001). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/09/technology/the-desktop-that-does-elvis.html">"The Desktop That Does Elvis"</a>. <i>The New York Times</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">January 21,</span> 2018</span>. <q>At the 1939 World's Fair in New York City, AT&T Bell Laboratories, a forerunner of AT&T Labs, unveiled a speech machine called the Voder. Six women were trained to operate the contraption, which was played like a pipe organ. When the machine said, "Good afternoon, radio audience," it sounded like an alien speaking under water.</q></cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-meyer-eppler-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-meyer-eppler_5-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFDiesterhöft2003" class="citation cs2 cs1-prop-foreign-lang-source">Diesterhöft, Sonja (2003), <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080305021509/http://www.kgw.tu-berlin.de/statisch/Studio/Meyer-Eppler/Meyer-Eppler.html">"Meyer-Eppler und der Vocoder"</a>, <i>Seminars Klanganalyse und -synthese</i> (in German), Fachgebiet Kommunikationswissenschaft, Institut für Sprache und Kommunikation, Technische Universität Berlin, archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.kgw.tu-berlin.de/statisch/Studio/Meyer-Eppler/Meyer-Eppler.html">the original</a> on 2008-03-05</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-wendycarlosQA-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-wendycarlosQA_6-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.wendycarlos.com/vocoders.html">"Wendy Carlos Vocoder Q&A"</a>. Wendy Carlos.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-120years-HomerDudley-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-120years-HomerDudley_7-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://120years.net/machines/vocoder/">"Homer Dudley's Speech Synthesisers, "The Vocoder" (1940) & "Voder"(1939)"</a>. <i>Electronic Musical Instrument 1870–1990</i>. 120 Years of Electronic Music (120years.net).</cite></span>

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<dl><dt>Bibliography</dt></dl>

<ul><li><cite id="CITEREFBell_System_Technical_Journal1940" class="citation journal cs1">Dudley, Homer (October 1940). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/stream/bellsystemtechni19amerrich/bellsystemtechni19amerrich#page/495/mode/1up">"The Carrier Nature of Speech"</a>. <i>Bell System Technical Journal</i>. <b>XIX</b> (4): <span class="nowrap">495–</span>515 – via Internet Archive. <q>Speech synthesizing is here discussed in the terminology of carrier circuits. ...</q></cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFBell_Telephone_Quarterly1940" class="citation journal cs1">Williams, Thomas W. (January 1940). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/stream/belltelephonemag19amerrich/belltelephonemag19amerrich#page/59/mode/1up">"At the New York World's Fair"</a>. Our Exhibits at two Fairs. <i>Bell Telephone Quarterly</i>. <b>XIX</b> (1). New York: American Telephone & Telegraph Co.: <span class="nowrap">59–</span>71 – via Internet Archive. <q>More than Thirteen Million Visitors Enjoyed the Bell System's Hospitality, and Learned about It and Its Services, at the New York Fair and the San Francisco Exposition</q></cite></li>

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</style><span class="citation patent" id="CITEREFHomer_Dudley1938"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/textdoc?DB=EPODOC&IDX=US2121142">US application 2121142</a>, Homer Dudley, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://patents.google.com/patent/US2121142">System for the artificial production of vocal or other sounds</a>", published 21 June 1938, assigned to Bell Telephone Laboratories</span><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Apatent&rft.applnumber=2121142&rft.cc=US&rft.title=%5Bhttps%3A%2F%2Fpatents.google.com%2Fpatent%2FUS2121142+System+for+the+artificial+production+of+vocal+or+other+sounds%5D&rft.inventor=Homer+Dudley&rft.assignee=Bell+Telephone+Laboratories&rft.appldate=7 April 1937&rft.pubdate=21 June 1938"><span style="display: none;"> </span></span></li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2></div>

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<div class="side-box-text plainlist">Wikimedia Commons has media related to <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:VODER" class="extiw external" title="commons:Category:VODER">VODER</a></span>.</div></div>

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<ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130728222319/http://www.davidszondy.com/future/robot/voder.htm">"The Voder"</a> – has photos and block diagrams</li>

<li><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hyI_dM5cGo#t=3m00s">"The Voder - Homer Dudley (Bell Labs) 1939"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(audio + slide)</span>. <i>YouTube</i>.</cite> – Voder singing the Scottish folk song "<a href="Auld_Lang_Syne" title="Auld Lang Syne">Auld Lang Syne</a>" at <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hyI_dM5cGo#t=3m00s">3'00"</a> (20 sec).</li></ul></div><div><div class="zim-footer">

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