Pilot Information Presentation on the Flight Deck: An Application of Synthetic Speech and Visual Digital Displays

Integration of synthetic speech for Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) communicative purposes is in its infancy. Integration of synthetic speech on the flight deck has the potential to improve air traffic control (ATC) and pilot communications through a multimodal presentation of critical information. In a synthesized speech system, digital-data traffic from ATC is converted into a synthetic, or computer-generated, voice for presentation to the pilot. Parameters to implement a synthetic speech system on the flight deck, as a means of optimizing communications between ATC and pilots, are under study at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in conjunction with the FAA- Human Factors Research and Engineering Group for NextGen (AJP-61) and John A. Volpe National Transportation Center.