Aníbal Ferreira (Eng. Lic. in 1988, Msc in 1992, PhD in 1998, Habilitation in 2023) is Associate Professor (with Habilitation) in the ECE Department of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Porto, in Portugal, where he lectures in the areas of signal theory, physiological signal processing, multimedia and telecommunications.

When a speaker is unable to produce normal (voiced) speech due the absence or malfunction of the vocal folds, also referred to as vocal cords, whispered speech is the only option available for oral communication, which is problematic from multiple points of view. One possibility to overcome this difficulty is converting whispered speech to natural speech in real time, and on-the-fly, such that conversational interaction is not disrupted. The electrolarynx is such an assistive technology still being marketed today but it is more than 80-year-old, and produces highly unnatural, unpleasant and robotic speech. In this keynote/seminar, we will discuss the main theoretical concepts underlying the theme, and practical solutions to the problem, highlighting approaches that are based on the source-filter model of voice production, and that rely on parametric models of signal analysis and synthesis. Theory and results will be presented in an illustrative manner.