[sbe-eas] Question -- are EAS alerts required to contain audio, or can they rely on stations' text-to-speech converters?

[Adrienne Abbott]

Mike—
We’ve had a similar problem here in Nevada. We’ve seen several EAS tests and activations present with garbled audio, even though our Authorised Alert Originators had uploaded properly formed audio messages. The TTS audio was garbled to the point of being unintelligible, virtually useless and leading to a flood of phone calls and emails from angry, confused viewers to radio and TV stations, state and local emergency officials, including the governor’s office and to yours truly. We know the tests and activations were properly formatted because we had them reviewed by another CAP program vendor. We have not had a satisfactory response from Nevada’s CAP provider. 

The problem is that writing for TTS is a specialised skill. You can’t expect the CAP program to automatically and accurately translate your written text to speech. When a CAP program such as the one used by our state doesn’t accept the audio, it reverts to a TTS version of the script and the result is a steaming pile of 💩

Adrienne
Sent from my mobile iThingie 


> On Nov 17, 2022, at 3:10 PM, Mike Langner <mlangner at swcp.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> Hello everyone !
> 
> May I please ask a question --
> 
> Our New Mexico Department of Homeland Security tells me that their IPAWS origination equipment won’t accept a spoken message in the alert.
> 
> As a result, alerts go out from time to time with data, alert tone, and dead air.
> 
> Are all EAS participants required to have text-to-speech converters?  Are IPAWS originating points required to be able to, and to place verbal spoken information in alerts?  Or is this an undefined “gray” area?
> 
> Many thanks for your guidance!
> 
> Mike/
> _________________________________________
>  
> Mike Langner, Chair
> SECC-NM
> 929 Alameda Road NW
> Albuquerque, NM 87114-1901
> 
> (505) 898-3212 home/home office
> (505) 238-8810 cell
> mlangner at swcp.com
>  
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