Understanding Gender Fallback for MRCP TTS

Whenever a locale for an MRCP TTS server is configured in Cisco Unified CCX, the genders available for that locale on that server are also specified. In addition, for every TTS provider, a default gender is specified for each locale. This default should correspond to a gender that is configured for that locale by the servers for that TTS Provider.

When using a TTS prompt, a user has the option to either use the com.cisco.tts.gender property or not specify any property, which causes the default gender to be used.

The fallback mechanism that Cisco Unified CCX uses is as follows:

  1. If a gender property has been specified, Cisco Unified CCX uses that gender. If no TTS server is found for that gender, Cisco Unified CCX tries the default gender if its value is different from the overridden gender. If no TTS server is found for the default gender, then Cisco Unified CCX fails the request.

  2. If a gender property has not been specified, Cisco Unified CCX uses the default gender for the locale specified in the TTS prompt. If no TTS server is found for the default gender, then Cisco Unified CCX tries Female, Male and Neutral gender in that sequence until a TTS server is found. If none is found, Cisco Unified CCX fails the request.