Voice synthesised announcements at stations
 

What system are London Underground using for the new voice information
at Kings Cross?

The old one used real pre-recorded voices, and worked very well. Just
about every possibly event seemed to have been covered, but now we have
a man talking in a monotone voice, with real problems pronouncing quite
important words (like station names).

Text to voice has improved considerably in recent years, and the new
TomTom GO 910 features the technology which can be tested on their
website (go to products and the GO 910 - then type example phrases).
This is a £500 device for your car, and yet that does a far better
job! Even my Nokia smartphone seems to do a good job of speaking!

It sounds like the 'man' doing the talking is so depressed he's going
to commit suicide - which hopefully he will, to make way for the return
of the old system!!

Jonathan