PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Keiichi Tokuda

Also known as K Tokuda, K. Tokuda, Tokuda Keiichi

Keiichi Tokuda is a speech researcher whose work includes HMM-based speech synthesis and the HTS system. He earned a Doctor of Engineering degree in 1989, proposed an HMM-based synthesis algorithm in 1995, joined Nagoya Institute of Technology in 1996, and coauthored an English HTS paper in 2002. At the University of Edinburgh, he became an Honorary Professor in 2012 and helped organize the Blizzard Challenge with Alan Black; he took a Google London sabbatical in 2014–2015. He became an ISCA Fellow in 2013 and received the IEICE Achievement Award in 2015, the ISCA Medal in 2019, Japan's Medal with Purple Ribbon in 2020, and the IEEE Flanagan Speech and Audio Processing Award in 2024. As of October 2026, he is Professor Emeritus and Visiting Professor at Nagoya Institute of Technology and a Full Member of Sigma Xi.

Works
570
Citations
12,903
h-index
48
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1989–1996

    A Tokyo Tech research post

    At Tokyo Institute of Technology, he earns a Doctor of Engineering degree in 1989 and works there from 1989 to 1996. In 1995, he proposes an HMM-based speech synthesis algorithm.

  2. 1996–2002

    An English HTS system

    He joins Nagoya Institute of Technology in 1996 and visits Carnegie Mellon University's Language Technologies Institute in 2001–2002. In 2002, he coauthors an English HTS paper with Heiga Zen and Alan W. Black. The paper describes HTS as generating speech waveforms from HMMs for English speech synthesis.

  3. 2012–2017

    Edinburgh and the Blizzard Challenge

    The University of Edinburgh appoints him an Honorary Professor in 2012; he holds the title through 2017. He helps organize the Blizzard Challenge with Alan Black, an evaluation of corpus-based speech synthesis. In 2014–2015, he takes a sabbatical at Google in London.

  4. 2013

    An ISCA Fellowship

    In 2013, he becomes an ISCA Fellow.

  5. 2015

    An IEICE achievement award

    He receives the Achievement Award of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers (IEICE) in 2015.

  6. 2019–2020

    The ISCA Medal and Purple Ribbon

    He receives the ISCA Medal for Scientific Achievement in 2019 and Japan's Medal with Purple Ribbon in 2020.

  7. 2024

    The Flanagan Award

    In 2024, he receives the IEEE James L. Flanagan Speech and Audio Processing Award.

  8. As of October 2026

    Emeritus and visiting professor

    He is Professor Emeritus and Visiting Professor at Nagoya Institute of Technology after serving as a professor there until March 2026. Sigma Xi elects him a Full Member in 2026.

Career

  1. Since 1996Nagoya Institute of TechnologyProfessor, Professor Emeritus
  2. 2014–2015Google
  3. 2012–2017University of EdinburghHonorary Professor
  4. 2001–2002Carnegie Mellon University
  5. 2001–2004Kobe University
  6. 1989–1996Institute of Science Tokyo

Education

  1. 1989Institute of Science TokyoDoctor of Engineering

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. Statistical parametric speech synthesis2009 · Speech Communication · 1,202 citationsWith Alan W. Black
  2. Speech parameter generation algorithms for HMM-based speech synthesis2002 · IEEE International Conference on Acoustics Speech and Signal Processing · 1,003 citations
  3. Voice Conversion Based on Maximum-Likelihood Estimation of Spectral Parameter Trajectory2007 · IEEE Transactions on Audio Speech and Language Processing · 937 citationsWith Alan W. Black
  4. Speech Synthesis Based on Hidden Markov Models2013 · Proceedings of the IEEE · 407 citations
  5. A Speech Parameter Generation Algorithm Considering Global Variance for HMM-Based Speech Synthesis2007 · IEICE Transactions on Information and Systems · 358 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 21 October 2026.

  1. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Includes Google. Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI each year from 1955 to 2025, tracing the shift from university labs to companies.
  2. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes Google. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.
  3. 20% of people at companies who shape AI also hold a university role, led by Google and Stanford UniversityIncludes Google. We estimate that 539 of the 6,766 people with a known current organization (8%) hold both a university role and a company role, including 20% of people at companies and 13% of people at universities.
  4. Google alumni have founded or led 133 other organizations, more than any other AI labIncludes Google. We estimate that alumni of 17 major AI labs went on to found or lead 350 other organizations, including 226 they founded, and we trace 472 career moves directly between 23 labs since 2010.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Keiichi Tokuda yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Honorary Professor: Keiichi Tokuda | Staff news | The University of Edinburgh ed.ac.uk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Keiichi Tokuda sp.nitech.ac.jp. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. An HMM-based speech synthesis system applied to English pure.nitech.ac.jp. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. ISCA - ISCA Fellow Program isca-speech.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Professor TOKUDA Keiichi receives the IEEE James L. Flanagan Speech and Audio Processing Award, the world's highest academic award in speech technology.｜Nagoya Institute of Technology nitech.ac.jp. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Emeritus Professor TOKUDA Keiichi Elected Full Member of Sigma Xi｜Nagoya Institute of Technology nitech.ac.jp. Checked 21 October 2026.