kimbundu-speech-ai 0.0.3

A Python library for Speech-to-Text and Text-to-Speech in Kimbundu, created to promote language inclusion and support the preservation of an under-represented African language.

kimbundu-speech-ai

kimbundu-speech-ai is a Python library that provides Text-to-Speech (TTS) and Speech-to-Text (STT) capabilities for Kimbundu, a Bantu language spoken in Angola. It allows developers, researchers, and language technology enthusiasts to build voice-enabled applications, assistive tools, and language preservation projects.

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Project Information

This project was developed as a Final Year Project for the Informatic Engineering degree at the Catholic University of Angola, supervised by Engº Domingos Fernando.

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Features

Text-to-Speech (TTS)

• Convert Kimbundu text into high-quality speech audio using the Kimbundu and WaveGlow models.
• Save audio to a WAV file or play it immediately on your system.

convert_to_file

convert_to_file(
    text: str, 
    model_path: str, 
    waveglow_model_path: str, 
    out_wav: str = 'output.wav', 
    device: str = 'cpu'
)

Description: Converts input text into a spoken audio file.

Parameters:

• text (str): The input text to convert.
• model_path (str): Path to the Kimbundu model checkpoint.
• waveglow_model_path (str): Path to the WaveGlow model checkpoint.
• out_wav (str, optional): Path to save the WAV file. Default is 'output.wav'.
• device (str, optional): Device to run inference ('cpu' or 'cuda'). Default is 'cpu'.

Returns:

• str: Path to the generated WAV file.

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play_default_player

play_default_player(
    text: str, 
    model_path: str, 
    waveglow_model_path: str, 
    device: str = 'cpu'
)

Description: Converts text to speech and plays it immediately using the system's default audio player.

Parameters:

• text (str): The text to convert to speech.
• model_path (str): Path to the Tacotron model checkpoint.
• waveglow_model_path (str): Path to the WaveGlow model checkpoint.
• device (str, optional): Device to run inference ('cpu' or 'cuda'). Default is 'cpu'.

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Speech-to-Text (STT)

• Convert Kimbundu speech audio into text using a fine-tuned Whisper model.

convert_to_text

convert_to_text(
    audio_path: str, 
    model_path: str
)

Description: Transcribes speech from an audio file into text.

Parameters:

• audio_path (str): Path to the input audio file.
• model_path (str): Path to the fine-tuned Kimbundu Whisper model.

Returns:

• str: The transcribed text from the audio.

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Installation

pip install kimbundu-speech-ai

Dependencies:

• torch
• librosa
• soundfile
• numpy
• unidecode
• inflect
• transformers

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Models

This library requires models that are downloaded separately due to their size.

Text-to-Speech (TTS) Models

Kimbundu TTS Model Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iXY7beViczLIG0dEqgiBBM-1b71vzOYh/view?usp=sharing

WaveGlow Vocoder Model Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sAnpQP3q8mOfs8rlZibh42OXiBaHzre-/view?usp=sharing

After downloading, keep note of the local paths to these files and pass them to the TTS functions as model_path and waveglow_model_path.

Speech-to-Text (STT) Model

Whisper Small (Kimbundu Fine-Tuned) Model Download (ZIP file): https://drive.google.com/file/d/15kGW4NLfeNcocNygzBOmuWASuBCPwNOx/view?usp=sharing

⚠️ Important: After downloading the ZIP file, you must extract it. Use the extracted folder path as the model_path argument when calling the STT function.

Example:

STT.convert_to_text(
    audio_path="example.wav",
    model_path="path/to/extracted/whisper_small_model/"
)

Do not pass the ZIP file itself as the model path.

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Example Usage of the Library

from kimbundu_speech_ai import TTS, STT

# Text-to-Speech (save to WAV)
TTS.convert_to_file(
    text="ngana nzambi",
    model_path="path/to/kimbundu model",
    waveglow_model_path="path/to/waveglow model",
    out_wav="example.wav"
)

# Speech-to-Text
transcription = STT.convert_to_text(
    audio_path="example.wav",
    model_path="path/to/kimbundu's whisper fine-tuned model"
)

print(transcription)

Changelog

[0.0.1] – 2026-01-08

Added

• Initial public release.
• Text-to-Speech (TTS) support for Kimbundu using Kimbundu TTS Trained Model + WaveGlow.
• Speech-to-Text (STT) support using a fine-tuned Whisper model.

Notes

• Both Neural Network Models only have CPU support for their inference.