Computers

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Open AccessArticle

Benchmarking the Responsiveness of Open-Source Text-to-Speech Systems

by Ha Pham Thien Dinh, Rutherford Agbeshi Patamia, Ming Liu and Akansel Cosgun

Computers 2025, 14(10), 406; https://doi.org/10.3390/computers14100406 (registering DOI) - 23 Sep 2025

Responsiveness—the speed at which a text-to-speech (TTS) system produces audible output—is critical for real-time voice assistants yet has received far less attention than perceptual quality metrics. Existing evaluations often touch on latency but do not establish reproducible, open-source standards that capture responsiveness as a first-class dimension. This work introduces a baseline benchmark designed to fill that gap. Our framework unifies latency distribution, tail latency, and intelligibility within a transparent and dataset-diverse pipeline, enabling a fair and replicable comparison across 13 widely used open-source TTS models. By grounding evaluation in structured input sets ranging from single words to sentence-length utterances and adopting a methodology inspired by standardized inference benchmarks, we capture both typical and worst-case user experiences. Unlike prior studies that emphasize closed or proprietary systems, our focus is on establishing open, reproducible baselines rather than ranking against commercial references. The results reveal substantial variability across architectures, with some models delivering near-instant responses while others fail to meet interactive thresholds. By centering evaluation on responsiveness and reproducibility, this study provides an infrastructural foundation for benchmarking TTS systems and lays the groundwork for more comprehensive assessments that integrate both fidelity and speed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Large Language Modelling (2nd Edition))

21 pages, 1229 KB

Open AccessArticle

Eghatha: A Blockchain-Based System to Enhance Disaster Preparedness

by Ayoub Ghani, Ahmed Zinedine and Mohammed El Mohajir

Computers 2025, 14(10), 405; https://doi.org/10.3390/computers14100405 - 23 Sep 2025

Abstract

Natural disasters often strike unexpectedly, leaving thousands of victims and affected individuals each year. Effective disaster preparedness is critical to reducing these consequences and accelerating recovery. This paper presents Eghatha, a blockchain-based decentralized system designed to optimize humanitarian aid delivery during crises. By enabling secure and transparent transfers of donations and relief from donors to beneficiaries, the system enhances trust and operational efficiency. All transactions are immutably recorded and verified on a blockchain network, reducing fraud and misuse while adapting to local contexts. The platform is volunteer-driven, coordinated by civil society organizations with humanitarian expertise, and supported by government agencies involved in disaster response. Eghatha’s design accounts for disaster-related constraints—including limited mobility, varying levels of technological literacy, and resource accessibility—by offering a user-friendly interface, support for local currencies, and integration with locally available technologies. These elements ensure inclusivity for diverse populations. Aligned with Morocco’s “Digital Morocco 2030” strategy, the system contributes to both immediate crisis response and long-term digital transformation. Its scalable architecture and contextual sensitivity position the platform for broader adoption in similarly affected regions worldwide, offering a practical model for ethical, decentralized, and resilient humanitarian logistics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain Technology—a Breakthrough Innovation for Modern Industries (2nd Edition))

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14 pages, 731 KB

Open AccessArticle

Security-Aware Adaptive Video Streaming via Watermarking: Tackling Time-to-First-Byte Delays and QoE Issues in Live Video Delivery Systems

by Reza Kalan, Peren Jerfi Canatalay and Emre Karsli

Computers 2025, 14(10), 404; https://doi.org/10.3390/computers14100404 - 23 Sep 2025

Abstract

Illegal broadcasting is one of the primary challenges for Over the Top (OTT) service providers. Watermarking is a method used to trace illegal redistribution of video content. However, watermarking introduces processing overhead due to the embedding of unique patterns into the video content, which results in additional latency. End-to-end network latency, caused by network congestion or heavy load on the origin server, can slow data transmission, impacting the time it takes for the segment to reach the client. This paper addresses 5xx errors (e.g., 503, 504) at the Content Delivery Network (CDN) in real-world video streaming platforms, which can negatively impact Quality of Experience (QoE), particularly when watermarking techniques are employed. To address the performance issues caused by the integration of watermarking technology, we enhanced the system architecture by introducing and optimizing a shield cache in front of the packager at the origin server and fine-tuning the CDN configuration. These optimizations significantly reduced the processing load on the packager, minimized latency, and improved overall content delivery. As a result, we achieved a 6% improvement in the Key Performance Indicator (KPI), reflecting enhanced system stability and video quality. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multimedia Data and Network Security)

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Computers, Volume 14, Issue 10 (October 2025) – 3 articles

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