In a world designed for the hearing, the first hard-of-hearing K-pop boy band’s debut has been made possible thanks to advanced technologies.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00This boy band is the first K-pop group composed entirely of hard-of-hearing members.
00:09The group faced unique challenges in the South Korean pop music industry,
00:20where synchronized choreography and pitch-perfect harmonies are the norm.
00:25Yet their debut was made possible through advanced technologies.
00:29First thing we used was AI voice conversion solution.
00:33This technology has been used to modify and improve vocal performances,
00:38ensuring that each member's voice meets industry standards.
00:42So AI deep-learned Big Ocean members' voice first up,
00:48their tone and vocal habits as well,
00:51and later sang beautifully for us for the music track.
00:55We recorded our talking voice, communication voices, singing voices, rapping voices,
01:01and Korean voices and English voices and everything.
01:04So we recorded it multiple times to accumulate as much data as possible.
01:09And the more the data was, the higher the voice accuracy became.
01:13The management company says it took almost three months to gather the data needed
01:18to reach the desired result of singing for the first album,
01:22which was shortened to just several weeks for their later albums.
01:25Since all members of Big Ocean are hearing-impaired,
01:29it was difficult for us to sing with a clear body pronunciation or pitch.
01:36So we converted the voices of Big Ocean members into AI models
01:42and produced them in a way that can express their individual personalities.
01:50The AI-converted recordings then went through additional processing
01:54to produce a natural-sounding audio track.
01:58Currently, there are a lot of AI technologies,
02:01but the data collected from existing AI technologies
02:06is very limited in terms of naturalization,
02:10and especially in the case of Korean.
02:16So we did a little bit of testing,
02:20and at some point, I thought,
02:23this is really going to work.
02:26When I heard the final version,
02:29I was personally very touched.
02:33A lot of people actually cried when they heard it.
02:38Big Ocean faced an additional hurdle as all members used different hearing aids,
02:43complicating their ability to dance in sync.
02:46If they danced one by one, they were almost in perfection.
02:49But when they danced together, it was totally different one by one.
02:53We used a visual and sensory metronome system
02:56because they cannot hear the music perfectly.
03:01We made a flashing light so that they can see the beats in a visual way.
03:07And also, we converted the sound into a vibration through a smartwatch
03:11so that they can keep the beat with the vibration signals.
03:15Big Ocean hopes to sing live on stage one day.
03:18For vocal training, they are using a pitch app.
03:21Okay, this is my pitch app.
03:24When I make a sound, it tells us the exact note.
03:30This way, do, do, re, mi.
03:36This way, I can tell if I'm sounding right.
03:41Parasite Entertainment says if it weren't for the current level of AI technology,
03:46it would have been impossible for Big Ocean to create an album using their voices.
03:51We are attempting to let more people can be seen on the media
03:56and eventually convince public that disability is mere character, not a limitation.
04:01Our message is not only for people with unique abilities.
04:05It's for everyone facing their own challenges.
04:10We want you to know that no matter what you are going through, you are not alone.
04:19So we want to say to everyone, not give up.
04:23And I hope everyone keeps moving forward together
04:27and remember we are all in this together.
04:33In an industry often criticized for its rigid standards and lack of diversity,
04:38Big Ocean says they hope one day they can be accepted as a regular K-pop group.