HoLo-ToLk: Tokenizer-Free Speech Models on 0-Parameter HSL Substrate
The author introduces HoLo-ToLk, a research project building speech-to-text (STT) and text-to-speech (TTS) models using the zero-parameter HSL byte substrate without tokenizers or learned input embeddings. The work demonstrates that raw HSL bytes can serve as a viable signal for audio processing when combined with specific architectural modifications.