Method and system for adjusting user speech in a communication session

• US 10,276,064 B2
• Filed: 01/06/2017
• Issued: 04/30/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wohlert, Randolph, Bangor, Aaron, Stockert, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Armstrong, Angela A
• Application Number:
  US15/400,506
• Publication Number:
  US 20170116883A1
• Time in Patent Office: 844 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 21/00 Teaching, or communicating with, the blind, deaf or mute audible presentation of material to be studied G09B5/04; devices or methods for replacing direct visual or auditory perception by another kind of perception A61F9/08, A61F11/04; audible indication of meter readings or of colour G01D7/12; watches for blind persons G04B25/02; speech analysis, speech recognition G10L; sound-recording or reproducing, per se G11B
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 21/006 using audible presentation of the information
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 21/009 Teaching or communicating with deaf persons G09B21/04 takes precedence; deaf and dumb persons G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/02 Methods for producing synthetic speech; Speech synthesisers
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/033 Voice editing, e.g. manipulating the voice of the synthesiser
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/00 Speech recognition G10L17/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/02 Feature extraction for speech recognition; Selection of recognition unit
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/003 Changing voice quality, e.g. pitch or formants
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/02 Speech enhancement, e.g. noise reduction or echo cancellation reducing echo effects in line transmission systems H04B3/20; echo suppression in hands-free telephones H04M9/08
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/0364 for improving intelligibility
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/10 Transforming into visible information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

A system that incorporates the subject disclosure may include, for example, receive user speech captured at a second end user device during a communication session between the second end user device and a first end user device, apply speech recognition to the user speech, identify an unclear word in the user speech based on the speech recognition, adjust the user speech to generate adjusted user speech by replacing all or a portion of the unclear word with replacement audio content, and provide the adjusted user speech to the first end user device during the communication session. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

detecting, by a processing system including a processor, a communication session between a first user and a second user;

receiving, by the processing system, user input from the first user, wherein the user input is sent from a first communication device, wherein the user input comprises user speech;

determining, by the processing system, a first degree of speech impairment and a second degree of speech impairment of the first user responsive to analyzing, by the processing system, the user input from the first user;

selecting a first adjustment technique according to the first degree of speech impairment and a second adjustment technique according to the second degree of speech impairment;

modifying, by the processing system, a first portion of the user input that includes the first degree of speech impairment according to the first adjustment technique by amplifying selective frequencies of the user speech and modifying, by the processing system, a second portion of the user input that includes the second degree of speech impairment according to the second adjustment technique by translating portions of the user speech into sign language, resulting in modified user input; and

providing, by the processing system, the modified user input to a second communication device, wherein the second communication device is associated with the second user,

wherein the determining of the first degree of speech impairment and the second degree of speech impairment of the first user comprises;

obtaining, by the processing system, feedback regarding the first user; and

determining, by the processing system, the first degree of speech impairment and the second degree of speech impairment of the first user according to the feedback.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the first degree of speech impairment of the first user further comprises:

accessing, by the processing system, a first user profile for the first user; and

determining, by the processing system, the first degree of speech impairment and the second degree of speech impairment of the first user according to the first user profile.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the first degree of speech impairment and the second degree of speech impairment of the first user further comprises:

monitoring, by the processing system, previous communications of the first user resulting in monitored previous communications; and

determining, by the processing system, the first degree of speech impairment and the second degree of speech impairment of the first user according to the monitored previous communications.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the feedback is from one of the first user or the second user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the user input comprises one of sign language images of the first user, text, graphics, and music.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising replacing one of the first portion and the second portion of the user input.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the user input comprises first user speech, wherein the analyzing of the user input further comprises identifying, by the processing system, an unclear word, wherein modifying the user input comprises:

identifying, by the processing system, the unclear word in the first user speech; and

replacing, by the processing system, the unclear word with an adjusted unclear work that is clear to the second user.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the modified user input is provided instead of the user input.

9. A device, comprising:

a processing system including a processor;

and a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

detecting a communication session between a first user and a second user;

receiving user input from the first user, wherein the user input is sent from a first communication device, wherein the user input comprises user speech;

accessing a first user profile for the first user;

determining a first degree of speech impairment and a second degree of speech impairment of the first user according to the first user profile;

selecting a first adjustment technique according to the first degree of speech impairment and a second adjustment technique according to the second degree of speech impairment;

modifying a first portion of the user input that includes the first degree of speech impairment according to the first adjustment technique by amplifying selective frequencies the user speech and modifying a second portion the user input that includes second degree of speech impairment according to the second adjustment technique by translating portions of the user speech into sign language, resulting in modified user input; and

providing the modified user input to a second communication device, wherein the second communication device is associated with the second user,

wherein the determining of the first degree of speech impairment and the second degree of speech impairment of the first user comprises;

obtaining feedback regarding the first user; and

determining the first degree of speech impairment and the second degree of speech impairment of the first user according to the feedback.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the determining of the first degree of speech impairment and the second degree of speech impairment of the first user further comprises determining the first degree of speech impairment and second degree of speech impairment of the first user responsive to analyzing the user input from the first user.

11. The device of claim 9, wherein the determining of the first degree of speech impairment and the second degree of speech impairment of the first user further comprises:

monitoring previous communications of the first user resulting in monitored previous communications; and

determining the first degree of speech impairment and the second degree of speech impairment of the first user according to monitored previous communications.

12. The device of claim 9, wherein the modified user input is provided instead of the user input.

13. The device of claim 9, wherein the operations comprise replacing one of the first portion and second portion of the user input.

14. The device of claim 9, wherein the user input comprises one of sign language images of the first user, text, graphics, and music.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:

detecting a communication session between a first user and a second user;

receiving user input from the first user, wherein the user input is sent from a first communication device, wherein the user input comprises user speech;

monitoring previous communications of the first user resulting in monitored previous communications;

determining a first degree of speech impairment and a second degree of speech impairment of the first user according to the monitored previous communications;

selecting a first adjustment technique according to the first degree of speech impairment and a second adjustment technique according to the second degree of speech impairment;

modifying a first portion of the user input that includes the first degree of speech impairment according to the first adjustment technique by amplifying selective frequencies of the user speech and modifying a second portion of the user input that includes the second degree of speech impairment according to the second adjustment technique by translating portions of the user speech into sign language, resulting in modified user input; and

providing the modified user input to a second communication device, wherein the second communication device is associated with the second user,

wherein the determining of the first degree of speech impairment and the second degree of speech impairment of the first user comprises;

obtaining feedback regarding the first user; and

determining the first degree of speech impairment and second degree of speech impairment of the first user according to the feedback.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the determining of the first degree of speech impairment and the second degree of speech impairment of the first user further comprises determining the first degree of speech impairment and the second degree of speech impairment of the first user responsive to analyzing the user input from the first user.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the determining of the first degree of speech impairment and the second degree of speech impairment of the first user further comprises:

accessing a first user profile for the first user; and

determining the first degree of speech impairment and the second degree of speech impairment of the first user according to the first user profile.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the operations comprise replacing one of the first portion and the second portion of the user input.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the user input comprises one of sign language images of the first user, text, graphics, and music.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the modified user input is provided instead of the user input.