Personal device for hearing degradation monitoring

• US 10,339,960 B2
• Filed: 10/13/2016
• Issued: 07/02/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dow, Eli M., Fitzsimmons, Thomas D., Materise, Maurice M., Yu, Jessie
• Primary Examiner(s): Opsasnick, Michael N
• Application Number:
  US15/292,164
• Publication Number:
  US 20180108370A1
• Time in Patent Office: 992 Days
• Field of Search: 381314, 600300
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0002 Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network A61B5/07 takes precedence; transmission systems for measured values G08C; transmission H04B; transmission of digital information H04L; wireless communication networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/12 Audiometering
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/121 evaluating hearing capacity
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4842 Monitoring progression or stage of a disease
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/35 Discourse or dialogue representation
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/04 Training, enrolment or model building
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/66 for extracting parameters related to health condition detecting or measuring for diagnostic purposes A61B5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/90 Pitch determination of speech signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/505 using digital signal processing
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/554 using a wireless connection, e.g. between microphone and amplifier or using Tcoils
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/70 Adaptation of deaf aid to hearing loss, e.g. initial electronic fitting

Abstract

Aspects relate to computer implemented methods and systems for monitoring a user'"'"'s hearing and comprehension. The methods and systems include receiving, by an audio capture device, a first audio input, receiving, by the audio capture device, a second audio input, converting the first and second audio inputs into respective first and second audio signals, transmitting said first and second audio signals to a remote resource, transcribing the first and second audio signals into respective first and second transcriptions, analyzing, by a processor of the remote resource, the first and second transcriptions to determine if a content of the second transcription is related to a content of the first transcription, and recording the analysis to track a hearing and comprehension ability of the user.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method to monitor a user'"'"'s hearing and comprehension, the method comprising:

receiving, by an audio capture device, a first audio input;

receiving, by the audio capture device, a second audio input, wherein the first audio input includes a voice of the user and wherein the second audio input includes a voice of a person having a conversation with the user;

converting the first and second audio inputs into respective first and second audio signals;

transmitting said first and second audio signals to a remote resource;

transcribing the first and second audio signals into respective first and second transcriptions;

analyzing, by a processor of the remote resource, the first and second transcriptions to determine if a content of the second transcription semantically matches a content of the first transcription, wherein the analysis includes an identification of cognitive breaks in the conversation between the user and the person and the identification of concepts within the content of the transcriptions, wherein a determination that the content of the second transcription is not related to the content of the first transcription will indicate possible degradation of hearing of the user;

recording the analysis to track a hearing and comprehension ability of the user; and

transmitting the recorded analysis to a healthcare provider.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the audio capture device is a hearing aid.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the remote resource is a smartwatch or a smart phone.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising generating a notification indicating a loss of hearing or lack of understanding.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising generating a user profile based on language usage by the user, pitch, tone, and cadence, wherein the user profile includes indicia to identify a voice of the user.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising displaying at least the first transcription on a display of the remote device.

7. A system to monitor a user'"'"'s hearing and comprehension comprising:

an audio capture device;

a remote resource in communication with the audio capture device, the remote resource including a memory having computer readable instructions and a processor configured to execute the computer readable instructions, the computer readable instructions comprising;

receiving, by the audio capture device, a first audio input;

receiving, by the audio capture device, a second audio input, wherein the first audio input includes a voice of the user and wherein the second audio input includes a voice of a person having a conversation with the user;

converting the first and second audio inputs into respective first and second audio signals;

transmitting said first and second audio signals to the remote resource;

transcribing the first and second audio signals into respective first and second transcriptions;

analyzing, by the processor, the first and second transcriptions to determine if a content of the second transcription semantically matches a content of the first transcription, wherein the analysis includes an identification of cognitive breaks in the conversation between the user and the person and the identification of concepts within the content of the transcriptions, wherein a determination that the content of the second transcription is not related to the content of the first transcription will indicate possible degradation of hearing of the user;

recording the analysis to track a hearing and comprehension ability of the user;

transmitting the recorded analysis to a healthcare provider.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the audio capture device is a hearing aid.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the remote resource is a smartwatch or a smart phone.

10. The system of claim 7, the computer readable instructions further comprising generating a notification indicating a loss of hearing or lack of understanding.

11. The system of claim 7, the computer readable instructions further comprising generating a user profile based on language usage by the user, pitch, tone, and cadence, wherein the user profile includes indicia to identify a voice of the user.

12. The system of claim 7, the computer readable instructions further comprising displaying at least the first transcription on a display of the remote device.

13. A computer program product to monitor a user'"'"'s hearing and comprehension, the computer program product comprising a remote resource having computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith and in communication with an audio capture device configured to capture a first audio input and a second audio input, wherein the first audio input includes a voice of the user and wherein the second audio input includes a voice of a person having a conversation with the user, and transmit a related first audio signal and a second audio signal to the remote resource, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to:

transcribe the first and second audio signals into respective first and second transcriptions;

analyze the first and second transcriptions to determine if a content of the second transcription semantically matches a content of the first transcription, wherein the analysis includes an identification of cognitive breaks in the conversation between the user and the person and the identification of concepts within the content of the transcriptions, wherein a determination that the content of the second transcription is not related to the content of the first transcription will indicate possible degradation of hearing of the user, the conversation including includes the first audio input and the second audio input;

record the analysis in the computer readable storage medium to track a hearing and comprehension ability of the user; and

transmit the recorded analysis to a healthcare provider.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, the processor further caused to generate a notification indicating a loss of hearing or lack of understanding.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, the processor further caused to generate a user profile based on language usage by the user, pitch, tone, and cadence, wherein the user profile includes indicia to identify a voice of the user.