Pronunciation analysis and correction feedback

• US 10,395,649 B2
• Filed: 12/15/2017
• Issued: 08/27/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Li, Zhichao, Liu, Kai, Liu, Su, Ravi, Manjunath
• Primary Examiner(s): McFadden, Susan I
• Application Number:
  US15/844,385
• Publication Number:
  US 20190189116A1
• Time in Patent Office: 620 Days
• Field of Search: 704235
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/07 to the speaker
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/1822 Parsing for meaning understanding
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/187 Phonemic context, e.g. pronunciation rules, phonotactical constraints or phoneme n-grams
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/225 Feedback of the input speech
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/48 specially adapted for particular use

Abstract

A computer-implemented method according to one embodiment includes receiving voice input, parsing the voice input for determining words in the voice input, recognizing at least some of the words, identifying an accent of a speaker of the voice input, evaluating a word accent of at least some of the recognized words based on the identified accent of the speaker and analysis of the recognized words, generating an evaluated accent score for each of the at least some of the recognized words based on the evaluated word accent, identifying at least one of the recognized words as an accent word based on the evaluated accent score thereof, and outputting a recommended correct pronunciation of the accent word or words.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving voice input;

parsing the voice input for determining words in the voice input;

recognizing at least some of the words;

identifying an accent of a speaker of the voice input;

evaluating a word accent of at least some of the recognized words based on the identified accent of the speaker and analysis of the recognized words;

generating an evaluated accent score for each of the at least some of the recognized words based on the evaluated word accent;

identifying at least one of the recognized words as an accent word based on the evaluated accent score thereof;

registering the identified accent word into a personal accent word list of the speaker; and

outputting a recommended correct pronunciation of the accent word or words.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, comprising removing a word from the personal accent word list of the speaker in response to determining that the evaluated accent score thereof is in a predefined range.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, comprising updating a score of the identified accent word in the personal accent word list of the speaker using the evaluated accent score.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, comprising outputting a message in response to the score of the identified accent word being better than a score in the personal accent word list immediately prior to the updating.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein identifying at least one of the recognized words as an accent word further includes comparing the recognized words to the personal accent word list of the speaker, wherein recognized words matching words in the personal accent word list are prioritized for output of the recommended correct pronunciation thereof.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein a plurality of personal accent word lists of the speaker exists, and comprising receiving selection of a context, and in response to receiving the selection of the context, selecting the personal accent word list corresponding to the selected context.

7. A computer-implemented method for maintaining a personal accent word list, the computer-implemented method comprising:

maintaining a plurality of personal accent word lists of a speaker, wherein the personal accent word lists correspond to different contexts;

registering an accent word and an accent score thereof into a first personal accent word list of the plurality of personal accent word lists;

receiving an updated accent score for the accent word;

determining whether the updated accent score for the accent word is in a predefined range;

updating the accent score of the accent word based on the updated accent score in response to the updated accent score being outside the predefined range; and

removing the accent word from the first personal accent word list in response to the updated accent score being in the predefined range.

8. A computer program product for real time pronunciation analysis and correction feedback, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions readable and/or executable by a computer, to cause the computer to perform a method comprising:

receiving, by the computer, voice input;

parsing, by the computer, the voice input for determining words in the voice input;

recognizing, by the computer, at least some of the words;

identifying, by the computer, an accent of a speaker of the voice input;

evaluating, by the computer, a word accent of the recognized words based on the identified accent of the speaker and analysis of the recognized words;

generating, by the computer, an evaluated accent score for each of the recognized words based on the evaluated word accent;

identifying, by the computer, at least one of the recognized words as an accent word based on the evaluated accent score thereof;

updating, by the computer, a score of the identified accent word in a personal accent word list of the speaker using the evaluated accent score; and

outputting, by the computer, a recommended correct pronunciation of the accent word or words.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, comprising program instructions for registering, by the computer, the identified accent word into a personal accent word list of the speaker.

10. The computer program product of claim 8, comprising program instructions for outputting, by the computer, a message in response to the score of the identified accent word being better than a score in the personal accent word list immediately prior to the updating.

11. The computer program product of claim 8, comprising program instructions for removing, by the computer, a word from the personal accent word list of the speaker in response to determining, by the computer, that the evaluated accent score thereof is in a predefined range.

12. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein identifying at least one of the recognized words as an accent word further includes comparing, by the computer, the recognized words to the personal accent word list of the speaker, wherein recognized words matching words in the personal accent word list are prioritized, by the computer, for output of the recommended correct pronunciation thereof.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein a plurality of personal accent word lists of the speaker exists, and comprising receiving, by the computer, selection of a context, and in response to receiving the selection of the context, selecting, by the computer, the personal accent word list corresponding to the selected context.