SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT
First Claim
1. A method of assessing a key child'"'"'s expressive language development, comprising:
- processing an audio recording taken in the key child'"'"'s language environment to identify segments of the recording that correspond to the key child'"'"'s vocalizations;
applying an adult automatic speech recognition phone decoder to the segments to identify each occurrence of each of a plurality of phone categories, wherein each of the phone categories corresponds to a pre-defined speech sound;
determining a distribution for the phone categories; and
using the distribution in an age-based model to assess the key child'"'"'s expressive language development.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Certain aspects and embodiments of the present invention are directed to systems and methods for monitoring and analyzing the language environment and the development of a key child. A key child'"'"'s language environment and language development can be monitored without placing artificial limitations on the key child'"'"'s activities or requiring a third party observer. The language environment can be analyzed to identify phones or speech sounds spoken by the key child, independent of content. The number and type of phones is analyzed to automatically assess the key child'"'"'s expressive language development. The assessment can result in a standard score, an estimated developmental age, or an estimated mean length of utterance.
131 Citations
31 Claims
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1. A method of assessing a key child'"'"'s expressive language development, comprising:
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processing an audio recording taken in the key child'"'"'s language environment to identify segments of the recording that correspond to the key child'"'"'s vocalizations; applying an adult automatic speech recognition phone decoder to the segments to identify each occurrence of each of a plurality of phone categories, wherein each of the phone categories corresponds to a pre-defined speech sound; determining a distribution for the phone categories; and using the distribution in an age-based model to assess the key child'"'"'s expressive language development. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of assessing a key child'"'"'s expressive language development, comprising:
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receiving a plurality of audio segments that correspond to the key child'"'"'s vocalizations; determining a distribution for each of a plurality of phone categories for the audio segments, wherein each of the phone categories corresponds to a pre-defined speech sound; selecting an age-based model, wherein the selected age-based model corresponds to the key child'"'"'s chronological age and the age-based model includes a weight associated with each of the phone categories; and using the distribution in the selected age-based model to assess the key child'"'"'s language development. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method of assessing a key child'"'"'s expressive language development, comprising:
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receiving a plurality of audio segments that correspond to the key child'"'"'s vocalizations; analyzing the audio segments, independent of content, to determine a distribution for each of a plurality of phone categories for the audio segments, wherein each of the phone categories corresponds to a pre-defined speech sound; selecting an age-based model, wherein the selected age-based model corresponds to the key child'"'"'s chronological age; and using the distribution in the selected age-based model to assess the key child'"'"'s language development. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A system for of assessing a key child'"'"'s language development, comprising:
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a processor-based device comprising an application having an audio engine for processing an audio recording taken in the key child'"'"'s language environment to identify segments of the recording that correspond to the key child'"'"'s vocalizations; an adult automatic speech recognition phone decoder for processing the segments that correspond to the key child'"'"'s vocalizations to identify each occurrence of each of a plurality of phone categories, wherein each of the phone categories corresponds to a pre-defined speech sound; and an expressive language assessment component for determining a distribution for the phone categories and using the distributions in an age-based model to assess the key child'"'"'s expressive language development, wherein the age-based model is selected based on the key child'"'"'s chronological age and the age-based model includes a weight associated with each of the phone categories. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31)
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Specification