Systems and Methods for Measuring Speech Intelligibility

• US 20100299148A1
• Filed: 03/29/2010
• Published: 11/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cochlear Limited
• Original Assignee: Cochlear Limited
• Inventors: Skowranski, Mark, Krause, Lee, Banerjee, Bonny
• Granted Patent: US 8,433,568 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/237
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/48 specially adapted for particular use
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/69 for evaluating synthetic or decoded voice signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/43 Signal processing in hearing aids to enhance the speech intelligibility

Abstract

A method for measuring speech intelligibility includes inputting a speech waveform to a system. At least one acoustic feature is extracted from the waveform. From the acoustic feature, at least one phoneme is segmented. At least one acoustic correlate measure is extracted from the at least one phoneme and at least one intelligibility measure is determined. The at least one acoustic correlate measure is mapped to the at least one intelligibility measure.

Claims

1. A method for measuring speech intelligibility, the method comprising the steps of:

inputting a speech waveform;

extracting at least one acoustic feature from the waveform;

segmenting at least one phoneme from the at least one first acoustic feature;

extracting at least one acoustic correlate measure from the at least one phoneme;

determining at least one intelligibility measure; and

mapping the at least one acoustic correlate measure to the at least one intelligibility measure.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the speech waveform is input from a talker.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the speech waveform is based at least in part on a stimulus sent to the talker.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one acoustic feature is extracted utilizing a frame-based procedure.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one acoustic correlate measure is extracted utilizing a segment-based procedure.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one intelligibility measure comprises a vector.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the vector expresses the acoustic correlate measure in a non-binary value.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the non-binary value comprises a value in a range from −

1 to +1.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the non-binary value comprises a value in a range from 0% to 100%.

12. The system of claim 8, further comprising a system processor comprising the first extractor, the first processor, the second extractor, the second processor, and the mapping module.

10. An article of manufacture having computer-readable program portions embedded thereon for measuring speech intelligibility, the program portions comprising:

instructions for inputting a speech waveform from a talker;

instructions for extracting at least one acoustic feature from the waveform;

instructions for segmenting at least one phoneme from the at least one first acoustic feature;

instructions for extracting at least one acoustic correlate measure from the at least one phoneme;

instructions for determining at least one intelligibility measure; and

instructions for mapping the at least one acoustic correlate measure to the at least one intelligibility measure.

11. A system for measuring speech intelligibility, the system comprising:

a receiver for receiving a speech waveform from a talker;

a first extractor for extracting at least one acoustic feature from the waveform;

a first processor for segmenting at least one phoneme from the at least one first acoustic feature;

a second extractor for extracting at least one acoustic correlate measure from the at least one phoneme;

a second processor for determining at least one intelligibility measure; and

a mapping module for mapping the at least one acoustic correlate measure to the at least one intelligibility measure.

13. A method of measuring speech intelligibility, the method comprising the step of utilizing a non-binary value to characterize a distinctive feature of speech.

14. A speech analysis system utilizing the method of claim 13.

15. A speech rehabilitation system utilizing the method of claim 13.

16. A method of tuning a hearing device, the method comprising the steps of:

sending a stimulus to a hearing device associated with a user;

receiving a user response, wherein the user response is based at least in part on the stimulus;

measuring an intelligibility value of the user response;

comparing the stimulus to the intelligibility value;

determining an error associated with the comparison; and

adjusting at least one parameter of the hearing device based at least in part on the error.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the user response comprises a distinctive feature of speech.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the error is determined based at least in part on a non-binary value characterization of the distinctive feature of speech.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the error is determined based at least in part on a binary value characterization of the distinctive feature of speech.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the adjustment is based at least in part on a prior knowledge of a relationship between the intelligibility value and a parameter of the hearing device.