SPEECH SPEED CONVERSION FACTOR DETERMINING DEVICE, SPEECH SPEED CONVERSION DEVICE, PROGRAM, AND STORAGE MEDIUM

• US 20130325456A1
• Filed: 01/27/2012
• Published: 12/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nippon Hoso Kyokai
• Original Assignee: Nippon Hoso Kyokai
• Inventors: Takagi, Tohru, Seiyama, Nobumasa, Imai, Atsushi, Saitou, Reiko
• Granted Patent: US 9,129,609 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/210
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2025/783 based on threshold decision
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2025/906 Pitch tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/04 Time compression or expansion
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/043 by changing speed
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/78 Detection of presence or absence of voice signals switching of direction of transmission by voice frequency in two-way loud-speaking telephone systems H04M9/10

Abstract

A speech speed conversion factor determining device has a physical index calculation unit including a sound/silence judgment unit that distinguishes between sound and silent intervals of an input signal, a fundamental frequency calculation unit that calculates a fundamental frequency of the signal in the sound intervals and determines stable and unstable intervals, a frequency smoothing unit that smoothes the fundamental frequency in the stable intervals, a pseudo fundamental frequency calculation unit that calculates, for the intervals, a pseudo fundamental frequency by interpolation , and a fundamental frequency general shape connection unit that connects the smoothed and pseudo frequencies to obtain sampled values of a general shape of the frequency, such that the sampled values are output as an index, based on which conversion factor are calculated.

Claims

1. A speech speed conversion factor determining device for determining adaptive conversion factors for speech speed of an input signal, comprising:

a physical index calculation unit including;

a sound/silence judgment unit configured to distinguish between sound intervals and silent intervals of the input signal;

a fundamental frequency calculation unit configured to calculate a fundamental frequency of the input signal in the sound interval at given time intervals and to determine stable intervals in which change in values of the fundamental frequency is within a predetermined variation range and unstable intervals in which change in the values of the fundamental frequency exceeds the predetermined variation range;

a frequency smoothing unit configured to smooth a time variation of the fundamental frequency in the stable interval;

a pseudo fundamental frequency calculation unit configured to calculate, for the unstable interval and the silent interval, a pseudo fundamental frequency by interpolating a fundamental frequency with reference to values of the smoothed fundamental frequency in the stable interval; and

a fundamental frequency general shape connection unit configured to connect the smoothed fundamental frequency and the pseudo fundamental frequency to obtain sampled values of a general shape of a continuous fundamental frequency;

the physical index calculation unit being configured to output the sampled values of the general shape of the fundamental frequency as a physical index; and

a speech speed conversion factor designation unit configured to calculate speech speed conversion factors to be designated for the input signal based on the physical index.

2. The speech speed conversion factor determining device according to claim 1, wherein

the physical index calculation unit includes a power calculation unit configured to calculate a power of the input signal at given time intervals and a power smoothing unit configured to smooth a time variation of the power to obtain sampled values of a general shape of the power, and

the physical index calculation unit outputs the sampled values of the general shape of the fundamental frequency and the sampled values of the general shape of the power as the physical index.

3. The speech speed conversion factor determining device according to claim 2, wherein

the physical index calculation unit includes a voicing degree calculation unit configured to calculate voicing degrees from an input signal waveform and a voicing degree smoothing unit configured to smooth a time variation of the voicing degrees to obtain sampled values of a general shape of the voicing degrees, and

the physical index calculation unit outputs the sampled values of the general shape of the fundamental frequency, the sampled values of the general shape of the power, and the sampled values of the general shape of the voicing degrees as the physical index.

4. The speech speed conversion factor determining device according to claim 2, wherein

the physical index calculation unit includes a fundamental frequency unevenness degree calculation unit configured to calculate unevenness degrees representing a trend of change in the general shape of the fundamental frequency, and

the physical index calculation unit outputs the sampled values of the general shape of the fundamental frequency, the sampled values of the general shape of the power, and the unevenness degrees of the general shape of the fundamental frequency as the physical index.

5. The speech speed conversion factor determining device according to claim 2, wherein

the physical index calculation unit includes a power unevenness degree calculation unit configured to calculate unevenness degrees representing a trend of change in the general shape of the power, and

the physical index calculation unit outputs the sampled values of the general shape of the fundamental frequency, the sampled values of the general shape of the power, and the unevenness degrees of the general shape of the power as the physical index.

6. The speech speed conversion factor determining device according to claim 2, wherein

the physical index calculation unit includes a frequency band splitting/power calculation unit configured to calculate a power spectrum of the input signal, a normalized power in a first frequency band, and a normalized power in a second frequency band higher than the first frequency band, and a split band power ratio calculation unit configured to calculate ratios between the normalized powers of the first frequency band and the second frequency band, and

the physical index calculation unit outputs the sampled values of the general shape of the fundamental frequency, the sampled values of the general shape of the power, and the ratios between the normalized powers of the first frequency band and the second frequency band as the physical index.

7. The speech speed conversion factor determining device according to claim 2, wherein the speech speed conversion factor designation unit calculates the speech speed conversion factors based on the physical index and on a rate of contribution to the speech speed by each physical index.

8. The speech speed conversion factor determining device according to claim 7, further comprising a speech speed conversion factor fine adjustment unit configured to determine final speech speed conversion factors by, upon provision of a required playback time length of an entirety of the input signal or of divided portions of the input signal, finely adjusting the speech speed conversion factors so that a time length of the entirety of the input signal or of divided portions of the input signal matches the required playback time length.

9. A speech speed conversion device for performing adaptive speech speed conversion on an input signal, comprising:

the speech speed conversion factor determining device according to claim 8 and a speech speed conversion unit configured to perform speech speed conversion on the input signal in accordance with the speech speed conversion factors, wherein

the speech speed conversion unit, upon provision of a required playback time length of an entirety of the input signal or of divided portions of the input signal, calculates an amount of temporal misalignment by comparing on a signal time series, at given time intervals, a target signal to be output when expanding or contracting the input signal by a uniform factor with a converted signal yielded by converting the input signal at the speech speed conversion factors, and

the speech speed conversion factor fine adjustment unit readjusts subsequent speech speed conversion factors in accordance with the amount of temporal misalignment.

10. A program for causing a computer, configured as a speech speed conversion factor determining device for determining adaptive conversion factors for speech speed of an input signal, to perform the steps of:

distinguishing between sound intervals and silent intervals of the input signal;

calculating a fundamental frequency of the input signal in the sound interval at given time intervals and determining stable intervals in which change in values of the fundamental frequency is within a predetermined variation range and unstable intervals in which change in the values of the fundamental frequency exceeds the predetermined variation range;

smoothing time variations of the fundamental frequency in the stable intervals;

calculating, for the unstable intervals and the silent intervals, pseudo fundamental frequencies by interpolating fundamental frequencies with reference to values of the smoothed fundamental frequency in the stable intervals;

connecting the smoothed fundamental frequency and the pseudo fundamental frequency to obtain sampled values of a general shape of a continuous fundamental frequency; and

calculating speech speed conversion factors to be designated for the input signal in accordance with the sampled values of the general shape of the fundamental frequency.

11. A storage medium having stored thereon the program according to claim 10.