System and method for characterizing voiced excitations of speech and acoustic signals, removing acoustic noise from speech, and synthesizing speech
First Claim
1. A method of measuring a sound source of human speech comprising:
- directing one or more electromagnetic (EM) waves from an EM sensor toward a speech organ, that is a generating source of a speech sound,detecting electromagnetic (EM) waves scattered from a sound generating speech organ to measure the conditions of said speech organ while it is generating a speech sound,detecting acoustic speech output from the speaker to obtain acoustic speech information, andcombining the EM speech information with the acoustic speech information using a speech characterization algorithm.
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Abstract
The present invention is a system and method for characterizing human (or animate) speech voiced excitation functions and acoustic signals, for removing unwanted acoustic noise which often occurs when a speaker uses a microphone in common environments, and for synthesizing personalized or modified human (or other animate) speech upon command from a controller. A low power EM sensor is used to detect the motions of windpipe tissues in the glottal region of the human speech system before, during, and after voiced speech is produced by a user. From these tissue motion measurements, a voiced excitation function can be derived. Further, the excitation function provides speech production information to enhance noise removal from human speech and it enables accurate transfer functions of speech to be obtained. Previously stored excitation and transfer functions can be used for synthesizing personalized or modified human speech. Configurations of EM sensor and acoustic microphone systems are described to enhance noise cancellation and to enable multiple articulator measurements.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A method of measuring a sound source of human speech comprising:
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directing one or more electromagnetic (EM) waves from an EM sensor toward a speech organ, that is a generating source of a speech sound, detecting electromagnetic (EM) waves scattered from a sound generating speech organ to measure the conditions of said speech organ while it is generating a speech sound, detecting acoustic speech output from the speaker to obtain acoustic speech information, and combining the EM speech information with the acoustic speech information using a speech characterization algorithm.
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2. A method of measuring a sound source of human speech comprising:
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directing one or more electromagnetic (EM) waves from an EM sensor toward a speech organ, that is a generating source of a speech sound, where the EM sensor directs a near-field, non-propagating EM wave to the sound generating speech organ, detecting electromagnetic (EM) waves scattered from a sound generating speech organ to measure the conditions of said speech organ while it is generating a speech sound, and where the EM sensor measures the change in the detected EM wave properties caused by the changes in the targeted speech organ during its generation of speech sounds, detecting acoustic speech output from the speaker to obtain acoustic speech information, and combining the EM speech information with the acoustic speech information using a speech characterization algorithm. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification