Speech analysis using statistical learning

• US 8,005,676 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2006
• Issued: 08/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verint Americas Incorporated (Verint Systems Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Verint Americas Incorporated (Verint Systems Incorporated)
• Inventors: Duke, Gary, Watson, Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): Chawan; Vijay B
• Application Number:
  US11/540,281
• Publication Number:
  US 20080082336A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,789 Days
• Field of Search: 704/260, 704/251, 704/235, 704/258, 704/254, 704/231, 704/267, 704/242, 704/246, 704/270
• US Class Current: 704/254
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/187 Phonemic context, e.g. pronunciation rules, phonotactical constraints or phoneme n-grams
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence

Abstract

Included are embodiments for providing speech analysis. At least one embodiment of a method includes receiving audio data associated with a communication and providing the at least one phoneme in a phonetic transcript, the phonetic transcript including at least one character from a phonetic alphabet.

Claims

1. A method for providing speech analysis, comprising:

receiving, at a contact center, audio data associated with a communication between an agent and a customer;

determining, at a data analytics component executing on a processor of a computing device, at least one phoneme associated with the received audio data;

providing, by the data analytics component, the at least one phoneme in a phonetic transcript, the phonetic transcript including at least one character from a phonetic alphabet; and

determining, at the data analytics component, from the at least one phoneme, whether a the agent adheres to a predetermined script that the agent was to use in the communication between the agent and the customer, and if the agent needs additional training based on how well the agent adheres to the predetermined script.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the phonetic alphabet includes the International Phonetic Alphabet.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the phonetic alphabet is encoded for a computer using the ISO10646 standard.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving search criteria for the phonetic transcript; and

determining whether the search criteria is included in the phonetic transcript.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a manual score associated with the audio data; and

determining at least one scoring pattern from the manual score.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a scoring pattern associated with the audio data; and

determining, from the received scoring pattern, an automatic score associated with the audio data.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising comparing the automatic score with a manual score to determine an accuracy component with the automatic score.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring a communication for audio data;

forecasting an optimum level of service;

scheduling a staffing level to achieve the forecasted optimum level of service;

determining, from the scheduled staffing, at least one area for improvement; and

readjusting scheduling according to the at least one area for improvement.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the agent adheres to a predetermined script includes comparing the predetermined script with the phonetic transcript.

10. A system for providing speech analysis, comprising:

an audio receiving component configured to receive audio data associated with a communication between an agent and a customer at a contact center;

a phoneme determining component executing within a data analytics component executing on a processor of a computing device, configured to determine at least one phoneme associated with the received audio data;

a providing component executing within the data analytics component configured to provide the at least one phoneme in a phonetic transcript, the phonetic transcript including at least one character from a phonetic alphabet; and

a script determining component executing within a data analytics component configured to, from the at least one phoneme, determine whether the agent adheres to a predetermined script that the agent was to use in the communication between the agent and the customer, and if the agent needs additional training based on how well the agent adheres to the predetermined script.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the phonetic alphabet includes the International Phonetic Alphabet.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the phonetic alphabet is encoded for a computer using the ISO10646 standard.

13. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a criteria receiving component configured to receive search criteria for the phonetic transcript; and

a criteria determining component configured to determine whether the search criteria is included in the phonetic transcript.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the script determining component is configured to compare the predetermined script with the phonetic transcript to determine whether the agent adheres to a predetermined script.

15. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a manual score receiving component configured to receive a manual score associated with the audio data; and

a manual score determining component configured to determine at least one scoring pattern from the manual score.

16. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a scoring pattern receiving component configured to receive a scoring pattern associated with the audio data; and

an automatic score determining component configured to determine, from the received scoring pattern, an automatic score associated with the audio data.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising a comparing component configured to compare the automatic score with a manual score to determine an accuracy component with the automatic score.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing computer executable instructions that when executed by a processor of a computing device execute a method for providing speech analysis, comprising:

audio receiving logic configured to receive audio data associated with a communication between an agent and a customer;

phoneme determining logic configured to determine at least one phoneme associated with the received audio data;

indexing logic configured to provide the at least one phoneme in a phonetic transcript index file, the phonetic transcript including at least one character from a phonetic alphabet;

criteria receiving logic configured to receive a predetermined script that the agent was to use in the communication between the agent and the customer; and

criteria determining logic configured to determine whether the agent adheres to a predetermined script based on the phonetic transcript index file and if the agent needs additional training based on how well the agent adheres to the predetermined script.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the phonetic alphabet includes the International Phonetic Alphabet.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, further comprising:

manual score receiving logic configured to receive a manual score associated with the audio data; and

manual score determining logic configured to determine at least one scoring pattern from the manual score.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, further comprising:

scoring pattern receiving logic configured to receive a scoring pattern associated with the audio data; and

automatic score determining logic configured to determine, from the received scoring pattern, an automatic score associated with the audio data.

22. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21, further comprising comparing logic configured to compare the automatic score with a manual score to determine an accuracy component with the automatic score.