Method for measuring speech characteristics
First Claim
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1. A non-transitory processor-readable medium storing code representing instructions to be executed by a processor, the code comprising code to cause the processor to:
- record a reference speech sample spoken by a native speaker;
record a student speech sample spoken by a language student;
generate a reference digital data file representative of the reference speech sample and a student digital data file representative of the student speech sample, the reference digital data file including information indicative of a sound intensity level as function of time over a chronological duration of the reference speech sample and the student digital data file including information indicative of a sound intensity level as a function of time over a chronological duration of the student speech sample;
segment the reference digital data file into a reference speech-unit data file and the student digital data file into a student speech-unit data file, the reference speech-unit data file including a plurality of reference speech-units from the reference digital data file over a reference speech sample duration and the student speech-unit data file including a plurality of student speech-units from the student digital data file over a student speech sample duration; and
generate a plurality of student speech-unit duration differences by calculating a difference in duration between each student speech-unit from the plurality of student speech-units and the remaining speech-units from the plurality of student speech-units.
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Abstract
In some embodiments, a method includes measuring a disparity between two speech samples by segmenting both a reference speech sample and a student speech sample into speech units. A duration disparity can be determined for units that are not adjacent to each other in the reference speech sample. A duration disparity can also be determined for the corresponding units in the student speech sample. A difference can then be calculated between the student speech sample duration disparity and the reference speech sample duration disparity.
21 Citations
14 Claims
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1. A non-transitory processor-readable medium storing code representing instructions to be executed by a processor, the code comprising code to cause the processor to:
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record a reference speech sample spoken by a native speaker; record a student speech sample spoken by a language student; generate a reference digital data file representative of the reference speech sample and a student digital data file representative of the student speech sample, the reference digital data file including information indicative of a sound intensity level as function of time over a chronological duration of the reference speech sample and the student digital data file including information indicative of a sound intensity level as a function of time over a chronological duration of the student speech sample; segment the reference digital data file into a reference speech-unit data file and the student digital data file into a student speech-unit data file, the reference speech-unit data file including a plurality of reference speech-units from the reference digital data file over a reference speech sample duration and the student speech-unit data file including a plurality of student speech-units from the student digital data file over a student speech sample duration; and generate a plurality of student speech-unit duration differences by calculating a difference in duration between each student speech-unit from the plurality of student speech-units and the remaining speech-units from the plurality of student speech-units. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method for measuring a disparity between two speech samples, comprising:
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recording a reference speech sample spoken by a native speaker; recording a student speech sample spoken by a language student; in a computer process, generating a reference speech digital data file representative of the reference speech sample, the reference speech digital data file including information indicative of sound intensity levels as a function of time over a chronological duration of the reference speech digital data file; in a computer process, generating a student speech digital data file representative of the student speech sample, the student speech digital data file including information indicative of sound intensity levels as a function of time over a chronological duration of the student speech digital data file; in a computer process, segmenting the reference speech digital data file into a reference speech-unit data file the reference speech-unit data file including a sequence of speech units over a reference speech sample duration; in a computer process, segmenting the student speech digital data file into a student speech-unit data file, the student speech-unit data file including a sequence of speech units over a student speech sample duration; in a computer process, generating a reference speech-unit duration disparity based on a duration disparity between a first speech unit and a second speech unit, that is not adjacent to said first speech unit, within the reference speech-unit data file; in a computer process, generating a student speech-unit duration disparity based on a duration disparity between third and fourth speech units in the student speech-unit data file that correspond to locations in the sequence of speech units of the first and second speech units in the reference speech-unit data file; in a computer process, calculating a difference between the student speech-unit duration disparity and the reference speech-unit duration disparity; and in a computer process, generating a sequence of student speech-unit duration differences by calculating a difference in duration between each speech unit in a sequence of speech units in the student speech sample and each other speech unit in the student speech sample. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method, comprising:
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generating a reference speech-unit data file from a native language speaker sample and a student speech-unit data file from a language student speech sample, the reference speech-unit data file including a plurality of reference speech units from the native language speaker sample and the student speech-unit data file including a plurality of student speech units from the language student speech sample; and in a computer process, generating a plurality of student speech-unit duration differences by calculating a difference in duration between each student speech unit from the plurality of student speech units and each other speech unit from the plurality of student speech units. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14)
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Specification