Voice analyzer

• US 9,153,244 B2
• Filed: 05/18/2012
• Issued: 10/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujifilm Business Innovation Corp. (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Shimotani, Kei, Nishino, Yohei, Yoneyama, Hirohito, Iida, Kiyoshi, Fujii, Akira, Harada, Haruo
• Primary Examiner(s): Serrou, Abdelali
• Application Number:
  US13/475,378
• Publication Number:
  US 20130166299A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,236 Days
• Field of Search: 704/231, 704/270, 704/270.1, 704/246, 704/236, 704/215, 704/E15.039, 704/E15.041, 704/E17.004, 381/330, 381/57, 381/94.1, 381/66, 381/92
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/00 Speaker identification or verification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/02 Speech enhancement, e.g. noise reduction or echo cancellation reducing echo effects in line transmission systems H04B3/20; echo suppression in hands-free telephones H04M9/08
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/84 for discriminating voice from noise
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/005 for combining the signals of two or more microphones specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407

Abstract

A voice analyzer includes an apparatus body, a strap that is connected to the apparatus body and is used to hang the apparatus body from a neck of a user, a first voice acquisition unit provided in the strap or the apparatus body, a second voice acquisition unit provided at a position where a distance of a sound wave propagation path from a mouth of the user is smaller than a distance of a sound wave propagation path from the mouth of the user to the first voice acquisition unit, and an identification unit that identifies a sound, in which first sound pressure acquired by the first voice acquisition unit is larger by a predetermined value or more than second sound pressure acquired by the second voice acquisition unit, on the basis of a result of comparison between the first sound pressure and the second sound pressure.

Claims

1. A voice analyzer comprising:

an apparatus body;

a strap that is connected to the apparatus body and is used to hang the apparatus body from a neck of a user;

a first voice acquisition unit that is provided in the strap or the apparatus body in order to acquire a voice;

a second voice acquisition unit that is provided at a position where a distance of a sound wave propagation path from a mouth of the user is smaller than a distance of a sound wave propagation path from the mouth of the user to the first voice acquisition unit when the strap is hung on the neck of the user and that acquires a voice; and

an identification unit that identifies a sound, in which second sound pressure that is sound pressure of a voice acquired by the second voice acquisition unit is larger by a predetermined value than first sound pressure that is sound pressure of a voice acquired by the first voice acquisition unit, on the basis of a result of comparison between the first sound pressure and the second sound pressure,

wherein the identification unit identifies whether the voices acquired by the first and second voice acquisition units are voices of the user, who has the strap hung on the neck, or voices of others on the basis of the comparison result between the first sound pressure and the second sound pressure.

2. The voice analyzer according to claim 1,

wherein the first voice acquisition unit is provided in the apparatus body, and

the second voice acquisition unit is provided in the strap.

4. The voice analyzer according to claim 2, wherein the identification unit identifies whether the voices acquired by the first and second voice acquisition units are voices of the user, who has the strap hung on the neck, or voices of others on the basis of a result of comparison between the first sound pressure and the second sound pressure for another sound identified by the identification unit.

5. The voice analyzer according to claim 1, wherein the identification unit identifies whether the voices acquired by the first and second voice acquisition units are voices of the user, who has the strap hung on the neck, or voices of others on the basis of a result of comparison between the first sound pressure and the second sound pressure for another sound identified by the identification unit.

3. A voice analyzer comprising:

an apparatus body;

a strap that is connected to the apparatus body and is used to hang the apparatus body from a neck of a user;

a first voice acquisition unit that is provided in the strap or the apparatus body in order to acquire a voice;

a second voice acquisition unit that is provided at a position where a distance of a sound wave propagation path from a mouth of the user is smaller than a distance of a sound wave propagation path from the mouth of the user to the first voice acquisition unit when the strap is hung on the neck of the user and that acquires a voice; and

an identification unit that identifies a sound, in which second sound pressure that is sound pressure of a voice acquired by the second voice acquisition unit is larger by a predetermined value than first sound pressure that is sound pressure of a voice acquired by the first voice acquisition unit, on the basis of a result of comparison between the first sound pressure and the second sound pressure, wherein the identification unit identifies whether the voices acquired by the first and second voice acquisition units are voices of the user, who has the strap hung on the neck, or voices of others on the basis of a result of comparison between the first sound pressure and the second sound pressure for another sound identified by the identification unit.