Systems and techniques for producing spoken voice prompts

• US 9,413,887 B2
• Filed: 01/26/2015
• Issued: 08/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Eliza Corporation (Gainwell Technologies)
• Original Assignee: Eliza Corporation (Gainwell Technologies)
• Inventors: Lavoie, Lisa, Merrow, Lucas, Drane, Alexandra, Rizzo, Frank, Krull, Ivy
• Primary Examiner(s): Yen, Eric
• Application Number:
  US14/604,997
• Publication Number:
  US 20150139411A1
• Time in Patent Office: 561 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/30 Semantic analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/033 Voice editing, e.g. manipulating the voice of the synthesiser
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/0335 Pitch control
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/04 Details of speech synthesis systems, e.g. synthesiser structure or memory management
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/10 Prosody rules derived from text; Stress or intonation
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/1822 Parsing for meaning understanding
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/28 Constructional details of speech recognition systems
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/22 Interactive procedures; Man-machine interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/24 the user being prompted to utter a password or a predefined phrase
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/228 of application context
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/39 using speech synthesis speech synthesis per se G10L13/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4936 Speech interaction details speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4938 comprising a voice browser which renders and interprets, e.g. VoiceXML

Abstract

Methods and systems are described in which spoken voice prompts can be produced in a manner such that they will most likely have the desired effect, for example to indicate empathy, or produce a desired follow-up action from a call recipient. The prompts can be produced with specific optimized speech parameters, including duration, gender of speaker, and pitch, so as to encourage participation and promote comprehension among a wide range of patients or listeners. Upon hearing such voice prompts, patients/listeners can know immediately when they are being asked questions that they are expected to answer, and when they are being given information, as well as the information that considered sensitive.

Claims

1. A method of producing spoken voice prompts for telephony-based informational interaction, the method comprising:

for one or more voice prompts, determining, based on context and/or meaning of the text of the one or more voice prompts, words that receive an optimized speech parameter that is optimized based on a context of a dialog with a listener;

recording the one or more voice prompts, and thereby producing one or more spoken voice prompts that have the optimized speech parameter; and

conveying the one or more spoken voice prompts to a listener over a telephone system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, based on context and/or meaning of the text of the one or more voice prompts, the number of words that receive an optimized speech parameter.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the optimized speech parameter comprises one or more pitch accents.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the one or more pitch accents yield a pause lengthening pattern.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the one or more pitch accents comprise a phrase-final lengthening pattern.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising one or more boundary tones, wherein the one or more pitch accents and boundary tones comprise a defined intonation pattern.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the defined intonation pattern comprises specific rises or specific falls of the fundamental frequency of a spoken prompt.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the intonation pattern corresponds to a defined information type conveyed by the spoken prompts.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the intonation pattern is determined based on responses of a population of participants, in a computer-based exchange, to specific types of voice prompts.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising using high pitch accents to indicate new information.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising using high pitch accents to indicate important information.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising using low pitch accents to indicate disturbing new information.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising using low pitch accents to indicate sensitive information.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more pitch accents comprise a syllable bearing primary lexical stress approximately triple the its usual length of the syllable.

15. The method of claim 8, further comprising using syllable lengthening to convey phrasal sentential punctuation.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein, to indicate a comma in the spoken prompt, a phrase final syllable is approximately doubled in length compared to an unaccented same syllable to indicate a comma in the spoken prompt.

17. The method of claim 3, wherein the words receiving the one or more pitch accents are determined based on a desired behavior that is indicated by desired of a person receiving a telephony call.

18. The method of claim 3, wherein the words receiving the one or more pitch accents are determined based on a desired behavior change that is desired of a person receiving a telephony call.

19. A system for directing optimized voice prompts to a telephone during the course of an outbound telephone call, the system comprising:

a recording system configured and arranged to record one or more spoken voice prompts that have one or more optimized speech parameters that are optimized based on a context of a dialog with a listener;

an automated calling system configured and arranged to place an automated outbound telephone call conveying the one or more spoken voice prompts to a target person receiving the outbound telephone call at the called party telephone; and

an automated speech recognition system configured and arranged to process auditory responses received from the target person in response to the one or more voice prompts.