Speech analysis using statistical learning

• US 20080082336A1
• Filed: 09/29/2006
• Published: 04/03/2008
• 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: Watson, Joseph, Duke, Gary
• Granted Patent: US 8,005,676 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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 audio data associated with a communication;

determining at least one phoneme associated with the received audio data; and

providing the at least one phoneme in a phonetic transcript, the phonetic transcript including at least one character from a phonetic alphabet.

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, further comprising determining, from the at least one phoneme, whether a party to the communication adheres to a predetermined script.

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

11. A system for providing speech analysis, comprising:

an audio receiving component configured to receive audio data associated with a communication;

a phoneme determining component configured to determine at least one phoneme associated with the received audio data; and

a providing 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.

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

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the phonetic alphabet is encoded for a computer using the ISO10646 standard.

14. The system of claim 11, 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.

15. The system of claim 11, further comprising a script determining component configured to, from the at least one phoneme, determine whether a party to the communication adheres to a predetermined script.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the script determining component is configured to compare the predetermined script with the phonetic transcript to determine whether a party to the communication adheres to a predetermined script.

17. The system of claim 11, 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.

18. The system of claim 11, 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.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising a comparing component configured to compare the automatic score with a manual score to determine an accuracy component with the automatic score.

20. A computer readable medium for providing speech analysis, comprising:

audio receiving logic configured to receive audio data associated with a communication;

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 at least one target search term for the phonetic transcript index file; and

criteria determining logic configured to determine whether the target search term is included in the phonetic transcript index file.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the phonetic alphabet includes the International Phonetic Alphabet.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 20, 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.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 20, 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.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 23, further comprising comparing logic configured to compare the automatic score with a manual score to determine an accuracy component with the automatic score.