Education and demonstration – Language – Speech
Patent
1994-07-21
1996-11-12
Cheng, Joe
Education and demonstration
Language
Speech
434156, 381150, 395 209, H04R 312
Patent
active
055734030
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to an installation for audio-phonatory training, particularly for treatment, by auditory means, of audio-phonatory problems presented by some people, generally speaking, by small children.
Installations for treating patients with audio-phonatory problems are already known. In particular, the applicant for French Patent No. 84 12019 published under number 2 568 437, proposes an installation comprising a natural audio frequency converter for converting a parametric signal, intended to be applied to a person to be treated, starting from an audio frequency signal fed to the input which is passed through the intermediatory of an electroacoustic transducer. More precisely, the audio frequency converter apparatus comprises: amplification means which cuts off the voltage supplied by the latter at a threshold, after rectification; amplification means which adds, at a threshold, the voltage supplied by the latter, after rectification, and has a time constant which is at least equal to that of the first sensor means; threshold sensor means; and outputs of the first and second threshold sensor means and the oscillator means, and of which the output supplies the said parametric signal.
The present invention provides an improvement on the prior art installation which has not given complete satisfaction.
The present invention relates to an audio frequency converter apparatus of the aforementioned type.
According to a general characteristic of the invention, at least one of the characteristics of the group formed by the amplitude and the frequency of the parametric signal varies as a function of at least one of the characteristics of the group formed by the logarithm of the amplitude and the frequency of the audio frequency signal, which allows a parametric signal which is pleasant for the person being treated to listen to be obtained.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, at least one of the first and second threshold sensor means comprises at least one diode and resistor network to vary the amplitude and/or the frequency of the parametric signal as a function of the logarithm of the amplitude and/or the frequency of the audio frequency signal.
With a view to providing a parametric signal which is efficient from a clinical point of view, and which is not too disagreeable to listen to by the person being treated, the time constant or constants of the first and/or second threshold sensors may be an increasing function of the frequency of the audio frequency signals.
According to one aspect of the invention, the parametric signal is a compound signal comprising a fundamental frequency and a plurality of harmonic frequencies and the modulator means is provided with filtering means adapted to at least partially filter the harmonic frequencies.
In practice, the filter means comprises a low pass type filter connected to the output of the modulator means.
According to a variation of the present invention, the oscillator means emits a rectangular signal having a form factor in the order of 0.5 which allows the paired harmonic frequencies of the parametric signal to be removed.
When it is desirable, for certain cases of re-education, the audio frequency signal is chopped at a chosen rate with silences of a predetermined length.
Advantageously, the time constant or constants of the first and/or second threshold sensors may be adjusted so that they remain below a predetermined value, that value being representative of a rhythmical sequence taking into consideration the phonemes comprising the audio frequency signal.
The invention also provides an installation for treating patients having audio phonatory problems comprising an audio frequency converter apparatus in accordance with the characteristics referred to above.
In practice, the installation comprises, at the input to the converter, an input switch adapted to be connected to a sound reproducing unit and/or one or more microphones, and at the output of the converter, an output switch adapted to be connected to a sound reproduction
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Beller Isi
Fradin Boris
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