Data processing: speech signal processing – linguistics – language – Speech signal processing – For storage or transmission
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-06
2001-03-20
Dorvil, Richemond (Department: 2741)
Data processing: speech signal processing, linguistics, language
Speech signal processing
For storage or transmission
C704S200000, C704S266000, C704S267000, C704S258000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06205420
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a speech speed converting method and a device for embodying the same which are employed in various video devices, audio devices, medical devices, etc. such as a television set, a radio, a tape recorder, a video tape recorder, a video diskplayer, etc. and, more particularly, aspeech speed converting method and a device for embodying the same which is able to provide speed-converted speech whose speech speed is fitted for a listening capability of a listener by processing a speech of a speaker.
BACKGROUND ART
In general, for example, in the case that one person (listener) listens to the speech of the other person (speaker), when the listening capability, e.g., a speech recognition critical speed (maximum speech speed at which the speech can be precisely identified) of the listener is declined because of aging or any disorder, it becomes often hard for the listener to identify the speech with an ordinary speed or the speech of rapid talking. In such case, normally the listener can make up for the listening capability by using a so-called hearing aid.
However, the conventional hearing aid which is used by the person having declined listening capability or hearing disorder can simply make up for propagation characteristics of an external ear and a middle ear in an auditory organ by virtue of an improvement of a frequency characteristic, a gain control, etc. Therefore, there has been such a problem that decline of the speech identification capability which is mainly associated with degradation of an auditory center cannot be compensated.
In light of the above, recently a speech speed controlled type hearing aiding device has been thought out which can aid the hearing by processing the speech of the speaker such that the speech speed can be adjusted for the listening capability of the listener in substantially real time.
According to this speech speed controlled type hearing aiding device, by executing an expansion process for expanding the speech of the speaker in time, and then storing sequentially the speech obtained by the expansion process into an output buffer memory, and then outputting stored speech, the speech speed of the speaker is changed (slowed down) to compensate the decline of the listening capability of the listener.
However, in the above speech speed controlled type hearing aid in the prior art, there have been problems described in the following.
To begin with, the speech speed controlled type hearing aid in the prior art expands the speech data input as described above by the expansion process, then stores sequentially the speech data obtained by the expansion process into the output buffer memory, and then outputs the stored speech data. Therefore, for example, in case the listener wishes to slow down the speech speed much more or restore the speech speed into the original speed in the middle of listening, the speech speed cannot be restored into the original speed until all the speech data which are stored in the output buffer memory have been output.
For this reason, there has been a problem that, in order to restore the speech speed in the middle of listening, a considerably long delay in time is caused until the existing speech speed can be restored into the original speed.
In addition, such speech speed controlled type hearing aid in the prior art can be employed by not only the above listener who has the declined listening capability but also the listener who has the normal listening capability but wish to listen to the foreign language, for example, in the application field to change (slow down) the speech speed of the speaker in order to compensate their listening capability. However, in this case, there has been a problem that, like the above, a time delay is caused upon changing the speech speed in the middle of listening.
The present invention has been made in light of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a speech speed converting method and a device for embodying the same which is able to convert the speech speed of the output voice to follow instantly an operation of the listener, and thus to improve extremely the convenience of use on the listener side.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
In order to achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for instantly changing the speed of speech, comprising the steps of applying an analysis process to input speech data thereby to obtain block lengths for respective attributes of voiced sound, voiceless sound and silence; splitting the input speech data having a voiced sound section, a voiceless sound section and a silent section into blocks having the block lengths dependent on the respective attributes; storing the split speech data as block speech data and the block lengths sequentially in a buffer and outputting the block speech data and the block lengths sequentially from the buffer; generating connection data at every moment, which are to be replaced or inserted between adjacent block speech data to connect the adjacent block speech data to each other, every block, and then storing the connection data sequentially in another buffer and outputting the connection data sequentially from the other buffer; generating block connection order of the block speech data and the connection data at every moment according to at least the block lengths output sequentially from the buffer and extension scaling factors in time for the respective attributes; and connecting sequentially the block speech data output from the buffer and the connection data output from the other buffer according to the block connection order to thus generate output speech data extended in time as compared with the input speech data.
Accordingly, the speech speed of the output voice can be converted to follow instantly an operation of the listener, and thus the convenience of use on the listener side can be improved extremely.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the connection data are generated block by block by applying two windows to speech data located at a start portion of a concerned block and speech data located at a start portion of a succeeding block respectively, and then overlapadding the start portion of the succeeding block to the start portion of the concerned block, each window having the shape of a predetermined line in a predetermined time interval.
In order to achieve the above object, according to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a device for instantly changing the speed of speech comprising an analysis processor for applying an analysis process to input speech data thereby to obtain block lengths for respective attributes of voiced sound, voiceless sound and silence; a block data splitter for splitting the input speech data having a voiced sound section, a voiceless sound section and a silent section into blocks having the block lengths dependent on the respective attributes; a block data storing portion for sequentially storing speech data split by the block data splitter as block speech data and the block lengths; a connection data generator for generating connection data at every moment, which are able to be replaced or inserted between adjacent block speech data to connect the adjacent block data each other, by using the block speech data obtained by the block data splitter; a connection data storing portion for sequentially storing the connection data being generated by the connection data generator; a connection order generator for generating block connection order of the block speech data and the connection data at every moment according to at least the block lengths output sequentially from the block data storing portion and extension scaling factors in time for the respective attributes; and a speech data connector for connecting sequentially the block speech data output from the block data storing portion and the connection data output from the connection data storing portion based on the block connection order obtained by the blo
Ando Akio
Imai Atsushi
Seiyama Nobumasa
Takagi Tohru
Dorvil Richemond
Nippon Hoso Kyokai
Nolan Daniel A.
Olson & Hierl Ltd.
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