System And Method For Synthesizing Human Speech

摘要

A method and apparatus are described for detecting voice related vibration in the upper region of the chest and synthesizing human speech. The innovation finds its use in speech rehabilitation applications among others, specifically in speech impairments and speech disability arising due to accident, congenital defects or other reasons. A set of piezoelectric based sensors are placed on an upper region of the chest atop or near sound tendons. The sensors pick up the vibrations in the sound tendons and convert the vibrations into electrical output signals. These signals are filtered, amplified and processed using the signal recognition unit. Subsequently, a set of parameters are extracted and used to generate speech or a written text. The sensors incorporate piezoelectric or other transducing materials. These sensors are externally affixed to a human body surface corresponding to the position of the sounds tendons in the upper chest/neck region.

主权项

1. A method for synthesizing speech using piezoelectric material in contact with a chest of a subject, the method comprising:
obtaining a piezoelectric electrical signal from the piezoelectric material, the piezoelectric electrical signal based on mechanical movement of the chest, the mechanical movement related to movement of sound tendons of the subject during an act of speaking; communicating the piezoelectric electrical signal to a signal processor; manipulating the piezoelectric electrical signal in the signal processor using signal processing techniques; extracting from the manipulated piezoelectric electrical signal a set of speech identifying parameters; and generating a speech signal using the set of speech identifying parameters, the speech signal corresponding to the piezoelectric electrical signal.