Method and system for adjusting user speech in a communication session

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10276064-B2
Application number	US-201715400506-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 6, 2017
Priority date	Oct 29, 2013
Publication date	Apr 30, 2019
Grant date	Apr 30, 2019

Abstract

A system that incorporates the subject disclosure may include, for example, receive user speech captured at a second end user device during a communication session between the second end user device and a first end user device, apply speech recognition to the user speech, identify an unclear word in the user speech based on the speech recognition, adjust the user speech to generate adjusted user speech by replacing all or a portion of the unclear word with replacement audio content, and provide the adjusted user speech to the first end user device during the communication session. Other embodiments are disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
detecting, by a processing system including a processor, a communication session between a first user and a second user;
receiving, by the processing system, user input from the first user, wherein the user input is sent from a first communication device, wherein the user input comprises user speech;
determining, by the processing system, a first degree of speech impairment and a second degree of speech impairment of the first user responsive to analyzing, by the processing system, the user input from the first user;
selecting a first adjustment technique according to the first degree of speech impairment and a second adjustment technique according to the second degree of speech impairment;
modifying, by the processing system, a first portion of the user input that includes the first degree of speech impairment according to the first adjustment technique by amplifying selective frequencies of the user speech and modifying, by the processing system, a second portion of the user input that includes the second degree of speech impairment according to the second adjustment technique by translating portions of the user speech into sign language, resulting in modified user input; and
providing, by the processing system, the modified user input to a second communication device, wherein the second communication device is associated with the second user,
wherein the determining of the first degree of speech impairment and the second degree of speech impairment of the first user comprises:
obtaining, by the processing system, feedback regarding the first user; and
determining, by the processing system, the first degree of speech impairment and the second degree of speech impairment of the first user according to the feedback.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining of the first degree of speech impairment of the first user further comprises:
accessing, by the processing system, a first user profile for the first user; and
determining, by the processing system, the first degree of speech impairment and the second degree of speech impairment of the first user according to the first user profile.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining of the first degree of speech impairment and the second degree of speech impairment of the first user further comprises:
monitoring, by the processing system, previous communications of the first user resulting in monitored previous communications; and
determining, by the processing system, the first degree of speech impairment and the second degree of speech impairment of the first user according to the monitored previous communications.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the feedback is from one of the first user or the second user.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user input comprises one of sign language images of the first user, text, graphics, and music.

6. The method of claim 1 , comprising replacing one of the first portion and the second portion of the user input.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the user input comprises first user speech, wherein the analyzing of the user input further comprises identifying, by the processing system, an unclear word, wherein modifying the user input comprises:
identifying, by the processing system, the unclear word in the first user speech; and
replacing, by the processing system, the unclear word with an adjusted unclear work that is clear to the second user.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the modified user input is provided instead of the user input.

9. A device, comprising:
a processing system including a processor;
and a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:
detecting a communication session between a first user and a second user;
receiving user input from the first user, wherein the user input is sent from a first communication device, wherein the user input comprises user speech;
accessing a first user profile for the first user;
determining a first degree of speech impairment and a second degree of speech impairment of the first user according to the first user profile;
selecting a first adjustment technique according to the first degree of speech impairment and a second adjustment technique according to the second degree of speech impairment;
modifying a first portion of the user input that includes the first degree of speech impairment according to the first adjustment technique by amplifying selective frequencies the user speech and modifying a second portion the user input that includes second degree of speech impairment according to the second adjustment technique by translating portions of the user speech into sign language, resulting in modified user input; and

providing the modified user input to a second communication device, wherein the second communication device is associated with the second user,
wherein the determining of the first degree of speech impairment and the second degree of speech impairment of the first user comprises:
obtaining feedback regarding the first user; and
determining the first degree of speech impairment and the second degree of speech impairment of the first user according to the feedback.

10. The device of claim 9 , wherein the determining of the first degree of speech impairment and the second degree of speech impairment of the first user further comprises determining the first degree of speech impairment and second degree of speech impairment of the first user responsive to analyzing the user input from the first user.

11. The device of claim 9 , wherein the determining of the first degree of speech impairment and the second degree of speech impairment of the first user further comprises:
monitoring previous communications of the first user resulting in monitored previous communications; and
determining the first degree of speech impairment and the second degree of speech impairment of the first user according to monitored previous communications.

12. The device of claim 9 , wherein the modified user input is provided instead of the user input.

13. The device of claim 9 , wherein the operations comprise replacing one of the first portion and second portion of the user input.

14. The device of claim 9 , wherein the user input comprises one of sign language images of the first user, text, graphics, and music.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:
detecting a communication session between a first user and a second user;
receiving user input from the first user, wherein the user input is sent from a first communication device, wherein the user input comprises user speech;
monitoring previous communications of the first user resulting in monitored previous communications;
determining a first degree of speech impairment and a second degree of speech impairment of the first user according to the monitored previous communications;
selecting a first adjustment technique according to the first degree of speech impairment and a second adjustment technique according to the second degree of speech impairment;
modifying a first portion of the user input that includes the first degree of speech impairment according to the first adjustment technique by amplifying selective frequencies of the user speech and modifying a second portion of the user input that includes the second degree of speech impairment according to the second adjustment te

Assignees

• At & T Ip I Lp

Inventors

• Wohlert Randolph
• Bangor Aaron
• Stockert Mark

Classifications

• G10L21/02 Primary

  Speech enhancement, e.g. noise reduction or echo cancellation (reducing echo effects in line transmission systems H04B3/20; echo suppression in hands-free telephones H04M9/08) · CPC title

• G10L21/10

  Transforming into visible information · CPC title

• H04L67/22

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G10L13/033

  Voice editing, e.g. manipulating the voice of the synthesiser · CPC title

• G10L21/003

  Changing voice quality, e.g. pitch or formants · CPC title