Audio analysis apparatus and audio analysis system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9014395-B2
Application number	US-201213412214-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 5, 2012
Priority date	Sep 27, 2011
Publication date	Apr 21, 2015
Grant date	Apr 21, 2015

Abstract

An audio analysis apparatus includes the following components. A main body includes a discrimination unit and a transmission unit. A strap is used for hanging the main body from a user's neck. A first audio acquisition device is provided to the strap or the main body. A second audio acquisition device is provided to the strap at a position where a distance between the second audio acquisition device and the user's mouth is smaller than the distance between the first audio acquisition device and the user's in a state where the strap is worn around the user's neck. The discrimination unit discriminates whether an acquired sound is an uttered voice of the user or of another person by comparing audio signals of the sound acquired by the first and second audio acquisition devices. The transmission unit transmits information including the discrimination result to an external apparatus.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An audio analysis apparatus comprising:
a main body;
a strap that is to be connected to the main body and is to be used in order to hang the main body from the neck of a user;
a first audio acquisition device that is provided at least one of at the strap, inside the strap, and inside the main body;
a second audio acquisition device that is provided at least one of at the strap and inside the strap at a position where a distance of a sound wave propagation path between the second audio acquisition device and the mouth of the user is smaller than a distance of a sound wave propagation path between the first audio acquisition device and the mouth of the user in a state where the strap is worn around the neck of the user;
a discrimination unit that is in the main body, and configured to discriminate whether a sound acquired by the first and second audio acquisition devices is an uttered voice of the user who is wearing the strap around the neck, configured to discriminate whether the sound acquired by the first and second audio acquisition devices is an uttered voice of another person, on the basis of a result of comparing an audio signal of the sound acquired by the first audio acquisition device with an audio signal of the sound acquired by the second audio acquisition device, and further configured to determine whether the sound acquired by the first and second audio acquisition devices includes noise; and
a transmission unit that is in the main body and configured to transmit to an external apparatus information on the audio signals which includes a discrimination result obtained by the discrimination unit.

2. The audio analysis apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the strap has a tubular structure, and
at least the second audio acquisition device is disposed inside the strap.

3. The audio analysis apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the discrimination unit is configured to determine whether a speaker corresponding to the sound acquired by the first and second audio acquisition devices is the user or the other person, on the basis of a ratio of a sound pressure of the sound acquired by the second audio acquisition device to a sound pressure of the sound acquired by the first audio acquisition device.

4. The audio analysis apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the discrimination unit is configured to determine whether a speaker corresponding to the sound acquired by the first and second audio acquisition devices is the user or the other person, on the basis of a ratio of a sound pressure of the sound acquired by the second audio acquisition device to a sound pressure of the sound acquired by the first audio acquisition device.

5. The audio analysis apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the discrimination unit determines that an uttered voice is absent if each of first and second average sound pressures, respectively acquired by the first and the second audio acquisition devices, is smaller than a first value.

6. The audio analysis apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the discrimination unit determines whether the acquired sound is an uttered voice of the user or an uttered voice of another person, if each of first and second average sound pressures, respectively acquired by the first and the second audio acquisition devices, is greater than or equal to the first value.

7. The audio analysis apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first audio acquisition device is arranged at a position that is separate from the mouth of the user by 30 to 40 centimeters, and the second audio acquisition device is arranged at a position that is separate from the mouth of the user by 10 to 20 centimeters.

8. An audio analysis apparatus comprising:
a first audio acquisition device and a second audio acquisition device that are configured to be worn by a user so as to be at positions where distances of sound wave propagation paths from the mouth of the user differ from one another;
a discrimination unit configured to discriminate whether a sound acquired by the first and second audio acquisition devices is an uttered voice of the user who is wearing the first and second audio acquisition devices, configured to discriminate whether the sound acquired by the first and second audio acquisition devices is an uttered voice of another person other than the user, on the basis of a result of comparing an audio signal of the sound acquired by the first audio acquisition device with an audio signal of the sound acquired by the second audio acquisition device, and further configured to determine whether the sound acquired by the first and second audio acquisition devices includes noise; and
a transmission unit configured to transmit to an external apparatus information on the audio signals which includes a discrimination result obtained by the discrimination unit.

9. The audio analysis apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the discrimination unit is configured to determine whether a speaker corresponding to the sound acquired by the first and second audio acquisition devices is the user or the other person, on the basis of a ratio of a sound pressure of the sound acquired by the second audio acquisition device to a sound pressure of the sound acquired by the first audio acquisition device.

10. The audio analysis apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein in response to the discrimination unit determining that the acquired sound includes noise, the discrimination unit is configured to compare the sound pressures after performing filtering processing on the audio signals of the sound acquired by the first and second audio acquisition devices to remove the noise from the sound.

11. The audio analysis apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the discrimination unit determines that an uttered voice is absent if each of first and second average sound pressures, respectively acquired by the first and the second audio acquisition devices, is smaller than a first value.

12. The audio analysis apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the discrimination unit determines whether the acquired sound is an uttered voice of the user or an uttered voice of another person, if each of first and second average sound pressures, respectively acquired by the first and the second audio acquisition devices, is greater than or equal to the first value.

13. The audio analysis apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the first audio acquisition device is arranged at a position that is separate from the mouth of the user by 30 to 40 centimeters, and the second audio acquisition device is arranged at a position that is separate from the mouth of the user by 10 to 20 centimeters.

14. An audio analysis system comprising:
a plurality of terminal apparatuses each of which is configured to be worn by a user; and
a host apparatus that is configured to acquire information from each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses,
wherein each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses includes
a first audio acquisition device,
a second audio acquisition device that is at a position where a distance of a sound wave propagation path between the second audio acquisition device and the mouth of the user differs from a distance of a sound wave propagation path between the first audio acquisition device and the mouth of the user,
a discrimination unit configured to discriminate whether a sound acquired by the first and second audio acquisition devices is an uttered voice of the user who is wearing the terminal apparatus, configured to discriminate whether the sound acquired by the first and second audio acquisition devices is an uttered voice of another person, on the bas

Assignees

• Harada Haruo
• Yoneyama Hirohito
• Shimotani Kei
• Nishino Yohei
• Iida Kiyoshi
• Naito Takao
• Fuji Xerox Co Ltd

Inventors

• Harada Haruo
• Yoneyama Hirohito
• Shimotani Kei
• Nishino Yohei
• Iida Kiyoshi
• Naito Takao

Classifications

• G10L25/51

  for comparison or discrimination · CPC title

• G10L21/0208

  Noise filtering · CPC title

• G10L25/87

  Detection of discrete points within a voice signal · CPC title

• G10L17/00 Primary

  Speaker identification or verification techniques · CPC title