Patents Assigned to Syracuase Language Systems
  • Patent number: 6109923
    Abstract: A system and apparatus for teaching prosodic features of speech senses and extracts prosodic or suprasegmental variables of a user's speech segment. Prosodic features of speech include pitch and loudness variations, as opposed to articulatory or sequential features of speech which are the primary determinants of phoneme variations. Once prosodic variables have been extracted from a speech segment, the variables are used to modulate a quasiperiodic waveform such as a sinusoid, a pulse-train, or a synthesized vowel-like waveform, or the parameters can be used to modulate a random-noise-like waveform. A modulated waveform can be played acoustically, and the user can hear the variation of the prosodic parameters without interference from the articulatory parameters of a complete waveform. This auditory feedback can be combined with visual feedback of the speech segment to teach proper prosodic speech formation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 1995
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2000
    Assignee: Syracuase Language Systems
    Inventor: Martin Rothenberg