Linguistic segmentation of speech

Abstract

A linguistic segmentation tool (115) includes an acoustic feature extraction component (302) and a lexical feature extraction component (311). The acoustic feature extraction component (302) extracts prosodic features from speech (e.g., pauses, pitch, energy, and rate). The lexical feature extraction component (311) extracts lexical features from a transcribed version of the speech (e.g., words, syntactic classifications of the words, and word structure). A language model is constructed based on the lexical features and an acoustic model is constructed based on the acoustic features. A statistical framework combines the outputs of the language model to generate indications of potential linguistic features.

Description

[0001] This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. .sctn. 119 based on U.S. Provisional Application Nos. 60 / 394,064 and 60 / 394,082 filed Jul. 3, 2002 and Provisional Application No. 60 / 419,214 filed Oct. 17, 2002, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.[0003] A. Field of the Invention[0004] The present invention relates generally to speech processing and, more particularly, to linguistic segmentation of transcribed speech.[0005] B. Description of Related Art[0006] Speech has not traditionally been valued as an archival information source. As effective as the spoken word is for communicating, archiving spoken segments in a useful and easily retrievable manner has long been a difficult proposition. Although the act of recording audio is not difficult, automatically transcribing and indexing speech in an intelligent and useful manner can be difficult.[0007] Speech is typically received into a speech recognition system as a continuous stream of words. In orde...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention relates to a linguistic segmentation tool that can automatically generate linguistic information from spoken speech. The tool uses a combination of lexical and acoustic features to determine the linguistic features of the speech. This allows for effective speech recognition and information management systems to utilize the speech in a more useful and easily retrievable manner. The technical effect of the invention is to provide a tool that can automatically generate linguistic segments from spoken speech, making it easier to manage and utilize the speech for various applications."

Problems solved by technology

As effective as the spoken word is for communicating, archiving spoken segments in a useful and easily retrievable manner has long been a difficult proposition.

Although the act of recording audio is not difficult, automatically transcribing and indexing speech in an intelligent and useful manner can be difficult.

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