Personalized Phoneme Synthesis for Speech Intelligibility Training

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional speech intelligibility training for hearing instrument users is time-consuming, expensive, and often ineffective due to the lack of personalized audio material that fits individual user requirements, leading to slow progress in understanding speech in real-life noisy environments.

Innovation Solution

A method and arrangement that records sound from a user's environment, extracts characteristic voice and speech properties of communication partners, and synthesizes phoneme stimuli to match these properties, providing personalized training sequences with feedback on correctness.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of manufacture

If pre-recorded audio sequences are used for speech intelligibility training, then training material is available, but the training is time-consuming and expensive to produce

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveease of creating training materialVSAvoidtime required for training

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of manufactureVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent uses speech synthesis to generate phoneme stimuli that copy the voice characteristics of communication partners found in the user's environment, rather than manually recording each phoneme sequence. This automated copying process dramatically reduces the time and cost of creating training material while maintaining personalization.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #26Copying

Solution Approach 2:

The system automatically extracts voice characteristics from the user's environment and generates personalized training material without requiring external intervention for recording or manual preparation. The hearing instrument itself performs the data collection and synthesis, making the training material creation self-service.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

2Adaptability or versatility

If pre-recorded audio sequences are used for speech intelligibility training, then training material is available, but it lacks personalization to individual user requirements

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvepersonalization of training materialVSAvoidease of creating training material

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies local quality by tailoring the training material to each user's specific needs and environment. Voice characteristics are extracted from the individual user's communication partners, and phoneme stimuli are synthesized with matching characteristics, creating locally optimized training content for each user rather than generic material.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

The system dynamically adapts the training material by continuously learning from the user's environment and adjusting the voice characteristics of synthesized phoneme stimuli. The training material evolves based on the user's specific communication needs and environmental factors, providing dynamic personalization.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

3Productivity

If conventional speech intelligibility training is provided, then training can be conducted, but progress in understanding speech in noisy environments is slow

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvetraining effectivenessVSAvoidtime for achieving training success

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary action by pre-extracting voice characteristics from the user's environment and pre-generating personalized phoneme stimuli before the actual training begins. This preparation ensures that when training starts, the user immediately receives optimized stimuli matched to their specific communication needs, accelerating progress.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent incorporates feedback mechanisms where the system monitors the user's performance and adjusts the synthesized phoneme stimuli accordingly. Feedback from the user's responses informs subsequent training material generation, creating a closed-loop system that continuously improves training effectiveness and accelerates progress.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Data Source

PatentUS20250329265A1Method and arrangement for conducting speech intelligibility training

Publication Date: 2025.10.23 SIVANTOS PTE LTD

AI summary

A method and an arrangement conduct speech intelligibility training. Herein, a sound from an environment of a participant is recorded. The speech of a speaker different from the participant is extracted from the recorded sound, and a characteristic voice property and/or speech property of the speaker is determined. A plurality of test audio sequences are created, wherein each of the test audio sequences contains synthesized speech of a phoneme or phoneme combination. A training step is conducted in which one of the test audio sequences from the plurality is chosen, converted into sound and output to the participant. A response of the participant indicating a phoneme or phoneme combination understood by the participant is collected, and a feedback is output to the participant on whether or not the phoneme or phoneme combination indicated by the participant corresponds to the phoneme or phoneme combination output to the participant.