Patent ID: 6638217
Filing Date: 2003-10-28
Classification: G10L,Y10S

Abstract:
A method for detecting emotional status of an individual, the method comprising:receiving a speech specimen generated by the individual and deriving therefrom intonation information; and generating an output indication of the individual's emotional status based on said intonation information, wherein said intonation information includes the number of thorns in at least a portion of the speech specimen and wherein said generating step comprises of computing the individual's excitement level in a current crucial portion defined within at least one current segment based on said number of thorns and generating an output indication of said excitement level, wherein said intonation information also comprises lengths of plateaus within said portion, and wherein said excitement level comprises a decreasing function of (a) the number of thorns in at least a portion of the speech specimen and of (b) the diversity of plateau length within said portion, wherein said excitement level in said crucial portion is computed as a Sum of (a) a function of a ratio between calSPT and an SPT value of said current segment and of (b) a function of a ratio between calJQ and a JQ value of the current segment; calSPT signifying an average of m SPT values in m respective calibration segments, m signifying a number of segments of a subiect's voice recording which are used for calibration in which a profile of truth/neutral emotional state is built for the subject, each SPT value comprising a function of a ratio between a number of thorns detected in an individual crucial portion of a segment and the number of samples n included in the individual crucial portion, calJQ signifying an average of m JQ values in m respective calibration segments; and each JQ value signifying a square root of plateau diversity in an individual crucial portion of a segment.