Abstract:
A system includes a microprocessor and first and second memories. The microprocessor is programmed to receive a text stream of words and to compare the words received with key words stored in the first memory. The second memory stores data representing musical sounds with one or more of the sounds being associated with a key word stored in the first memory. If there is a match between a word received by the microprocessor and a key word stored in the first memory, an electrical signal representing the corresponding sound stored in the second memory is provided to the microprocessor which then sends same to a speaker or to a display device such as a computer monitor. In one embodiment the data representing the received words is converted into an analog electrical speech signal which is sent to the speaker. The text stream can be generated by a person speaking or from a computer disk which contains words in digital format. If the text stream is generated by a person, then a microphone receives the voice signal and converts same into an electrical signal which is converted from analog to digital form by an analog-to-digital converter which has an output connected to an input of the microprocessor.

Description:
This application claims benefit of Provisional application Ser. No. 60/132,572 filed May 5, 1999. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to apparatus and methods for adding emotive background sound to a text sequence which can be derived from speech or text containing words in a digital data file or in a data stream. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     During reading of text or listening to a conversation, it can be pleasurable to listen to a background sound such as music or environment sounds such as sounds heard at a beach or in a forest. Background sound should match the emotive content of the text read or speech heard. 
     It is well known to convert text to speech. U.S. Pat. No. 4,429,182 discloses a numeric calculator that generates synthetic speech as numbers are entered and displays entered data. U.S. Pat. No. 4,701,862 discloses an alarm system having speech output in response to digitized time signals. The clock will display a given time with an associated audio recording. U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,580 discloses alpha-numeric character data are used to create sound output based on look-up tables. The tables modify phonic data to assign pause, stress, duration, pitch and intensity to create improved synthetic speech. Intoned speech from text is not an emotive background sound. 
     Music can be comprised of a melody and lyrics. The melody provides an emotive background for the words of the lyrics. The melody, which is a sound pattern, and the lyrics, which can be tonal (sung) lyrics or atonal speech (rap) paced by the melody, can be stored as a combined digital record. The digital record links the text to the sound sequence. The lyrics associated with the music are chosen by an author to match the melody in a specific sequence. Music can be re-pitched or the pace changed, however the coupling between the lyrics and melody is fixed by an author. 
     Music can be stored digitally in such formats as the Level 1 General MIDI. In the MIDI format, musical data is digitally represented as multiple sound tracks, each track capable of voicing an assigned instrument. In addition, music in a MIDI file can be modified with parameters such as expression, sustain and pitch bend. U.S. Pat. No. 5,792,972 discloses user control during the playback of a MIDI file. Voices and pitch can be changed in response to user input. Pacing between the words and melody must be maintained when playing music. 
     Combinations of text and music are used in karaoke systems. Music is generated from a source and images are displayed in response to the music. In association with the music, the text of the lyrics is displayed in association with the progress of the melody so that a singer can read the words associated with the music. U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,097 discloses apparatus playing music and text and having control means to move between passages of multimedia segments. Presentation of text and melody is fixed by the author. The system always maintains an association between words and melody. 
     Hypermedia consists of coupled data files that can incorporate still images, video images, text and music. A hypermedia file can consist of a set of text including “metadata” that associates other digital data with the text. Metadata can include parameters describing attributes of display of characters, such as “bold”, “underline”, etc. Metadata can also incorporate vectors associating audio, text and/or video records. The association between various medias must be created by an author. U.S. Pat. No. 5,596,695 discloses a plurality of data types that are coupled together as metadata. Prior art in the field of hypermedia does not disclose methods of generating an emotive background sound from a text. 
     Prior art discloses books with touch or pointer responsive noise generation associated with portions of text. The noises can have emotive content. U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,432 discloses a book having touch-activated areas for generating sound within the body of text. U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,100 discloses such a book having text, and a positional transducer for producing sound recorded on a page associated with said text. An author is required to generate an association between the sound and text. A reader must manually queue the associated sound environment. It would be useful to have an emotive background sound generated automatically in response to key words in the text. 
     Apparatus has been disclosed that generates an acoustic background while reading text to improve reading. U.S. Pat. No. 5,033,966 provides a cyclic stereophonic sound pattern that is heard while reading text. The side-to-side change in apparent sound direction encourages a rapid sweeping of eye focus during text reading. The background is not responsive to the emotive content of the text. U.S. Pat. No. 5,061,185 delivers audio signals to each ear, a first audio signal having subliminal messages and an audio signal exclusive of the subliminal messages. The background is not coupled to the textual semantic or emotive content. 
     Prior art discloses means for displaying combinations of text, images and sound. Presentation of text and images is paced by a melody. Hypertext structures require user interaction to initiate processing of media files. Other means have been disclosed which require a user to selectively trigger media events that can incorporate video, audio, still image and text presentation. Crafting interactions between the various media structures has been done manually by an author. It would be advantageous for a person to be reading or hearing words and have an emotive background sound automatically playing in response to key words in the text at a user selected pace. It would be advantageous for such responsive background sounds to occur when reading or speaking or coupled with transmitted speech. 
     Music is a pre-scripted coupling of non-vocal sound and lyrics. The separate elements must be pre-scripted by an author. There is no way to decouple the music from a word stream. Simply playing music or an environmental recording while reading or listening to speech provides environmental sound, however, the environmental sound is not responsive to the emotive content of the text. 
     It would be advantageous to have an emotive background sound provided with key words in a text. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is directed to a system for providing emotive background sound to a given text comprising a source of text that is to be provided with an emotive background and that includes key words that serve to indicate the background that is appropriate, a store of such keys words including parameters to provide an emotive background sound appropriate to the key words; and a process to recognize key words within said text using said store to provide an emotive background sound appropriate to key words. The emotive background environment is generated from text that can be displayed on a monitor or from spoken text. 
     Viewed from a first apparatus aspect, the present invention is directed to apparatus comprising memory apparatus and a processor. The memory apparatus has stored therein key words and/or key nontextual indicia and emotive sounds. Each key word and/or nontextual indicia is associated with one of the emotive sounds. The processor is to detect words and nontextual indicia received thereby and to compare the received words and nontextual indicia to key words and nontextual indicia stored in the memory. The processor is adapted to generate an output signal representing an emotive sound associated with a key word and/or key nontextual indicia if there is a match with a received word and/or nontextual indicia. 
     Viewed from a second apparatus aspect, the present invention is directed to a system for providing an emotive background sound to a text that includes key words and/or key nontextual indicia. The system comprises first and second memories, and a microprocessor. The first memory has stored therein key words and/or key nontextual indicia. The second memory has stored therein emotive sounds with each key word and each key nontextual indicia having associated therewith an emotive sound. The microprocessor is in communication with the memories and being adapted to compare received words and nontextual indicia of the text with the key words and key nontextual indicia stored in the first memory, and if there is a match between one of more key words and the key nontextual indicia, to generate at an output thereof a signal representative of the emotive sound associated with the matched key word or nontextual indicia. 
     Viewed from a third apparatus aspect, the present invention is directed to a system for providing an emotive background sound to a text that includes key words and/or nontextual indicia. The system comprises means for recognizing words and/or nontextual indicia in the text, a first file containing key words and key nontextual indicia, a second file containing emotive sounds with an emotive sound being associated with a key word and/or key nontextual indicia, and means for comparing the words and/or nontextual indicia with those contained in the first file, and if there is found to be a match, for causing an emotive sound to be generated which corresponds to the matched key word and/or key nontextual indicia. 
     Viewed from a fourth apparatus aspect, the present invention is directed to a system for providing an emotive background sound to a text that includes key words and/or key nontextual indicia. The system comprises a processor system that includes a processor, first and second memory sections, and sound generating circuitry. The first memory section stores key words and key nontextual indicia. The second memory stores emotive sounds with each emotive sound corresponding to a key word or key nontextual indicia stored in the first memory section. The processor is adapted to sense words and nontextual indicia in the text and to compare same to the key words and the key nontextual indicia stored in the first memory section and to cause the sound generating circuitry to generate an emotive sound if there is a match of a key word and/or key non-text indicia of the text with one in the first memory. 
     Viewed from a fifth apparatus aspect, the present invention is directed to a system for providing an emotive background sound to a text that includes key words and/or key nontextual indicia. The system comprises a store of key words and key nontextual indicia, and a store of background sounds that is controlled by the key words or key nontextual indicia whereby as key words and/or nontextual indicia of the text are recognized. The store of background sounds provides an emotive background sound appropriate to the key word or nontextual indicia. 
     Viewed from a sixth apparatus aspect, the present invention is directed to a system which generates a background emotive sound in response to speech which contains words and sounds. The system comprises a microphone, an analog-to-digital converter; a microprocessor in communication with the analog-to-digital converter; a first memory having stored therein key words and key sounds; and a second memory having stored therein emotive sounds with each key word and each key sound having associated therewith an emotive sound. The microphone is adapted to be in communication with the speech and generates an analog electrical representative of the speech in communication therewith. The analog-to-digital converter is in communication with the microphone and converts an electrical signal representative of speech in communication with the microphone into a digital format. The microprocessor is in communication with the analog-to-digital converter. The microprocessor is in communication with the memories and is adapted to compare received words and sounds of the speech with the key words and key sounds stored in the first memory, and if there is a match between one or more of the key words and/or the key sounds, to generate at an output thereof a signal representative of the emotive sound associated with the matched key word or key sound. 
     Viewed from a seventh apparatus aspect, the present invention is directed to a system which, in response to digitized words and sounds, generates speech and a background emotive sound. The system comprises first and second microprocessors, a first memory having stored therein key words and key sounds, a second memory having stored therein emotive sounds with each key word and each key sound having associated therewith an emotive sound, first and second sound drivers, and a speaker. The first microprocessor is adapted to receive the digitized words and sounds and in communication with the memories and being adapted to compare the digitized words and sounds with the key words and key sounds stored in the first memory, and if there is a match between one or more of the key words and/or the key sounds, to generate at an output thereof a signal representative of the emotive sound associated with the matched key word or key sound. The second microprocessor is adapted to receive the digitized words and sounds and to generate at an output thereof a signal representative of the words and sounds. The first sound driver is in communication with the first microprocessor. The second sound driver is in communication with the second microprocessor. The sound mixer is in communication with the first and second sound drivers. The speaker is communication with the sound mixer. 
     Viewed from an eighth apparatus aspect, the present invention is directed to an emotive dictionary useful for providing emotive background sound to either a text in digitized form or speech comprising a memory having stored therein key words and/or equivalent and associated data corresponding to an emotive sound. 
     Viewed from a ninth process aspect, the present invention is directed to a method of providing an emotive background sound to a given text which includes at least one key word and/or key nontextual indicia. The method comprises the steps of: providing a source of key words and/or key nontextual indicia with an emotive sound appropriate to each key word or key nontextual indicia being associated with each key word or nontextual indicia; sensing the text to determine if a key word or key nontextual indicia is present therein; and generating an emotive sound associated with a key word and/or key nontextual indicia found in the text. 
     Viewed from a tenth process aspect, the present invention is directed to a method of providing an emotive background sound to speech which includes at least one key word and/or key sound. The method comprises the steps of: sensing the words and sounds contained within the speech; comparing the words and sounds contained within the speech to key words and key sounds stored within a file with each key word or key sound contained within the file having an emotive sound appropriate thereto associated therewith; and generating an emotive sound appropriate to a key word and/or key sound found within the speech such that the emotive sound occurs during the speech. 
     Viewed from an eleventh process aspect, the present invention is directed to a method of providing an emotive background sound to a given text which includes at least one key word and/or key nontextual indicia. The method comprises the steps of: providing a source of key words and/or key nontextual indicia with an emotive sound appropriate to each key word or key nontextual indicia being associated with each key word or nontextual indicia; sensing the text to determine if a key word or key nontextual indicia is present therein; and generating a file containing said text and emotive sound parameters associated with a key word and/or key nontextual indicia found in the text. 
     The invention will be more readily understood from the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings and claims. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 shows a system in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 shows a system in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 3 shows a system in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 4 shows a system in accordance with a fourth embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 5 shows a system in accordance with a fifth embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 6 shows a system in accordance with a sixth embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 7A shows a first sound environment useful with the embodiments of FIGS. 1,  2 ,  3 , and  6 ; 
     FIG. 7B shows a second sound environment useful with the embodiments of FIGS. 1,  2 ,  3 , and  6 ; 
     FIG. 8 shows an emotive dictionary useful with the embodiments of FIGS. 1,  2 ,  3 ,  5 , and  6 ; 
     FIG. 9 shows a text passage showing sound environment modifiers generated from text in accordance with the present invention; 
     FIG. 10 shows the same text passage as is shown in FIG. 9 with embedded sound environment modifiers. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a system (apparatus)  8 A in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention. System  8 A generates an emotive background sound  70  (illustrated as musical note) based on the emotive content of text contained in a file  10  that comprises a plurality of words  15  that are stored as digital data. File  10  can, for example, be part of an electronic book, a magnetic disk., or other type of medium capable of storing a file. Alternatively, file  10  can be a transmitted data file. 
     System  8 A comprises a computer system  9 A, a sound driver  60 , a speaker  65 , a display driver (means for converting)  50 , a display (computer monitor)  55 , and optionally a reading position control  45  (shown as a dashed line rectangle). Computer system  9 A comprises a processor (microprocessor, means for recognizing and comparing)  20 , a sound environment file (memory apparatus, a memory, a memory section, a store)  75 , an emotive dictionary file (memory apparatus, a memory, a memory section, a store)  80 , and a pointer memory storage file  40 . An optional position control  45  (shown in dashed lines) has an output which is coupled to computer system  8 A which receives input to pointer memory storage file  40 . On display  55  is shown a position pointer  44  that can be generated from pointer memory  40  that is regularly updated to locate position pointer  44  on display  55 . Position controller  45  can be keys on a keyboard, a hand manipulated controller, or a touch screen over display  55 . Computer system  9 A can be a personal computer having programing which facilitates the present invention. Emotive dictionary file  80  and sound environment file  75  are data files accessed by processor  20 . 
     Emotive dictionary  80  stores a set of key words, each key word having one or more modifying or selecting parameters that represents the emotive content for a key word or group of key words. Sound parameters can be data representing “fast” or “slow”, “loud” or “quiet”, “high”, or “low” that can correspond to the musical values of tempo, volume, or pitch. Emotive dictionary  80  does not need a complete set of words; only key words having emotive content and parameters changing the emotive background sound based on the emotive content of one or more key words. Alternatively, key words of words  15  can have associated data that selects a portion of music or sound from sound environment file  75  that reflects the emotive content of a key word  15 . The selected sound environment  85  is a set of digital data, shown as a block with a musical note, that is sent to sound driver  60  to generate drive signals to speaker  65  and emit a text responsive emotive sound  70 . 
     Processor  20  can access file  10  and receives words  15  (shown as boxes each having a “w” contained therein) from file  10 . Processor  20  receives words  15  and can send same to an input of display driver  50 . Display driver  50  has an output coupled to an input of display  55 . It generates a video display of the words  15  received at an output which are visually displayed on display  55 , which is typically a computer monitor. Processor  20  also compares words  15  with words stored in emotive dictionary  80 . If there is a match between a word  15  and a word stored in emotive dictionary  80 , then processor  20  selects a set of corresponding sound generation parameters from the environment file  75  which corresponds to the matched word and via a second output thereof generates a music or sound environmental  85  sent to sound driver  60 . Sound driver  60  can be a conventional sound card, for example, Creative Labs Soundblaster series of sound cards. Sound driver  60  delivers an electrical signal to speaker  65  which then emits a background sound  70  which is indicated by the musical note shown. Speaker  65  can be a set of headphones. 
     Processor  20  can keep a history file  43  of words  15  that have been recently processed. A list of key words  15  is generated of key words  15  that have been processed for a given time, such as  15  seconds. The list can further include key words  15  ahead of the an estimated reading position stored in pointer memory file  40 . An emotive background sound  70  is generated by computing a composite index based on all of the key words stored in history file  43  to select sound environment  85 . 
     Reading of words  15  is initiated by a reader who sets pointer memory  40  to an initial position within file  10  using reading position control  45 . Reading position control  45  is used by the processor to determine a users current reading position. Words at the initial reading position within file  10  are shown on display  55 . A user uses reading position control  45  to change effective reading area, such as scrolling text up or down on display  55 . As the text changes on display  55 , background sound  70  changes in response to the emotive content of the displayed text. 
     Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown a system  8 B in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention. System  8 B is very similar to system  8 A of FIG.  1  and reference numbers of similar components are the same. The only differences are that file  10  has additionally an environmental header  12  which can be added to or be stored by processor  20 , as all of or part of sound environment file  75 . Environmental header  12  adds metadata having a plurality of or modifiable music programs which are added to sound environment file  75  before or during the reading of words  15 . Environmental header  12  provides the capacity for a given emotive sound environment to be associated with text in a given file  10 . A plurality of environmental headers  12  can be stored in various areas of file  10  to change the data generated for sound environment  85  for different portions of text. A user can select an environment header  12  loaded from file  10  or one of several stored environments headers  12  within sound environment file  75  while reading from file  10 . 
     Referring now to FIG.  3 . there is shown a system  8 C in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention. System  8 C functions to read file  10 , which can be, for example, part of an electronic book, a magnetic disk, or other type of medium capable of storing a file, and to generate therefrom a file  11  which has an emotive background embedded therein with file  11  also being a medium capable of storing text (words) and an emotive background. Components of FIG. 3 which are similar or essentially identical to those of FIGS. 1 and 2 have been given the same reference number or the same reference number with the same or a different letter following same. 
     System  8 C comprises a computer system  9 C, which comprises a processor  20 , a sound environment file  75  having at least one environment header  12 , and an emotive dictionary file  80 . Computer system  9 C can be a personal computer having programing which facilitates the present invention. Emotive dictionary file  80  and sound environment file  75  are data files each accessed by processor  20 . Words  15  are routed from file  10  to an input of processor  20 . Processor  20  acts on words  15  from file  10  to generate an associated sound environment  85 . An output of processor  20  generates a file  11  which receives and stores words  15  and data for sound environment (content)  85  and an optional environmental header  12 . Thus emotive background sound data has now been generated within file  11 . 
     Referring now to FIG. 4, there is shown a system  8 D in accordance with a fourth embodiment of the present invention. System  8 D takes the words of file  11  and emotive word-associated sound environment  85  of system  8 C and generates therefrom a visual display on a monitor  55  and an emotive background sound  70  from a speaker  65 . Components of FIG. 3 which are similar or essentially identical to those of FIGS. 1,  2 , and  3  have been given the same reference number or the same reference number with the same or a different letter following same. 
     Processor  20  reads file  11  and loads the environmental header  12  into sound environment file  75  prior to receiving words  15  from file  11 . As sets of words are shown on display  55 , processor  20  operates on sound environment  85  associated with displayed key words and uses sound environment  85  to create emotive background sound  70 , generating a text responsive emotive background sound based on key words  15 . System  8 D supplies emotive background sound  70  in response to the value in pointer memory storage file  40 . 
     Referring now to FIG. 5, there is shown a system  8 E in accordance with a fifth embodiment of the present invention. System  8 E is similar to system  8 A of FIG.  1  and reference numbers of similar components are the same. The primary difference between system  8 A of FIG.  1  and system  8 E of FIG. 5 is that the words  15  are not from a data file  10  as shown in FIG. 1, but are generated by speech  92  which is sensed by a microphone  90 . An output of microphone  90  is coupled to an input of analog-to-digital converter  95  whose output is coupled to an input of a speech converter  100  that converts the digitized sound into a sequence of words  15  that are coupled to an input of processor  20 . Processor  20  operates on the words  15  in concert with sound environment file  75  and emotive dictionary  80  to provide sound environment  85  to sound drive  60  which provides drive signals to speaker  65  that generates emotive background sound  70 . An output of microphone  90  is optionally coupled to a first input of a sound mixer  105  which has a second input optionally coupled to the sound mixer  105 . An output of sound mixer  105  is coupled a transmitter  110  which can transmit combined speech and an emotive background sound. 
     System  8 E can be placed in social environments. A plurality of musical themes can be stored as sound environment file  75 . Conversation monitored through microphone  90  will have added thereto appropriate sound environments which are selected based on matches of words  15  with key words in emotive dictionary  80 . Using sound mixer  105  and transmitter  110  allows for speech to be combined with emotive background sound and transmitted to a location remote from the speaker  65 . 
     Referring now to FIG. 6, there is shown a system  8 F in accordance with a sixth embodiment of the present invention. System  8 F generates an emotive background sound  70  based on the emotive content of words  15  contained in a file  10  and generates speech  92  from the words  15 . The emotive background sound  70  is mixed with the speech  92  and is emitted by a speaker  65 . File  10  can, for example, be part of an electronic book, a magnetic disk, or other type of medium capable of storing a file. 
     System  8 F contains many of the same components of system  8 A of FIG.  1 . Components of system  8 F which are the same as those of system  8 A of FIG. 1 have the same reference numbers. System  8 F comprises a computer system  9 F, a sound driver  60 , a speech driver  62 , a sound mixer  105 , a speaker  65 , and a file  10  which contains words  15 . Computer system  9 A comprises a first processor  20 , a second processor  20 A, a sound environment file  75 , an emotive dictionary file  80 , a grammar library  120 , and a phonetic library  125 . Words  15  from file  10  are operated on by processors  20  and  20 A simultaneously. An emotive background sound  40  is generated in the same essential manner as in system  8 A by processor  20 , environment file  75 , emotive dictionary file  80 , driver  60  and speaker  65 . Speech  92  is generated by processor  20 A, grammar library  120 , phonetic library  125 , driver  62  and speaker  65 . Signals from drivers  60  and  62  are coupled to sound mixer  105  which drives speaker  65 . 
     In one embodiment, file  10  of FIGS. 1,  2 ,  3 , and  6  corresponds to an episode of a science fiction adventure. A science fiction adventure sound environment file  75  is shown in FIG.  7 A. Sound environment file  75  stores a plurality of acoustic themes that can be combined to create a specific environment. For each theme there is an emotive identifier  82  and an associated sound element  77 . Sound element  77  is a short repeated musical passage on a one or more instruments that is broadcast on an assigned MIDI channels. All sound elements  77  are in a given common musical key and rhythm to prevent acoustic dissonance. Alternatively, sound elements  77  can be a set of sounds associated with a given natural environment. Separate channels are used for each of themes based on sound element  75 . The sum of all selected sound elements  77  provides, sound environment  85 . 
     A beach (seashore) sound environment file  75  is shown in FIG. 7B. A correspondence can exist between common emotive identifiers  82  in each file. Referencing FIG. 1, sound environment file  75  can initially hold the “beach” environment shown in FIG. 7B. A user requests that processor  20  display a portion of file  10 . File  10  includes the science fiction adventure environment header  12  shown in FIG. 7A, which is loaded into sound environment file  75 . An initial theme,  0 , can be played from speaker  65 . As a user displays different portions of text, key words can trigger various musical themes stored in the science fiction emotive environment. Alternatively, a reader may select the seashore environment from sound environment file  75  for the same text. 
     FIG. 8 represents an emotive dictionary  80  of systems  8 A,  8 B,  8 D,  8 E, and  8 F of FIGS. 1,  2 ,  4 ,  5 , and  6 , respectively. Emotive dictionary  80  contains a list of key words  15 , and associated emotive identifiers  82  characterizing a the emotive content of a key word  15 . For example, key word “fight” is associated with emotive identifier “ 5 ”; key word “shlock” is associated with emotive identifier “ 2 ”; and key word “captain” is associated with emotive identifier “ 1 ”. Processor  20  reads words  15  from file  10  and searches for a word match from emotive dictionary  80 . Matches for a given key word  15  permit selection of emotive identifiers  82  for a portion of displayed text. Each emotive identifier  82  is used by processor  20  to select a sound element  77  of sound environment file  75  to be played for a displayed key word. 
     In another embodiment, emotive dictionary  80  can be combined with sound environment  75 . Emotive identifiers  82  are eliminated, and sound elements  77  are stored within emotive dictionary  80  and associated with key words  15 . If words  15  in the text match key words  15  in the emotive dictionary  80 , sound element  77  in emotive dictionary  80  is used to generate sound environment  85  directly. Combining sound environment  75  with emotive dictionary  80  eliminates the capability of having a plurality of different types of sound environments  85  for a given passage, as well as eliminating the capability of having a different emotive dictionaries  80  operating on a given emotive environment  75 . 
     FIG. 9 shows a passage from the science fiction adventure. Those words  15  which are key words match entries in emotive dictionary  80 . When word  15  of a file  10  (see FIGS. 1,  2 ,  3 , and  6 ) is a key word, processor  20  retrieves the associated emotive identifier  82  from emotive dictionary  80 . Emotive identifiers  82  for the displayed portion of text are used to select sound elements  77 , in conjunction with other sound elements from text history  43  to provide a sound environment  85 . A user can select an alternative environment, such as the original “seashore” environment for the same text. Each sound environment file  75  should have common parameters such as pitch and tempo or natural environment to optimize harmonization of musical and thematic expression in emotive sound environment  70 . Sound environment  70  does not drive the reading process, but responds to key words in text on display  55  that are associated with a person&#39;s reading position or current spoken word. 
     FIG. 10 shows the same text in FIG. 9 with emotive identifiers  82  having been embedded within the text of file  10  (to result in file  11 ) in association with key words  15  by the system  8 C of FIG.  3 . System  8 D of FIG. 4 operates on file  11  (a metadata file) to create an emotive background sound  70  in response to displaying word portions of file  11 . Embedding sound modifying parameters in file  10  requires emotive dictionary  80  to embed the metadata; however, emotive dictionary  80  is not needed to generate an emotive sound environment in FIG.  4 . In system  8 D of FIG. 4, processor  20  must have the capacity to respond to the sound environment  85  associated with displayed text at a reader&#39;s pace to generate an emotive sound background  70 . Emotive identifiers  82  are not shown on display  55  and can operate on one of several sound environments in sound environment file  75 . 
     The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention.