JP2013140534A - Voice analysis device, voice analysis system, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a voice analysis device and the like capable of capturing a conversation relation between wearers from information related to voices acquired by voice acquisition means of plural wearers.SOLUTION: A host apparatus 20 includes: a data reception part 21 for receiving information related to a voice signal of a voice from a terminal device 10 that includes plural microphones 11 and 12, disposed in positions with different distances from the mouth of a wearer (uttering region), for obtaining a voice; and a conversation relationship determination part, using self/other identifier information being information produced by identifying whether a voice is from the wearer or a third party other than the wearer on the basis of a difference in sound pressure of the voice acquired by the plural microphones 11 and 12, discriminates synchronism of the voice received by the data reception part from plural terminal devices 10, thereby determining the conversation relationship of the wearer.

Description

  The present invention relates to a voice analysis device, a voice analysis system, and a program.

  In Patent Document 1, a user ID for identifying a user, a voice acquired by a terminal, a voice reception unit that receives a voice utterance period from the terminal, and a correlation that represents a correlation between voices received from a plurality of terminals. A proximity determination unit that calculates a value and compares it with a predetermined first threshold value, and determines that a plurality of terminals that have received the voice for which the correlation value is calculated are close to each other when the correlation value is greater than the first threshold value; It is determined whether or not the relationship between utterance periods received from a plurality of terminals determined to be close within an arbitrary target period to be detected as a dialog conforms to a predetermined rule, and is determined to conform to the rule. A dialog detection device is provided that includes a dialog detection unit that detects dialog information including a target period when the ID is set and user IDs received from a plurality of terminals determined to be close to each other.

JP 2008-242318 A

  An object of this invention is to grasp | ascertain the conversation relationship between wearers from the information regarding the audio | voice acquired by the audio | voice acquisition means of several wearers.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided audio information for receiving information related to an audio signal of a voice from a terminal device provided with a plurality of voice acquisition means for acquiring voices arranged at different distances from the utterance part of the wearer. Self-other identification information, which is information identifying whether the sound belongs to the wearer or other than the wearer based on the sound pressure difference of the sound acquired by the receiving unit and the plurality of sound acquisition means. A conversation relation determination unit that determines the conversation relation of the wearer by determining the synchrony of the voice from the information related to the voice signal of the voice received by the voice information reception unit from the plurality of terminal devices; Is a voice analysis device characterized by comprising:

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the conversation relation determination unit determines whether at least one of the length of the overlapping time and the length of the gap time of the voices acquired from the plurality of wearers is within a predetermined range. The speech analysis apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the synchrony is discriminated.
The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the self-other identification information used in the conversation relation determination unit is included in information related to a voice signal of a voice received by the voice information receiving unit. The speech analysis apparatus according to 1 or 2.

  The invention according to claim 4 is acquired by a terminal device provided with a plurality of voice acquisition means for acquiring voices arranged at different positions from the utterance part of the wearer, and the plurality of voice acquisition means. A self-other identification unit for deriving self-other identification information, which is information identifying whether the voice belongs to the wearer or another person other than the wearer, based on the sound pressure difference between the voice and the self-other identification unit; A conversation relation determination unit that determines the conversation relation of the wearer by determining the synchrony of the voice received by the voice acquisition unit using the derived self-other identification information. Is a speech analysis system.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a voice information transmitting unit that transmits information related to a voice signal including the self-other identification information, and a voice that receives information related to a voice signal transmitted from the voice information transmitting unit. The voice analysis system according to claim 4, further comprising an information receiving unit.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, information related to a voice signal of a voice is received from a terminal device that is provided with a plurality of voice acquisition means for acquiring voices at different positions from the wearer's utterance site. Self-other identification information which is information for identifying whether the sound belongs to the wearer or other than the wearer by the sound pressure difference between the sounds acquired by the plurality of sound acquisition means And a function for determining the conversational relationship of the wearer by determining the synchrony of the sound from the information regarding the sound signal of the sound received from the plurality of terminal devices by the sound information receiving unit. It is a program.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide a voice analysis device capable of grasping the conversation relationship between the wearers from the information about the voices acquired by the voice acquisition means of the plurality of wearers.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is easier to determine the synchronism as compared with the case where this configuration is not adopted.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, it is not necessary to directly transmit voice as compared with the case where this configuration is not adopted, and security can be improved.
According to the invention of claim 4, it is possible to construct a system capable of grasping the wearer's communication relationship based on the voices acquired by the voice acquisition means of a plurality of wearers.
According to the invention of claim 5, the voice acquisition means can be easily worn by the wearer, and the process for grasping the conversation relationship between the wearers can be performed in a unified manner.
According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the computer can realize a function that can grasp the conversational relationship between the wearers from the information about the voices acquired by the voice acquisition means of the plurality of wearers.

It is a figure which shows the structural example of the audio | voice analysis system by this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the terminal device in this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the positional relationship of a wearer and another person's mouth (speaking part), and a microphone. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the distance between a microphone and a sound source, and sound pressure (input sound volume). It is a figure which shows the identification method of a wearer's own speech voice and another person's speech sound. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the terminal device in this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the host apparatus in this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the condition where the several wearer who each mounted | wore with the terminal device of this embodiment is talking. It is a figure which shows the example of the speech information of each terminal device in the conversation condition of FIG. (A)-(b) is the figure which demonstrated more concretely the method to discriminate | determine the synchrony of the audio | voice in this embodiment. (A)-(b) is the figure which showed the specific example of the terminal device actually used. It is the figure which showed the experimental method and experimental result by Example 1. FIG. It is the figure which showed the experimental method and experimental result by a comparative example.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
<System configuration example>
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a speech analysis system according to the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 1, the speech analysis system 1 according to the present embodiment includes a terminal device 10 and a host device 20 that is an example of a speech analysis device. The terminal device 10 and the host device 20 are connected via a wireless communication line. As a type of the wireless communication line, a line using an existing method such as Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity), Bluetooth (registered trademark), ZigBee, or UWB (Ultra Wideband) may be used. In the illustrated example, only one terminal device 10 is described, but as will be described in detail later, the terminal device 10 is worn and used by each user and is actually used. There are as many terminal devices 10 as there are persons. Hereinafter, a user wearing the terminal device 10 is referred to as a wearer.

  The terminal device 10 includes a plurality of microphones (first microphone 11 and second microphone 12) and amplifiers (first amplifier 13 and second amplifier 14) as voice acquisition means for acquiring voice. In addition, the terminal device 10 includes a voice analysis unit 15 that analyzes the acquired voice, a data transmission unit 16 that transmits the analysis result to the host device 20, and further includes a power supply unit 17.

  The 1st microphone 11 and the 2nd microphone 12 are arranged in the position where the distance from a wearer's mouth (voice part) differs. Here, the first microphone 11 is arranged at a position (for example, about 35 cm) far from the mouth (speaking part) of the wearer, and the second microphone 12 is a position (for example, about 10 cm) near the mouth (speaking part) of the wearer. ). As the types of microphones used as the first microphone 11 and the second microphone 12 of the present embodiment, various existing types such as a dynamic type and a condenser type may be used. In particular, a non-directional MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) type microphone is preferable.

  The first amplifier 13 and the second amplifier 14 amplify electrical signals (audio signals) that are output according to the audio acquired by the first microphone 11 and the second microphone 12, respectively. As the amplifier used as the first amplifier 13 and the second amplifier 14 of the present embodiment, an existing operational amplifier or the like may be used.

  The voice analysis unit 15 analyzes the voice signal output from the first amplifier 13 and the second amplifier 14. Then, it is identified whether the voice acquired by the first microphone 11 and the second microphone 12 is a voice uttered by the wearer wearing the terminal device 10 or a voice uttered by another person. Details of specific processing for voice identification will be described later.

  The data transmission unit 16 transmits the acquired data including the analysis result by the voice analysis unit 15 and the terminal ID to the host device 20 via the wireless communication line. As information to be transmitted to the host device 20, in addition to the above analysis results, for example, the acquisition time of the sound by the first microphone 11 and the second microphone 12 and the acquired sound according to the contents of the processing performed in the host device 20 Information such as sound pressure may be included. Further, the terminal device 10 may be provided with a data storage unit for storing the analysis result by the voice analysis unit 15 and the stored data for a certain period may be transmitted collectively. It may be transmitted via a wired line. In the present embodiment, the data transmission unit 16 functions as an audio information transmission unit that transmits information related to an audio signal of audio.

  The power supply unit 17 supplies power to the first microphone 11, the second microphone 12, the first amplifier 13, the second amplifier 14, the voice analysis unit 15, and the data transmission unit 16. As the power source, for example, an existing power source such as a dry battery or a rechargeable battery is used. Moreover, the power supply part 17 contains well-known circuits, such as a voltage conversion circuit and a charge control circuit, as needed.

  The host device 20 outputs a data reception unit 21 that receives data transmitted from the terminal device 10, a data storage unit 22 that stores the received data, a data analysis unit 23 that analyzes the stored data, and an analysis result. Output unit 24. The host device 20 is realized by an information processing device such as a personal computer. Further, as described above, a plurality of terminal devices 10 are used in the present embodiment, and the host device 20 receives data from each of the plurality of terminal devices 10.

  The data receiving unit 21 corresponds to the above-described wireless line, receives data from each terminal device 10, and sends it to the data storage unit 22. In the present embodiment, the data receiving unit 21 functions as an audio information receiving unit that receives information related to the audio signal of the audio transmitted by the data transmitting unit 16. The data storage unit 22 is realized by a storage device such as a magnetic disk device of a personal computer, for example, and stores received data acquired from the data receiving unit 21 for each speaker. Here, the speaker is identified by collating the terminal ID transmitted from the terminal device 10 with the name of the speaker registered in advance in the host device 20 and the terminal ID. Further, the wearer state may be transmitted from the terminal device 10 instead of the terminal ID.

  The data analysis unit 23 is realized by a program-controlled CPU of a personal computer, for example, and analyzes data stored in the data storage unit 22. The specific analysis content and analysis method can take various contents and methods depending on the purpose and use of the system of the present embodiment. For example, the frequency of dialogue between wearers of the terminal device 10 and the tendency of each wearer's dialogue partner may be analyzed, or the relationship between the dialogues may be inferred from information on individual utterance length and sound pressure in the dialogue. Done.

  The output unit 24 outputs the analysis result from the data analysis unit 23 or performs output based on the analysis result. The means for outputting the analysis result or the like can take various means such as display display, print output by a printer, voice output, and the like according to the purpose and use of the system and the content and format of the analysis result.

<Configuration example of terminal device>
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the terminal device 10.
As described above, the terminal device 10 is used by being attached to each user. In order for the user to be able to wear the terminal device 10 according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the terminal device 10 includes a device main body 30 and a strap 40 connected to the device main body 30. In the configuration shown in the figure, the user puts the neck through the strap 40 and hangs the apparatus main body 30 from the neck.

  The apparatus main body 30 is a thin rectangular parallelepiped case 31 made of metal, resin, or the like, and a circuit and a power source for realizing at least the first amplifier 13, the second amplifier 14, the voice analysis unit 15, the data transmission unit 16, and the power supply unit 17. The power supply (battery) of the unit 17 is accommodated. The case 31 may be provided with a pocket for inserting an ID card or the like displaying ID information such as the name and affiliation of the wearer. Further, such ID information or the like may be printed on the surface of the case 31 itself, or a sticker describing the ID information or the like may be attached.

  The strap 40 is provided with a first microphone 11 and a second microphone 12 (hereinafter referred to as microphones 11 and 12 when the first microphone 11 and the second microphone 12 are not distinguished). The microphones 11 and 12 are connected to the first amplifier 13 and the second amplifier 14 accommodated in the apparatus main body 30 by cables (electric wires or the like) passing through the inside of the strap 40. As the material of the strap 40, various existing materials such as leather, synthetic leather, cotton and other natural fibers and synthetic fibers such as resin, metal, and the like may be used. Moreover, the coating process using a silicon resin, a fluororesin, etc. may be given.

  The strap 40 has a cylindrical structure, and the microphones 11 and 12 are housed inside the strap 40. By providing the microphones 11 and 12 inside the string 40, the microphones 11 and 12 are prevented from being damaged or soiled, and the conversation person is prevented from being aware of the presence of the microphones 11 and 12. Note that the first microphone 11 disposed at a position far from the wearer's mouth (speaking site) may be provided in the apparatus main body 30. In the present embodiment, a case where the first microphone 11 is provided on the strap 40 will be described as an example.

  Referring to FIG. 2, the first microphone 11 is provided at an end (for example, a position within 10 cm from the connection site) of the strap 40 connected to the apparatus main body 30. Thus, the first microphone 11 is disposed at a position about 30 cm to 40 cm away from the wearer's mouth (speaking part) in a state where the wearer hangs the strap 40 around the neck and lowers the apparatus main body 30. . Even when the first microphone 11 is provided in the apparatus main body 30, the distance from the wearer's mouth (speaking part) to the first microphone 11 is approximately the same.

  The second microphone 12 is provided at a position away from the end of the strap 40 connected to the device main body 30 (for example, a position of about 20 cm to 30 cm from the connection site). Thus, the second microphone 12 is positioned at the wearer's neck (for example, a position corresponding to the clavicle) in a state where the wearer hangs the strap 40 on the neck and the apparatus main body 30 is lowered. From about 10 cm to 20 cm.

  In addition, the terminal device 10 of this embodiment is not limited to the structure shown in FIG. For example, in the microphones 11 and 12, the distance of the sound wave arrival path from the first microphone 11 to the wearer's mouth (speaking part) is the distance of the sound wave arrival path from the second microphone 12 to the wearer's mouth (speaking part). The positional relationship between the first microphone 11 and the second microphone 12 may be specified so as to be several times. Therefore, the first microphone may be provided on the strap 40 on the back side of the neck. Further, the microphones 11 and 12 are not limited to the configuration provided on the strap 40 as described above, and may be attached to the wearer by various methods. For example, each of the first microphone 11 and the second microphone 12 may be configured to be individually fixed to clothes using pins or the like. Alternatively, a dedicated mounting tool designed so that the positional relationship between the first microphone 11 and the second microphone 12 is fixed at a desired position may be prepared and mounted.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the apparatus main body 30 is not limited to the configuration that is connected to the strap 40 and is provided from the wearer's neck, but may be configured as an apparatus that can be easily carried. For example, instead of the strap as in the present embodiment, it may be configured to be attached to clothes or a body with a clip or a belt, or may be configured to be simply carried in a pocket or the like. In addition, a function of receiving, amplifying, and analyzing a voice signal from the microphones 11 and 12 may be realized in a mobile phone or other existing portable electronic information terminal.

  Furthermore, the microphones 11 and 12 and the apparatus main body 30 (or the voice analysis unit 15) may be connected by wireless communication instead of being connected by wire. The first amplifier 13, the second amplifier 14, the voice analysis unit 15, the data transmission unit 16, and the power supply unit 17 are housed in a single case 31 in the above configuration example, but are configured as a plurality of individuals. May be. For example, the power supply unit 17 may be used by being connected to an external power supply without being stored in the case 31.

<Identification of speakers (self and others) based on non-linguistic information of acquired speech>
Next, a speaker identification method according to this embodiment will be described.
The system of the present embodiment distinguishes between the voice of the wearer of the terminal apparatus 10 and the voice of the other person using the voice information acquired by the two microphones 11 and 12 provided in the terminal apparatus 10. To do. In other words, the present embodiment identifies one another from the other regarding the speaker of the acquired voice. Further, in the present embodiment, the utterance is based on non-linguistic information such as sound pressure (input sound volume to the microphones 11 and 12), not linguistic information obtained by using morphological analysis or dictionary information, among the acquired voice information. Identify the person. In other words, the voice speaker is identified not from the utterance content specified by the linguistic information but from the utterance situation specified by the non-linguistic information.

  As described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, in the present embodiment, the first microphone 11 of the terminal device 10 is disposed at a position far from the mouth (speaking site) of the wearer, and the second microphone 12 is the wearer. It is arranged at a position close to the mouth (speaking part). That is, if the wearer's mouth (speaking part) is a sound source, the distance between the first microphone 11 and the sound source and the distance between the second microphone 12 and the sound source are greatly different. Specifically, the distance between the first microphone 11 and the sound source is about 1.5 to 4 times the distance between the second microphone 12 and the sound source. Here, the sound pressure of the acquired sound in the microphones 11 and 12 attenuates (distance attenuation) as the distance between the microphones 11 and 12 and the sound source increases. Therefore, regarding the voice of the wearer, the sound pressure of the acquired sound in the first microphone 11 and the sound pressure of the acquired sound in the second microphone 12 are greatly different.

  On the other hand, considering the case where the mouth (speaking part) of a person other than the wearer (other person) is used as the sound source, since the other person is away from the wearer, the distance between the first microphone 11 and the sound source, The distance between the second microphone 12 and the sound source does not change greatly. Depending on the position of the other person with respect to the wearer, a difference between both distances may occur, but the distance between the first microphone 11 and the sound source is the second as in the case where the mouth (speaking part) of the wearer is used as the sound source. It is never several times the distance between the microphone 12 and the sound source. Therefore, regarding the voice of other person, the sound pressure of the acquired voice in the first microphone 11 and the sound pressure of the acquired voice in the second microphone 12 are not significantly different from the case of the voice of the wearer.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a positional relationship between the mouths (speaking parts) of the wearer and the other person and the microphones 11 and 12.
In the relationship shown in FIG. 3, let La1 be the distance between the sound source a that is the mouth (speaking part) of the wearer and the first microphone 11, and let La2 be the distance between the sound source a and the second microphone 12. Further, the distance between the sound source b, which is the mouth (speaking part) of the other person, and the first microphone 11 is Lb1, and the distance between the sound source b and the second microphone 12 is Lb2. In this case, the following relationship holds.
La1> La2 (La1≈1.5 × La2 to 4 × La2)
Lb1≈Lb2

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between the distance between the microphones 11 and 12 and the sound source and the sound pressure (input sound volume).
As described above, the sound pressure is attenuated according to the distance between the microphones 11 and 12 and the sound source. In FIG. 4, when the sound pressure Ga1 at the distance La1 and the sound pressure Ga2 at the distance La2 are compared, the sound pressure Ga2 is about four times the sound pressure Ga1. On the other hand, since the distance Lb1 and the distance Lb2 are approximate, the sound pressure Gb1 in the case of the distance Lb1 and the sound pressure Gb2 in the case of the distance Lb2 are substantially equal. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the wearer's own speech and the other's speech are identified from the acquired speech using the difference in sound pressure ratio. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the distances Lb1 and Lb2 are 60 cm. However, here, it is meaningful that the sound pressure Gb1 and the sound pressure Gb2 are substantially equal, and the distances Lb1 and Lb2 are limited to the illustrated values. Not.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a method for discriminating between the wearer's own speech and the other's speech.
As described with reference to FIG. 4, the sound pressure Ga <b> 2 of the second microphone 12 is several times (for example, about four times) the sound pressure Ga <b> 1 of the first microphone 11 with respect to the voice of the wearer himself / herself. Further, regarding the voice of another person, the sound pressure Ga2 of the second microphone 12 is substantially equal to the sound pressure Ga1 of the first microphone 11 (about 1 time). Therefore, in the present embodiment, a threshold is set for the ratio between the sound pressure of the second microphone 12 and the sound pressure of the first microphone 11. Then, the voice whose sound pressure ratio is larger than the threshold is determined as the voice of the wearer, and the voice whose sound pressure ratio is lower than the threshold is determined as the voice of the other person. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the threshold value is 2, and the sound pressure ratio Ga2 / Ga1 exceeds the threshold value 2, so that it is determined as the wearer's own speech sound, and the sound pressure ratio Gb2 / Gb1 is smaller than the threshold value 2 so It is judged.

  By the way, the sound acquired by the microphones 11 and 12 includes so-called noise (noise) such as environmental sound in addition to the speech sound. The relationship of the distance between the noise source and the microphones 11 and 12 is similar to the case of the speech of another person. That is, according to the examples shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the distance between the noise source c and the first microphone 11 is Lc1, and the distance between the noise source c and the second microphone 12 is Lc2. Then, the distance Lc1 and the distance Lc2 are approximated. Then, the sound pressure ratio Gc2 / Gc1 in the acquired sounds of the microphones 11 and 12 is smaller than the threshold value 2. However, such noise is separated and removed from the uttered voice by performing a filtering process using an existing technique using a bandpass filter, a gain filter, or the like.

<Operation example of terminal device>
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the terminal device 10 in the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 6, when the microphones 11 and 12 of the terminal device 10 acquire sound, electrical signals (audio signals) corresponding to the acquired sounds are transmitted from the microphones 11 and 12 to the first amplifier 13 and the second amplifier 14. (Step 101). When the first amplifier 13 and the second amplifier 14 acquire the audio signal from the microphones 11 and 12, the first amplifier 13 and the second amplifier 14 amplify the signal and send it to the audio analysis unit 15 (step 102).

  The voice analysis unit 15 performs a filtering process on the signals amplified by the first amplifier 13 and the second amplifier 14, and removes noise components such as environmental sounds from the signals (step 103). Next, the voice analysis unit 15 acquires the microphones 11 and 12 every certain time unit (for example, tens of seconds to hundreds of seconds) with respect to the signal from which the noise component has been removed. An average sound pressure in the voice is obtained (step 104). Then, a ratio (sound pressure ratio) between the average sound pressure in the first microphone 11 and the average sound pressure in the second microphone 12 is obtained (step 105).

  Next, when there is a gain of the average sound pressure in each of the microphones 11 and 12 obtained in step 104 (Yes in step 105), the voice analysis unit 15 determines that there is an utterance voice (utterance has been performed). If the sound pressure ratio obtained in step 106 is larger than the threshold (Yes in step 107), the voice analysis unit 15 determines that the uttered voice is a voice generated by the wearer's own utterance (step 108). When the sound pressure ratio obtained in step 105 is smaller than the threshold value (No in step 107), the voice analysis unit 15 determines that the uttered voice is a voice of another person's utterance (step 109). On the other hand, when there is no gain of the average sound pressure in each of the microphones 11 and 12 obtained in step 104 (No in step 105), the voice analysis unit 15 determines that there is no uttered voice (no utterance is performed) ( Step 110).

  Thereafter, the voice analysis unit 15 causes the data transmission unit 16 to transmit the information (the presence / absence of the utterance and the information of the utterer) obtained by the processing of Step 104 to Step 110 to the host device 20 as an analysis result ( Step 111). At this time, the length of the utterance time for each speaker (the wearer himself or another person), the gain value of the average sound pressure, and other additional information may be transmitted to the host device 20 together with the analysis result.

  In the present embodiment, the sound pressure of the first microphone 11 and the sound pressure of the second microphone 12 are compared to determine whether the speech sound is the sound of the wearer's own speech or the speech of another person's speech. . However, the speaker identification according to the present embodiment may be performed based on non-linguistic information extracted from the speech signals themselves acquired by the microphones 11 and 12, and is not limited to the comparison of sound pressures. For example, the voice acquisition time (voice signal output time) in the first microphone 11 and the voice acquisition time in the second microphone 12 may be compared. In this case, the spoken voice of the wearer has a large difference between the distance from the wearer's mouth (speaking part) to the first microphone 11 and the distance from the wearer's mouth (speaking part) to the second microphone 12. Therefore, a certain difference (time difference) occurs in the voice acquisition time. On the other hand, since the voice of the other person has a small difference between the distance from the wearer's mouth (speaking part) to the first microphone 11 and the distance from the wearer's mouth (speaking part) to the second microphone 12, The time difference of the voice acquisition time is smaller than that of the wearer's voice. Therefore, a threshold is set for the time difference of the voice acquisition time, and when the time difference of the voice acquisition time is larger than the threshold, it is determined that the wearer utters himself, and when the time difference of the voice acquisition time is smaller than the threshold, You may make it judge that it is an utterance of others.

  In the data receiving unit 21 of the host device 20, an audio signal including audio identification information indicating whether the audio acquired by the microphones 11 and 12 belongs to the wearer or other than the wearer. Receive information about. The data receiving unit 21 of the host device 20 receives information related to the audio signal of the audio. Here, the information about the audio signal of the audio received by the data receiving unit 21 identifies whether the audio acquired by the microphones 11 and 12 belongs to the wearer or other than the wearer. The self-other identification information which is information is included. The data analysis unit 23 of the host device 20 determines the conversational relationship of the wearer by determining the synchrony of the sound from the information regarding the sound signal of the sound. That is, in the present embodiment, the data analysis unit 23 functions as a conversation relationship determination unit that determines the wearer's conversation relationship.

<Operation example of host device>
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the host device 20 in this embodiment.
Hereinafter, the operation of the host device 20 of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
First, the data receiving unit 21 receives information related to a voice signal including voice identification information from a plurality of terminal devices 10 (step 201). This information is once stored in the data storage unit 22 (step 202).

  Next, this information is sent to the data analysis unit 23, and the data analysis unit 23 determines the synchrony of the voices sent from the plurality of terminal devices 10 (step 203).

  When it is determined that none of the plurality of wearers has synchronization (No in Step 203), the process returns to Step 201. On the other hand, if it is determined that any one of the plurality of wearers is synchronized (Yes in Step 203), these wearers are determined to be in a conversational relationship (Step 204).

Hereinafter, a method for determining the synchrony of voice performed by the data analysis unit 23 will be described.
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a situation in which a plurality of wearers each wearing the terminal device 10 of the present embodiment are talking. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of utterance information of each terminal device 10A, 10B in the conversation situation of FIG.
As shown in FIG. 8, a case is considered in which two wearers A and B, each wearing the terminal device 10, are talking. At this time, the uttered voices of the wearer A and the wearer B are captured by both the terminal device 10A of the wearer A and the terminal device 10B of the wearer B.

  The utterance information is sent to the host device 20 independently from the terminal device 10A and the terminal device 10B. At this time, as shown in FIG. 9, the utterance information acquired from the terminal device 10A and the utterance information acquired from the terminal device 10B are information indicating the utterance status such as the length of the utterance time and the timing at which the speaker is switched. Approximate. Therefore, the host device 20 of this application example compares the information acquired from the terminal device 10A and the information acquired from the terminal device 10B to determine that these information indicate the same utterance situation, and wearers Recognizing that A and the wearer B are talking. That is, the synchronism of the voices of the wearer A and the wearer B can be determined. Here, the information indicating the utterance state includes at least the length of the utterance time in each utterance for each utterer described above, the start time and end time of each utterance, and the time (timing) at which the utterer is switched. As described above, the time information related to the utterance is used. Note that in order to determine the utterance situation related to a specific conversation, only part of the time information related to these utterances may be used, or other information may be additionally used.

  Here, the voice recognized as the utterance of the wearer in the terminal device 10A of the wearer A is recognized as the utterance of the other person in the terminal device 10B of the wearer B. Conversely, the voice recognized as the wearer's utterance in the terminal device 10B is recognized as the utterance of the other person in the terminal device 10A. Therefore, the utterance information acquired from the terminal device 10A and the utterance information acquired from the terminal device 10B are opposite to each other in the utterance time, as shown in FIG. Information indicating the utterance status such as length and timing when the speaker is switched is approximated. Therefore, the host device 20 of this application example compares the information acquired from the terminal device 10A and the information acquired from the terminal device 10B to determine that these information indicate the same utterance situation, and wearers It can be recognized that A and the wearer B are talking.

As described above, in this embodiment, the self-other identification information described above is used to determine the synchrony of audio signals received from the plurality of terminal apparatuses 10 by the microphones 11 and 12. Thereby, the accuracy of the determination of synchrony can be further improved.
In other words, because the self-other identification information is given, it is possible to determine in advance whether the acquired voice is due to the wearer's confidence or the other person other than the wearer. The timing can be clearly understood. If wearers whose speakers are reversed at this timing are found, it can be determined that the wearers are having a conversation.

FIGS. 10A and 10B are diagrams more specifically explaining a method for determining the synchrony of sound in the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 10 (a), the four wearers, wearer A, wearer B, wearer C, and wearer D, are in the same room and are located within a range where each other's voice can reach. ing. Of these, it is assumed that the wearer A and the wearer B are having a conversation. And in FIG.10 (b), the utterance information when each wearer himself of the wearer A, the wearer B, the wearer C, and the wearer D speaks is extracted and shown. This is information that can be extracted from the audio signal of the audio acquired by the terminal device 10 of each wearer by using the self-other identification information.

  In the present embodiment, in order to determine the synchrony, a wearer serving as a reference is selected in advance, and the overlapping time of speech information of the wearer serving as the reference and another wearer within a predetermined time, and The void time is calculated. Here, the overlap time is a time when speech information of a predetermined wearer and another wearer overlaps. The gap time is a time when there is no speech information of both a predetermined wearer and other wearers.

  In FIG. 10 (b), as an example, the wearer A is a reference wearer, and the overlap times between the wearer A and the other wearers B, C, and D are shown. This is illustrated as region I. In addition, each gap time between the wearer A and the other wearers B, C, and D is illustrated as a region II.

  Here, comparing the utterance information of the wearer A and the utterance information of the wearer B, it can be seen that both the overlap time and the gap time are very small within the illustrated time. In other words, in this case, since the overlap time is small, it can be said that the wearer A and the wearer B have a shorter time to speak at the same time. Furthermore, since the gap time is short, it can be said that the wearer A and the wearer B are shorter at the same time not speaking. That is, it can be said that the wearer A and the wearer B speak almost alternately. Therefore, in this case, it can be determined that the wearer A and the wearer B are in a conversational relationship.

  Further, comparing the utterance information of the wearer A and the utterance information of the wearer C, it can be seen that the overlap time is very large within the illustrated time. That is, in this case, it can be said that the wearer A and the wearer C have a longer time to speak at the same time. In this case, it is unlikely that the wearer A and the wearer C have a conversation, and it can be determined that there is no conversation relationship.

  Further, comparing the utterance information of the wearer A and the utterance information of the wearer D, it can be seen that the gap time is very large within the illustrated time. That is, in this case, it can be said that both the wearer A and the wearer D have a longer time during which they are not speaking. In this case, it is unlikely that the wearer A and the wearer D have a conversation, and it can be determined that there is no conversation relationship.

  Thus, by calculating the overlap time and the gap time of the utterance information between the wearers within the predetermined time, the conversation relationship between the wearers within this time can be determined.

  In the above-described example, the conversation relationship between two wearers among a plurality of wearers is determined, but the conversation relationship between three or more wearers can also be determined. In the above-described example, both the overlap time and the gap time are used to determine the conversation relationship between the wearers, but either one is used to determine the conversation relationship between the wearers. Is also possible. In other words, in the present embodiment, the data analysis unit 23 is tuned based on whether or not at least one of the length of the overlapping time and the length of the gap time of voices acquired from a plurality of wearers is within a predetermined range. Determine gender.

  As described above in detail, since the conversation relationship between the wearers wearing the terminal device 10 can be grasped, the communication tendency in the entire group of wearers can be analyzed. In addition, by performing the above analysis on a specific wearer, it is possible to analyze the communication tendency of the wearer.

<Specific examples of terminal devices>
FIGS. 11A and 11B are diagrams illustrating specific examples of the terminal device 10 that is actually used.
Among these, FIG. 11A shows a configuration substantially the same as that of the terminal device 10 shown in FIG. 2, in which two microphones of a first microphone 11 and a second microphone 12 are arranged. However, the first microphone 11 is disposed in the apparatus main body 30. The distance between the first microphone 11 and the second microphone 12 is 35 cm.

  FIG. 11B shows a configuration in which three microphones of the third microphone 18 are arranged in addition to the first microphone 11 and the second microphone 12. The distance between the first microphone 11 and the second microphone 12 and the distance between the first microphone 11 and the third microphone 18 are both 35 cm. The distance between the third microphone 18 and the second microphone 12 is 10 cm.

  By using the terminal device 10 in which the microphones are arranged at three or more places as shown in FIG. 11B, it is possible to perform the above-described conversational relationship determination using different sets of microphones. In the terminal device 10 shown in FIG. 10B, a set of the first microphone 11, the second microphone 12, and a set of the first microphone 11 and the third microphone 18 can be selected. As described above, by using a plurality of sets of microphones, the data analysis unit 23 can more accurately determine the conversation relationship between a plurality of wearers.

<Description of the program>
Note that the processing performed by the host device 20 in the present embodiment described with reference to FIG. 7 is realized by cooperation of software and hardware resources. That is, a CPU (not shown) inside the control computer provided in the host device 20 executes a program that realizes each function of the host device 20 and realizes each of these functions.

  Therefore, the processing performed by the host device 20 described with reference to FIG. 7 is a terminal device 10 that includes a plurality of microphones that are arranged at different positions from the wearer's mouth (speaking part) and that acquire voice. With information that identifies whether the sound belongs to the wearer or someone other than the wearer based on the sound pressure difference of the sound acquired by multiple microphones. A function for determining the conversational relationship of the wearer by using certain self-other identification information and determining the sound synchrony from the information regarding the sound signal of the sound received from the plurality of terminal devices 10 by the data receiving unit 21. It can also be understood as a program that realizes

<Experiment method>
(Example 1)
The wearer A, the wearer B, the wearer C, and the wearer D are arranged as shown in FIG. Then, 40 conversations were performed between the wearer A and the wearer B, and 20 conversations were performed between the wearer C and the wearer D in the same time zone. Each wearer is located within a range where each other's voice can reach.
And under this situation, the conversation relationship between each wearer was determined using the method shown in FIGS.

(Comparative Example 1)
The wearer A, the wearer B, the wearer C, and the wearer D are arranged as shown in FIG. This is the same arrangement as that shown in FIG. However, a terminal device having one microphone was used (for example, a device in which only the microphone 12 is arranged and the microphone 11 is not arranged is used for the terminal device 10 shown in FIG. 2). Then, the conversation relationship of each wearer was determined in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the self-other identification information was output using this. In this case, the self-other identification information is output by one microphone by comparing the sound pressure acquired by this microphone with a predetermined threshold value. That is, when the sound pressure acquired by the microphone is larger than a predetermined threshold, the voice of the wearer is used, and when the sound pressure is smaller than the predetermined threshold, the voice of the other person other than the wearer is used.

<Experimental result>
The result of Example 1 is shown in FIG. 12 (b), and the result of Comparative Example 1 is shown in FIG. 13 (b).
In the tables shown in FIG. 12B and FIG. 13B, the numbers written at the locations where the rows and the columns intersect between the wearers indicate the number of times that it is determined that there is a conversational relationship.
From the table shown in FIG. 12B, in Example 1, the number of times that the wearer A and the wearer B are determined to have a conversational relationship is 36, and the wearer C and the wearer D It can be seen that the number of times determined to have a conversational relationship was 17 times. In addition, it can be seen that the number of times that it is determined that there is a conversational relationship between the other wearers was zero.
On the other hand, from the table shown in FIG. 13B, in Comparative Example 1, the number of times that the wearer A and the wearer B are determined to have a conversational relationship is 20 times, and the wearer C and the wearer D It can be seen that the number of times determined to have a conversational relationship with was 10 times. In Comparative Example 1, no conversation was conducted between the other wearers, but it was determined that there was a conversation relationship between any of the wearers as shown in the table.

  When Example 1 and Comparative Example 1 are compared, it can be seen that Example 1 has a better result of the conversation relationship determination. The reason why the result of determination of the conversation relation in Comparative Example 1 deteriorated is that self-other identification was not performed well. That is, when only one microphone is used and self-other identification is performed by the above method, for example, even when a loud sound that is not spoken by the wearer enters the microphone, it is determined that the sound is the wearer's voice. When the wearer speaks in a low voice, it is determined that the voice is not the wearer's voice but the voice of the other person. Further, when another person speaks loudly, it is determined that the voice is not the voice of the other person but the wearer. As a result of the deterioration of the accuracy of the self-other identification information, it is considered that the accuracy of the determination of the conversation relationship between the wearers has deteriorated.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Voice analysis system, 10 ... Terminal device, 11 ... 1st microphone, 12 ... 2nd microphone, 15 ... Voice analysis part, 16 ... Data transmission part, 18 ... 3rd microphone, 20 ... Host apparatus, 21 ... Data reception , 23... Data analysis unit, 30... Device main body, 40.

Claims (6)

A voice information receiving unit that receives information related to a voice signal of a voice from a terminal device that includes a plurality of voice acquisition means for acquiring voices that are arranged at different distances from the utterance part of the wearer;
Using self-other identification information, which is information identifying whether the sound is that of the wearer or other than the wearer by the sound pressure difference of the sound acquired by the plurality of sound acquisition means, A conversation relation determination unit that determines the conversation relation of the wearer by determining the synchrony of the voice from information related to the voice signal of the voice received by the voice information receiving unit from the plurality of terminal devices;
A speech analysis apparatus comprising:   The conversation relation determination unit determines the synchrony based on whether or not at least one of the length of the overlapping time and the length of the gap time of voices acquired from a plurality of wearers is within a predetermined range. The speech analysis apparatus according to claim 1.   The speech analysis apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the self-other identification information used in the conversation relation determination unit is included in information related to a speech signal of a speech received by the speech information reception unit. . A terminal device comprising a plurality of voice acquisition means for acquiring voices arranged at different positions from the wearer's utterance site;
Self-others deriving self-other identification information that is information identifying whether the sound belongs to the wearer or other than the wearer based on the sound pressure difference of the sound acquired by the plurality of sound acquisition means An identification unit;
Using the self-other identification information derived by the self-other identification unit, by determining the synchrony of the voice received by the voice acquisition means, a conversation relation determination unit that determines the conversation relation of the wearer,
A voice analysis system characterized by comprising:   A voice information transmitting unit that transmits information about the voice signal of the voice including the self-other identification information; and a voice information receiving unit that receives information about the voice signal of the voice transmitted by the voice information transmitting unit. The speech analysis system according to claim 4. On the computer,
A function of receiving information related to a voice signal of a voice from a terminal device that includes a plurality of voice acquisition means for acquiring voices arranged at different positions from the wearer's voice part;
Using self-other identification information, which is information identifying whether the sound is that of the wearer or other than the wearer by the sound pressure difference of the sound acquired by the plurality of sound acquisition means, A function of determining the conversational relationship of the wearer by determining the synchrony of the sound from information related to the sound signal of the sound received from the plurality of terminal devices by the sound information receiving unit;
A program that realizes

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