JP2005150884A - Electric artificial larynx - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problems of a conventional electric artificial larynx that the voice output from the larynx is monotonous and mechanical and that a vibration sound emitted externally from a vibrator for generating an original sound is large enough to provide a sense of incongruity to surrounding people. <P>SOLUTION: The electric artificial larynx disclosed herein comprises: a vibrator for producing an original sound; a microphone for picking up voice created through a voice buildup operation; a voice processing section for carrying out voice processing to apply voice process to the voice picked up by the microphone; and a loudspeaker for transmitting the voice resulting from the voice process by the voice processing section, the voice process by the voice processing section brings the voice quality to be preferable sound quality by providing naturalness to the voice quality or the like and since the voice processing section can regulate a voice volume, it is not required for the vibrator to produce a large vibrating sound. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an electroartificial larynx or the like, which is one of voice assisting devices for enabling speech to a disabled person who has been unable to speak by removing the larynx for reasons such as laryngeal cancer.

  As a substitute utterance method for a speech impaired person who has undergone laryngectomy due to laryngeal cancer or the like, a method of creating sound by surgery, esophageal utterance, whistle-type artificial larynx, electric artificial larynx and the like are put into practical use. Of these, many people use an electric artificial larynx, but like a healthy person, it is difficult to express the accent and intonation by changing the fundamental frequency and volume according to the content of the utterance, so it is monotonous and mechanical It is a typical voice. Further, in order to obtain a sufficient sound volume, it is necessary to increase the output of the vibrating body, and this vibration sound is a major factor that makes the surrounding people feel uncomfortable.

  In other words, the general problem of artificial larynx is to create a natural voice like a healthy person. And the first factor of unnatural speech is that the sound emitted from the electric artificial larynx is monotonous and mechanical. The second factor of unnatural speech is that the vibration sound emitted to the outside from the vibrating body that produces the original sound is large and gives a sense of discomfort to the surrounding people.

The first conventional technology is the intermittent operation of sound generated from an acoustic transducer and the change of its fundamental frequency, the intermittent operation of sound generated from an acoustic transducer and the change of its volume, or all of them in a single operation. There is an electric artificial larynx made possible by (see Patent Document 1).
As a second prior art, there is an electric artificial larynx intended to provide a natural sounding human voice tone as a sound source with a unit including a loudspeaker speaker installed in the oral cavity (Patent Document 2). reference).
The 1st and 2nd prior art was proposed that the voice which is the 1st factor of the above-mentioned unnatural speech is mechanical and monotonous.
Patent Publication No. 8-2655891 (first page, Fig. 1 etc.) Patent Publication No. 8-501950 (first page, Fig. 1 etc.)

  However, in the first and second prior arts, the fundamental frequency and volume are varied in the sound source portion such as a vibrating body. Since this method can only control the physical movement of vibration, it is possible to reproduce the original voice quality of the disabled person by freely controlling the voice spectrum, or to make the voice quality of the disabled person preferred. Adjustment is difficult. All the past artificial larynx, like the first and second prior arts, adopts a method of adjusting sound in a sound source that creates an original sound such as a vibrating body.

  In addition, regarding the control of the vibration sound emitted from the vibrating body that makes the original sound, a volume higher than a certain level is required to convey the voice to the conversation partner, and in order to obtain this volume, a considerably large vibration is required. I need. The electric artificial larynx currently on the market and the artificial larynx in the first and second prior arts ensure the sound volume by the vibration energy generated from the vibrating body or the like, and therefore the magnitude of the vibration sound cannot be reduced.

  The first invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is that a vibrating body that produces an original sound, a microphone that collects speech produced by performing articulation, and voice processing that is added to the speech collected by the microphone An electric artificial larynx comprising a voice processing unit that performs voice processing and a loudspeaker that sends out a speech that is a result of the voice processing performed by the voice processing unit.

Specifically, in the electroartificial larynx in the present invention, the vibration generated by the vibrating body instead of the vocal cord vibration is transmitted into the oral cavity, and the composition is performed by changing the position and shape of the tongue, mouth, and lips, The collected voice is collected with a microphone. Next, the collected voice is subjected to voice processing such as changing the voice spectrum, adjusting the sound pressure, and frequency in the voice processing unit, and sent to the loudspeaker. According to the present invention, since the voice information after the composition is processed by the voice processing unit, it is easy to change the voice quality to the desired voice quality by voice processing, and the volume of the voice is not the vibrator part, Since it is adjusted to be enlarged by the audio processing unit and sent to the loudspeaker, it is not necessary to output large vibration energy from the vibrating body.
In the above electric artificial larynx, the microphone is preferably an indwelling microphone or a contact microphone in the ear canal.

  The second invention further includes a mechanism for controlling the sound pressure of the original sound produced by the vibrator, and / or a mechanism for controlling the frequency or / and waveform of the vibrator for the electric artificial larynx of the first invention. It is an electric artificial larynx. According to the electric artificial larynx that has a mechanism to control the sound pressure of the original sound produced by the vibrating body, the sound pressure that radiates vibration sound to the outside and does not give a sense of incongruity to the person nearby, and the vibration is sufficiently transmitted to the oral cavity An electric artificial larynx that can be controlled easily can be realized. Further, according to the electric artificial larynx having a mechanism for controlling the frequency or / and waveform of the vibrating body, the frequency and waveform of the original sound suitable for the user can be appropriately adjusted.

  A third invention is an electric artificial larynx that is used by embedding all or part of a vibrating body, a microphone, a sound processing unit, and a loudspeaker constituting the electric artificial larynx. According to such an electric artificial larynx, vibration can be propagated more efficiently, and voices collected from the oral cavity can be collected more efficiently. Also, there is no need to hold the device by hand, and both hands can be used. Furthermore, since the vibration of the vibrating body can be so small that the user hardly feels it, there is no sense of incongruity that the vibrating body vibrates in the body.

  According to the electric artificial larynx of the present invention, since voice processing is easy, a natural voice is generated, and a voice handicapped person can perform voice communication without emitting a loud vibration sound to the surroundings.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the electric artificial larynx of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description of each embodiment, the same number may be assigned to the same component and the description thereof may be omitted.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram including an electric artificial larynx 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention and showing an example of the flow of sound. The electric artificial larynx 10 includes a vibrating body 12, a microphone 17, a sound processing unit 18, and a loudspeaker 19. The skin 13, oral cavity 14, lip / skin / ear canal 16 are part of the speaker's body.
As the vibrating body 12, a piezoelectric sounding body or an electronic sounding body can be used, but a vibrating body by other mechanisms may be used. The vibrating body 12 is usually provided with an on / off button for an electric artificial larynx switch.

    As the microphone 17, a microphone placed in the ear canal, a contact microphone used in contact with the skin (also referred to as a bone conduction microphone), a directional microphone near the lips, and the like can be used. However, the microphone 17 may be another type of microphone.

  The voice processing unit 18 performs voice processing that adds voice processing to the voice collected by the microphone 17. Specifically, the voice processing unit 18 performs voice processing for changing the voice spectrum of the voice information composed of the voice collected by the microphone 17 by digital signal processing or analog signal processing. In addition, the audio processing unit 18 may perform audio processing for adjusting sound pressure and frequency on the audio information composed of the voice collected by the microphone 17 by digital signal processing or analog signal processing. Here, there are two types of voice processing methods. The first method is performed in real time by a trimmer (also referred to as “adjustment knob”) (not shown), and the second method performs voice processing that is set in advance according to the desire of the disabled person. It is. As the first method, it is possible to adjust the intermittent sound, the volume, and the frequency of the voice (male voice, female voice, voice quality). However, it is not always necessary to adjust the volume and the frequency of the sound with the trimmer each time, and a system in which the trimmer is stored inside the electric artificial larynx may be used. A mechanism for operating the intermittent sound may be attached to the vibrator and used mainly. A system in which these controls can be performed by remote control may be used. The remote control device may be attached to the vibrator 12 or may be separate. The second method is to perform sound processing so that the sound spectrum approximate to the sound before laryngectomy of the handicapped person is reproduced, or to perform sound processing so that the handicapped person's favorite sound spectrum is obtained. is there. Digital signal processing techniques can be used for audio processing. Since voice quality conversion techniques such as voice spectrum conversion are known techniques, a detailed description thereof will be omitted. The position of the sound processing unit 18 varies depending on the position of the microphone 17 or the like. In the clothing pocket, the dedicated holder is worn, or in the vicinity of the vibrating body or in the vicinity of the vibrating body, in the vicinity of the microphone or the speaker, or with them. Integration is possible. Information must be transmitted to or integrated with a microphone or speaker via wired, wireless, infrared, or the like. The sound processing unit 18 is usually realized by an MPU and a ROM or the like in which a program for performing the sound processing is stored. The program stored in the ROM is read into the MPU and audio processing is performed.

  The loudspeaker 19 transmits a speech that is a result of the voice processing performed by the voice processing unit 18. The position of the loudspeaker 19 can be various places such as the vicinity of the vibrating body, the vicinity of the microphone, the vicinity of the sound processing unit, the chest pocket, and the dedicated holder. In some cases, it is desirable to use a directional speaker according to the situation of the disabled person.

  Hereinafter, the operation of the electric artificial larynx 10 will be described. First, vibration is generated by the vibrating body 12. The vibration generated by the vibrating body 12 reaches the oral cavity 14 through the skin 13 such as the neck or the face. The vibration transmitted into the oral cavity 14 is made into an arbitrary sound 15 by the speaker's tongue and mouth shape. That is, the voice is composed by the speaker performing a composition operation that changes the position or shape of the tongue or / and mouth or / and lips. The composed voice is transmitted from the lip 16 part to the outside of the oral cavity, or transmitted to the ear canal 16 and the skin 16 and collected by the microphone 17. The collected sound is converted into an electric signal and sent to the sound processing unit 18 wirelessly or by wire. The sound processing unit 18 adjusts the sound volume, sound quality, and sound spectrum, which are suitable for conversation, and sends the sound to the loudspeaker 19 where the sound is emitted to the outside world.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of use of an electric artificial larynx. In FIG. 2, a vibrating body 22 is mounted on the neck, a microphone 23 is mounted on the ear canal, and a sound processing unit 24 and a loudspeaker 25 are mounted on the chest pocket. When the vibrating body 22 held by hand is crimped to the neck and a switch button 26 on the vibrating body 22 is pressed, vibration starts. The magnitude of the vibration should be adjusted so that it cannot be heard from outside. The vibration is transmitted into the oral cavity, and the voice is composed by movements of the lips and tongue (this movement is called “articulation action”). This voice is collected by a microphone 23 in the ear canal 21. The collected voice is converted into an electrical signal and sent to the voice processing unit 24 in the chest pocket by radio 27. The voice processing unit 24 adjusts the volume so that the other party can easily hear, the voice quality and voice spectrum of the handicapped person, and sends the voice to the loudspeaker 25 integrated with the voice processing unit 24. Released. In this example, the microphone 23 is an indwelling type in the ear canal, and the sound processing unit 24 and the loudspeaker 25 are mounted in the breast pocket. However, the positions of the microphone 23, the sound processing unit 24, and the speaker 25 are the main positions. It is not restricted to examples. In addition, information is transmitted from the microphone 23 to the sound processing unit 24 by wireless 27, but may be wired. The wireless communication means may be an infrared communication means. As the microphone 23, a normal type microphone, a directional microphone, a contact type microphone, or the like can be used, and the position of the audio processing unit 24 or the loudspeaker 25 can be a cervical part, a lower jaw part, or the like, but may be other parts.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of use of another electric artificial larynx. Here, the vibrator 22 is crimped to the neck by a neck band 30, the microphone 31 is placed in the neck using a contact microphone, and the sound processing unit 24 and the loudspeaker 25 are also in the neck. The microphone 31, the sound processing unit 24, and the loudspeaker 25 are integrated and fixed with a neck band. In this example, the vibrating body 22, the microphone 31, the sound processing unit 24, and the loudspeaker 25 are fixed by the neck band 30, but the vibrating body 22 may be held by hand, or the microphone 31 or the like may be held by hand. It may be held. Various variations are possible, and the combination is not limited to this embodiment.

  FIG. 4 is an example of use when the vibrator 22 and the microphone 41 are embedded in the neck. Here, the vibrating body 22 is embedded in a site where the vibration is most easily transmitted to the oral cavity at the neck. An induction coil 43 for supplying power to the vibrating body 22 by electromagnetic induction is embedded in the chest. An electric wire 42 connecting the vibrating body 22 and the coil 43 is also embedded under the skin or under the muscle. The embedding microphone 41 is embedded in a site that can collect the most voiced speech produced in the oral cavity. An induction coil 43 and an electric wire 42 for supplying power to the microphone 41 are also embedded at the same time. The implantation operation may be performed simultaneously with the laryngectomy or may be performed at a later date. The induction coil 44 is outside the body, and forms a pair with the inductive induction coil 43 in the body to supply power to the pair. The induction coil 43 in the body is appropriately referred to as an internal induction coil, and the external induction coil 44 is appropriately referred to as an external induction coil.

  The sound processing unit 24, the loudspeaker 25, and the battery are outside the body such as a breast pocket, and are installed close to the outside body induction coil 44. Information on the voice collected by the microphone 41 is transmitted to the voice processing unit 24 by radio 27. The voice disabled person operates the switches of the entire system, the switches of the vibrating body, and the functions of the voice processing unit 24 with the remote controller 45.

As described above, in the electric artificial larynx according to the present embodiment, the sound volume is not secured by the vibration energy of the vibrating body, so that an unnatural loud vibration sound is not generated. In addition, the voice quality is not changed by adjusting the vibrating body, but the voice processing is added to the uttered voice, so that a better voice quality can be realized.
In addition, in the usage pattern of FIG. 2, only the same vibrator as the current electric artificial larynx may be held by hand, and the usage procedure is the same as the current situation, and no extra burden is imposed on the handicapped person.
Further, in the usage pattern shown in FIG. 3, since the device is not held by hand, both hands can be used. In the present invention, since it is not necessary to transmit large vibration energy to the oral cavity, the pressure bonding of the vibrating body to the skin may be light and can be sufficiently performed with the neck band.

  In the usage mode of FIG. 4, the vibrating body and the microphone are embedded in the body, so that the vibration can be transmitted more efficiently, and the voice collected from the oral cavity can be collected more efficiently. It is. Also, there is no need to hold the device by hand, and both hands can be used. If it is implanted at the same time as laryngectomy, it can be performed with little extra effort. In addition, even if the implantation is performed on the day after the laryngectomy, it can be performed by a simple operation and there is no need for hospitalization. According to the present invention, the vibration of the vibrating body can be so small that the user hardly feels it, so there is no sense of incongruity that the vibrating body vibrates in the body.

  The electric artificial larynx in the present embodiment preferably includes a mechanism for controlling the sound pressure of the original sound created by the vibrator 12. With such a sound pressure control mechanism, it is possible to reduce the vibration sound to a level that does not give a sense of discomfort to the surrounding people by emitting a large vibration sound to the outside.

In addition, the electric artificial larynx in the present embodiment preferably includes a frequency control mechanism that is a mechanism for controlling the frequency of the vibrating body 12. With such a frequency control mechanism, it is possible to select a frequency and a waveform that are most suitable for composing a voice most for each handicapped person. Also, a plurality of operating frequencies may be used.
Experimentally confirmed that a small level of vibration that does not make a nearby person feel any vibration sound is transmitted to the oral cavity, and the synthesized voice is collected with a microphone and can be heard as sound from a speaker. ing.

  In addition, the electric artificial larynx in this embodiment is composed of four parts: a vibrating body, a microphone, a sound processing unit, and a loudspeaker, but each can be miniaturized. Can be used embedded.

  Specifically, in the electric artificial larynx, adjustment such as increase in sound pressure is made by the sound processing unit, so that vibration energy may be small. Therefore, it is possible to make the vibrator small in size suitable for being embedded in the body, such as under the neck or in muscle. Since the small vibrator has already been put into practical use and is a known technique, the details are omitted. Other parts have also been miniaturized so that they can be implanted in the body using known techniques. All parts may be embedded, or a part such as only a vibrating body may be embedded. Power is supplied to the embedded parts by electromagnetic induction. There are two methods for supplying power: a method of supplying electricity to the part by electromagnetic induction directly through the skin from the side of supplying electricity outside the body, and a secondary battery being simultaneously embedded in the vicinity of the part to supply electricity to the secondary battery by electromagnetic induction. There is a way to do it. When electricity is directly supplied by electromagnetic induction, it is not always necessary that the parts to be supplied with electricity, such as a vibrating body, and the supply source device are opposed to each other. An electric wire attached to the part can be embedded at the same time, and it can be drawn to a position suitable for supplying electricity by electromagnetic induction, and the electricity can be supplied there. For example, an oscillating body, an electric wire, and an induction coil connected to the end of the electric wire on the opposite side of the vibrating body are embedded under the skin. The induction coil can be placed subcutaneously in the vicinity of the chest, and the coil on the power supply side can be placed in a holder or pocket installed at the opposite position. The parts to be embedded must be made of a material that does not adversely affect the human body. In particular, when a secondary battery is embedded, it is necessary to take measures such as sealing with a resin or the like. These implantable medical devices that require the supply of power have been put to practical use in cardiac pacemakers, cochlear implants, and cochlear implants, and are well known in the art, and detailed description thereof is omitted. The embedded parts are controlled by the remote controller as described above.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can dramatically improve the performance of an artificial larynx intended for a person who cannot communicate by voice, such as a laryngectomy person, and can greatly contribute to the rehabilitation of a disabled person.

The block diagram which showed the flow of the audio | voice which concerns on embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the usage example of the electric artificial larynx in embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the usage example of the electric artificial larynx in embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the usage example of the electric artificial larynx when using the vibrator and microphone embedded in the neck

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Voice input device 12, 22 Vibrating body 13 Skin 14 Oral cavity 15 Articulation performed in the oral cavity 16 Lip, Skin, In the external auditory canal 17 Microphone 18, 24 Audio processing unit 19, 25 Loudspeaker 21 In the external auditory canal 23 In-ear canal type microphone 26 switch 27 radio 30 cervical band 31 contact type microphone 41 embedded microphone 42 electric wire 43 internal induction coil 44 external external induction coil 45 remote controller

Claims (6)

A vibrating body that creates an original sound, a microphone that collects speech produced by performing articulation, a speech processing unit that performs speech processing that adds speech processing to the speech collected by the microphone, and the speech processing unit An artificial artificial larynx comprising a loudspeaker that sends out speech that is the result of voice processing. 2. The electric artificial larynx according to claim 1, further comprising a mechanism for controlling a sound pressure of an original sound produced by the vibrator, and / or a mechanism for controlling a frequency or / and a waveform of the vibrator. The electric artificial larynx according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the microphone is an indwelling microphone or a contact microphone in the ear canal. 4. The audio processing unit according to claim 1, wherein the audio processing unit performs audio processing for changing audio spectrum by using digital signal processing or analog signal processing on audio information composed of speech collected by the microphone. 5. Electric artificial larynx. 4. The audio processing unit according to claim 1, wherein the audio processing unit performs audio processing for adjusting sound pressure and frequency by using digital signal processing or analog signal processing on audio information composed of speech collected by the microphone. Or electric artificial larynx. The electric artificial larynx according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein all or part of the vibrator, the microphone, the sound processing unit, and the loudspeaker are embedded in the body.

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