JP2013164468A - Voice analysis device, voice analysis system, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a voice analysis device, etc. capable of grasping voice tunability of mutual wearers from acoustic pressure information of voices acquired by voice acquisition means of a plurality of wearers while suppressing the influence of environmental sound.SOLUTION: A host device 20 comprises: a data receiving part 21 for receiving information on voice signals of voices acquired by a plurality of microphones 11, 12 which are arranged at places having different distances from the mouth of a wearer and acquire voices; and a tunability discrimination part for discriminating the tunability of voice from the information on voice signals of voices for a voice which is identified to be the utterance voice of any wearer, from an identification result whether voices acquired by the microphones 11, 12 are utterance voices of a wearer having the microphones 11, 12 or utterance voices of a person other than the wearer, identified on the basis of the comparison result of the voice signals of voices acquired by the plurality of microphones 11, 12 for each wearer.

Description

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

  In Patent Document 1, when subjects A and B in a room interact, the speech of subject A and the speech of subject B are captured by two microphones, respectively, and the CPU speeds the captured speech. Is a synchronization degree detecting device that compares a difference between the lamp and a lamp outside the room according to the comparison result, and determines that the dialogue is not synchronized if the difference is equal to or greater than the threshold. On the other hand, if the difference is less than the threshold value, it is determined that the dialogue is synchronized and the lamp is turned on.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-265982

  An object of the present invention is to grasp the synchronism of voices between wearers by suppressing the influence of environmental sounds from the information on the sound pressures of voices acquired by the voice acquisition means of a plurality of wearers.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an audio information receiving unit that receives information related to an audio signal of audio acquired by a plurality of audio acquisition means for acquiring audio arranged at different positions from the wearer's mouth. And the voice acquired by the voice acquisition unit is identified based on the comparison result of the voice signals acquired by the plurality of voice acquisition units for each wearer. Based on the identification result of speech voice or speech voice of another person other than the wearer, for the voice identified as the voice of any wearer, the synchrony of the voice is determined from the information regarding the voice signal of the voice. And a synchronism determining unit.

The invention according to claim 2 further includes a self-other identification unit for obtaining a discrimination result of whether the voice of the wearer or the voice of another person other than the wearer is provided with the voice acquisition unit. The speech analysis apparatus according to Item 1.
The invention according to claim 3 further comprises a grouping unit for grouping wearers based on the synchrony of the voice determined by the synchrony determining unit. Device.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, when the sound acquired by the sound acquisition means is not the speech sound of any wearer, the grouping unit determines the sound of the wearer. The speech analysis apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the speech analysis apparatus is not used for performing.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a comparison result of a plurality of sound acquisition means for acquiring sound arranged at different positions from the wearer's mouth and the sound signal of the sound acquired by the sound acquisition means. Based on the self-other identification unit for identifying whether the voice acquired by the voice acquisition unit is the voice of the wearer equipped with the voice acquisition unit or the voice of another person other than the wearer, and the self-other identification unit A synchronism determining unit that determines the synchrony of the voice from the information related to the voice signal of the voice of the voice identified as the speech voice of one of the wearers from the identification result identified by Is a voice analysis system characterized by

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, a voice information transmitting unit that transmits information related to a voice signal acquired by the voice acquisition unit, and information related to a voice signal transmitted from the voice information transmitting unit are received. The speech analysis system according to claim 5, further comprising: a speech information receiving unit.

  The invention according to claim 7 is a function for receiving information related to the sound signal of the sound obtained by the plurality of sound obtaining means for obtaining the sound, which is arranged at different positions from the wearer's mouth in the computer. And the voice acquired by the voice acquisition unit is identified based on the comparison result of the voice signals acquired by the plurality of voice acquisition units for each wearer. Based on the identification result of speech voice or speech voice of another person other than the wearer, for the voice identified as the voice of any wearer, the synchrony of the voice is determined from the information regarding the voice signal of the voice. It is a program that realizes functions.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, compared with the case where this configuration is not adopted, the influence of environmental sound is suppressed from the information on the sound pressure of the sound acquired by the sound acquisition means of a plurality of wearers, and the wearers can interact with each other. It is possible to provide a voice analysis device that can grasp the synchrony of the voice.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, the present invention can be applied to the case where the information received by the voice information receiving unit does not include information related to the subject of the uttered voice.
According to the invention of claim 3, compared with the case where this configuration is not adopted, the influence of the environmental sound is suppressed from the information of the sound pressure of the sound acquired by the sound acquisition means of the plurality of wearers, and the wearer Can be grouped.
According to the invention of claim 4, the accuracy of the wearer's grouping is further improved as compared with the case where this configuration is not adopted.
According to the invention of claim 5, compared with the case where this configuration is not adopted, it is possible to suppress the influence of the environmental sound from the information on the sound pressure of the sound acquired by the sound acquisition means of the plurality of wearers, and It is possible to construct a voice analysis system that can grasp the synchrony of voice.
According to the invention of claim 6, the voice acquisition means can be easily worn by the wearer, and the process of analyzing the voice can be performed in a unified manner.
According to the invention of claim 7, compared with the case where this configuration is not adopted, it is possible to suppress the influence of the environmental sound from the information on the sound pressure of the sound acquired by the sound acquisition means of the plurality of wearers, and A computer can realize a function of grasping the synchrony of voice.

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 flowchart which shows operation | movement of the terminal device in this embodiment. It is a block diagram of the data analysis part 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. It is the table | surface explaining parameter A1, A2, B1, B2 and the distance relationship of the wearer A and the wearer B. FIG. (A)-(b) is the figure which showed the specific example of the terminal device actually used.

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. As will be described in detail later, the sound analysis unit 15 receives the sound acquired by the first microphone 11 and the second microphone 12 based on the comparison result of the sound signals acquired by the first microphone 11 and the second microphone 12. It functions as a self-other identification unit that identifies whether the voice of the wearer having the first microphone 11 and the second microphone 12 or the voice of another person other than the wearer.

  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 stores the reception data acquired from the data reception 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 according to the present embodiment distinguishes between the voice of the wearer of the terminal device 10 and the voice of the other person using the sound information acquired by the two microphones 11 and 12 provided in the terminal device 10. To do. In other words, the present embodiment identifies self / other distinction (self / other identification) regarding the speaker of the acquired sound. In the present embodiment, the utterance is based on non-linguistic information such as sound pressure (input volume to the microphones 11 and 12), not linguistic information obtained by using morphological analysis or dictionary information, among the acquired sound information. Identify the person. In other words, the speaker of the sound 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 β at the distance La1 and the sound pressure α at the distance La2 are compared, the sound pressure α is about four times the sound pressure β. On the other hand, since the distance Lb1 and the distance Lb2 are approximate, the sound pressure β in the case of the distance Lb1 and the sound pressure α in the case of the distance Lb2 are substantially equal. Therefore, in the present embodiment, this sound pressure difference is used to distinguish between the wearer's own speech and the other's speech in the acquired speech. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the distances Lb1 and Lb2 are 60 cm. However, here, it is meaningful that the sound pressure α and the sound pressure β are substantially equal, and the distances Lb1 and Lb2 are limited to the values shown in the figure. Not.

  As described with reference to FIG. 4, the sound pressure α of the second microphone 12 is several times (for example, about four times) the sound pressure β of the first microphone 11 with respect to the voice of the wearer. Further, regarding the voice of another person, the sound pressure α of the second microphone 12 is substantially equal to the sound pressure β of the first microphone 11 (about 1 time). Therefore, in this embodiment, a threshold is set for the difference between the sound pressure α of the second microphone 12 and the sound pressure β of the first microphone 11 (sound pressure difference α−β). Then, the voice whose sound pressure difference is larger than the threshold is determined as the voice of the wearer, and the voice whose sound pressure difference is smaller than the threshold is determined as the voice of the other person.

  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 example shown in FIG. 4, when 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, the distance Lc1 and distance Lc2 are approximate. And the sound pressure difference α−β in the acquired voices of the microphones 11 and 12 is smaller than the threshold value. 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. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the terminal device 10 in the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 5, when the microphones 11 and 12 of the terminal device 10 acquire sound, an electric signal (audio signal) corresponding to the acquired sound is transmitted from each microphone 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).

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). 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).
When it is determined that there is a speech voice, the voice analysis unit 15 obtains a difference (sound pressure difference) α−β between the average sound pressure in the first microphone 11 and the average sound pressure in the second microphone 12 (step 106). .
If the sound pressure difference α−β obtained in step 106 is larger than the threshold (Yes in step 107), it is determined that the speech voice is a voice of the wearer's own speech. The voice analysis unit 15 sets a parameter to that effect. Here, for convenience, this is referred to as “state 1” (step 108). On the other hand, if the sound pressure difference obtained in step 106 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. The voice analysis unit 15 sets a parameter to that effect. Here, for convenience, this is referred to as “state 2” (step 109).

  Note that the determination in step 105 takes into account the case where noise that could not be removed by the filtering process in step 103 remains in the signal, and if there is a gain when the average sound pressure gain value is greater than or equal to a certain value. You may judge.

  Thereafter, the voice analysis unit 15 sends the information (the presence / absence of the utterance, the information of the utterer, the identification result of the self / other identification) (“state 1”) through the data transmission unit 16 through the processing of step 104 to step 110. Or “status 2”)) is transmitted as an analysis result to the data receiver 21 of the host device 20 (step 111). At this time, the length of the utterance time for each speaker (the wearer himself / herself or another person), the gain value of the average sound pressure, and other additional information may be transmitted to the data receiving unit 21 of the host device 20 together with the analysis result. .

  Then, the host device 20 determines the synchrony of the voice based on the voice information including the identification result of the voice identification. In the present embodiment, the function of deriving the distance relationship between a plurality of wearers is performed by the data analysis unit 23 of the host device 20.

<Description of Data Analysis Unit 23>
FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the data analysis unit 23 in the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 6, the data analyzing unit 23 includes a synchronism determining unit 231 that determines audio synchrony from information on audio signals of audio acquired from a plurality of wearers by the data receiving unit 21, and a synchrony determining unit 231. And a grouping unit 232 that performs grouping of the wearers based on the synchrony of the voice determined by the above.

<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. 1, 6, and 7.
First, the data receiving unit 21 receives various information including voice information and identification result information of a self-other identification from a plurality of terminal devices 10 (step 201). These pieces of information are 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).

Hereinafter, a method for determining the synchrony of audio information 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 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. On the other hand, the voice recognized as the utterance of the wearer in the terminal device 10B is recognized as the utterance of the other person in the terminal device 10A.

  The utterance information is sent to the host device 20 independently from the terminal device 10A and the terminal device 10B. At this time, the utterance information acquired from the terminal device 10A and the utterance information acquired from the terminal device 10B are opposite in the identification result of the speaker (wearer and other person) as shown in FIG. Information indicating the utterance status such as the length of time and the 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 Recognizing that A and the wearer B are talking. Thus, by determining the synchronism of the voice of the wearer A and the voice of the wearer B, it can be determined that the wearer A and the wearer B are talking. 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.

  In the present embodiment, when one of the terminal devices 10 identifies the voice of the person (wearer) who wears the terminal device 10, the voice of the other person among the voices acquired by the other terminal devices 10 The synchronism with the voice identified as being is determined. This is because the synchrony determination unit 231 identifies the sound acquired by the microphones 11 and 12 based on the comparison result of the sound signals of the sounds acquired by the microphones 11 and 12 for each wearer. From the identification result of the voice of the wearer with the voice of the wearer or the voice of the voice of the other person other than the wearer, the voice of the voice identified from the voice signal of one of the wearers In other words, the synchrony is determined.

This will be described in more detail below.
Here, the above-mentioned “state 1” (in the case of own utterance) and “state 2” (in the case of utterance of another person) are used. In this case, the following four parameters can be set for the wearer A and the wearer B.

For wearer A, parameter α1 is set when α−β> (predetermined threshold) (“state 1”), and parameter A2 when α−β <(predetermined threshold) (“state 2”). The set

About Wearer B Parameter B1 is set when α−β> (predetermined threshold) (“state 1”) Parameter B2 when α−β <(predetermined threshold) (“state 2”) The set

FIG. 10 is a table illustrating the distance relationship between the parameters A1, A2, B1, and B2 and the wearer A and the wearer B.
Applying to the example described in FIGS. 8 and 9 here,

  (1) When the parameter A1 and the parameter B2 are set for the wearer A and the wearer B in a certain time zone, it is determined that the voice of the wearer A and the voice of the wearer B are synchronized, and the wearer It can be determined that person A and wearer B are in a conversational relationship. In this case, it can also be said that the wearer B is at a distance where the utterance of the wearer A can be heard.

  (2) When the parameter A2 and the parameter B1 are set in a certain time zone, it is determined that the voice of the wearer A and the voice of the wearer B are in synchronism, and the wearer A and the wearer B Can be determined to be in a conversational relationship. In this case, it can be paraphrased that the wearer A is at a distance where the utterance of the wearer B can be heard.

  (3) In some time zone, the parameter A1 and the parameter B1 may be set. In this case, the wearer A and the wearer B are in a very close position. In this case as well, it may be determined that the voice of the wearer A and the voice of the wearer B are in synchronism, and that the wearer A and the wearer B are in a conversational relationship.

  (4) In some time zone, parameter A2 and parameter B2 may be set. In this case, the wearer A and the wearer B are in a space where the same sound can be heard, but it can be determined that the distance between the wearer A and the wearer B is relatively long. It can be determined that this sound is not a voice spoken by the wearer A and the wearer B. More specifically, it can be determined that this sound is a voice of a wearer other than the wearer A and the wearer B, or an environmental sound such as an air conditioner sound or a construction sound.

In summary, the distance between the wearer A and the wearer B is the closest (3). Next, the cases of (1) and (2) are close, and the farthest is the case of (4) ((3) <((1) and (2)) <(4)).
In this way, it is possible to determine the proximity of a plurality of wearers based on the identification result of the self-other identification.

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), then the wearer is grouped (grouped) by the grouping unit 232 (step 204).
This is performed by selecting a wearer having a conversation from the synchronism of sound between each of a plurality of wearers. For example, when it is determined that only two of the wearer A and the wearer B have the audio synchrony, the two are selected and set as one group. In addition to the wearer A and the wearer B, when it is determined that the wearer C, which is another wearer, has sound synchronism with at least one of the wearer A and the wearer B, these three persons are Select one group. Note that even if there are four or more wearers who are tuned to the voice, a group can be formed in the same manner. Then, by discriminating the synchronicity of voices for all the wearers, the wearers can be grouped.

  At this time, the grouping unit 232 determines that the sound acquired by the microphones 11 and 12 is not an utterance voice of any wearer according to the identification result of the self-other identification. Is not used to group wearers.

By performing the grouping of the wearers wearing the terminal device 10 as described above, the communication tendency of each wearer can be analyzed.
Further, it can be determined whether or not a specific wearer exists in a predetermined space. If this space is, for example, a predetermined room, it is possible to determine whether or not this specific wearer is in this room. That is, the voice analysis system 1 of this embodiment can also be used as an entrance / exit determination system for a wearer.

In the above-described example, the sound identification is performed based on the sound pressure difference α−β. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, considering the sound pressure ratio α / β, a case where this value is larger than a predetermined threshold value may be set as “state 1”, and a case where this value is smaller than a predetermined threshold value may be set as “state 2”.
Further, in the above-described example, the voice identification is performed on the terminal device 10 side, but is not limited to this, and may be performed on the host device 20 side. As the voice analysis system 1 in this embodiment, the voice analysis unit 15 of the host apparatus 20 performs, for example, the self-other identification of the voice performed by the voice analysis unit 15 with respect to that of FIG. In this case, the data analysis unit 23 functions as the self-other identification unit described above.

<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 third microphone 18 and the first microphone 11 are both 35 cm. The distance between the second microphone 12 and the third microphone 18 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 determine the above-described distance relationship and dialogue relationship using different sets of microphones. . In the terminal device 10 shown in FIG. 11B, a set of the first microphone 11 and the second microphone 12 and a set of the third microphone 18 and the first microphone 11 can be selected. As described above, by using a plurality of sets of microphones, the data analysis unit 23 can more accurately determine the distance relationship and the conversation relationship between the 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 performed on the sound acquired by the plurality of microphones 11 and 12 for acquiring the sound that is placed on the computer at different positions from the wearer's mouth. The voice acquired by the microphones 11 and 12 is identified based on the comparison result of the function of receiving information and the voice signals of the voices acquired by the plurality of microphones 11 and 12 for each wearer. From the identification result of whether the voice of the wearer is the voice of the wearer or the voice of another person other than the wearer, the voice tuned from the information about the voice signal of the voice of one of the wearers It can also be understood as a program that realizes the function of discriminating sex.

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 ... Strap, 231 ... Synchronization determination unit, 232 ... Grouping unit

Claims (7)

A voice information receiving unit that receives information related to a voice signal of a voice acquired by a plurality of voice acquisition means for acquiring voices arranged at different positions from the wearer's mouth;
The voice acquired by the voice acquisition unit is identified based on the comparison result of the voice signals acquired by the plurality of voice acquisition units for each wearer. The voice of the wearer provided with the voice acquisition unit For the voice identified as the speech voice of one of the wearers based on the identification result of the speech voice of the other person other than the wearer, the synchrony for determining the synchrony of the voice from the information on the voice signal of the voice A discriminator;
A voice analysis device comprising:   The speech analysis apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a self-other identification unit that obtains an identification result of whether the voice of the wearer or the voice of another person other than the wearer includes the voice acquisition unit.   The speech analysis apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a grouping unit that performs grouping of the wearers based on the sound synchrony determined by the synchrony determination unit.   The grouping unit is characterized in that, when the sound acquired by the sound acquisition unit is not the voice of any wearer, the sound is not used for grouping the wearer. The speech analysis apparatus according to claim 3. A plurality of voice acquisition means for acquiring voices arranged at different positions from the wearer's mouth;
Based on the comparison result of the voice signal of the voice acquired by the voice acquisition means, the voice acquired by the voice acquisition means is the voice of the wearer equipped with the voice acquisition means or the voice of another person other than the wearer A self-other identification unit for identifying
A synchronism determining unit that determines the synchrony of the sound from the information related to the sound signal of the sound, for the sound identified as the speech sound of any wearer from the identification result identified by the self-other identification unit; ,
A voice analysis system characterized by comprising:   A voice information transmitting unit that transmits information related to the voice signal of the voice acquired by the voice acquisition unit; and a voice information receiving unit that receives information related to the voice signal of the voice transmitted by the voice information transmitting unit. The speech analysis system according to claim 5. On the computer,
A function of receiving information related to an audio signal of audio acquired by a plurality of audio acquisition means for acquiring audio arranged at different positions from the wearer's mouth; and
The voice acquired by the voice acquisition unit is identified based on the comparison result of the voice signals acquired by the plurality of voice acquisition units for each wearer. The voice of the wearer provided with the voice acquisition unit A function for discriminating the synchronicity of the voice from the information related to the voice signal of the voice of the voice identified as the voice of the voice of one of the wearers from the identification result of the voice of the voice other than the wearer ,
A program that realizes

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