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US006725198B2
(12) United States Patent ao) Patent No.: us 6,725,198 B2
Waryas et al. (45) Date of Patent: *Apr. 20,2004
(54) SPEECH ANALYSIS SYSTEM AND METHOD
(75) Inventors: Carol Waryas, San Antonio, TX (US);
James H. Segapeli, Schertz, TX (US);
Valarie Spiser-Albert, San Antonio,
TX (US)
(73) Assignee: Harcourt Assessment, Inc., San
Antonio, TX (US)
( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term ol this
patent is extended or adjusted under 35
U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days.
This patent is subject to a terminal dis-
claimer.
(21) Appl. No.: 09/997,204
(22) Filed: Nov. 15, 2001
(65) Prior Publication Data
US 2002/0116183 Al Aug. 22, 2002
Related U.S. Application Data
(63) Continuation-in-part ol application No. 09/769,776, filed on Jan. 25, 2001, and a continuation-in-part ol application No. 09/770,093, filed on Jan. 25, 2001.
(51) Int. CI.7 G10L 15/06; G10L 21/06;
G09B 19/04; G09B 1/00
(52) U.S. CI 704/254; 704/271; 704/276;
434/185; 434/167
(58) Field of Search 704/276, 270,
704/258, 251, 246; 434/327, 322, 185,
157, 116
(56) References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
4,615,680 A * 10/1986 Tomatis 434/157
4,969,194 A 11/1990 Ezawa et al.
5,142,657 A * 8/1992 Ezawa et al 704/276
A system and method for analyzing a speech problem includes the steps ol presenting a symbol representative ol a word and prompting the user to pronounce the word represented by the symbol into an audio input device such as a microphone in signal communication with a processor. Next the therapist enters a phonetic representation ol the user pronunciation into an operator input and storage device, the phonetic representation subsequently downloaded into the processor. It is then automatically determined whether an error exists in the user pronunciation. II an error exists, the error is automatically categorized.
27 Claims, 5 Drawing Sheets
