Patent Grant
7988629
The present invention is related to a cerebrum evaluation device for measuring and evaluating the activity of the cerebrum of a subject by using a chaotic signal processing method using the periodicity of the speech signal of the subject to analyze the speech signal.
There is known that the cerebrum activity of a subject can be measured by the chaotic analysis of the speech signal of the subject. Some exemplary processing devices are disclosed in JP-A-2001-348108 (patent reference #1), JP-A-2002-82734 (patent reference #2), JP-A-2001-116408 (patent reference #3), and JP-A-2001-280105 (patent reference #4).
The inventions disclosed in the patent references cited above attempt to obtain a biological signal of a subject including the speech signal to process the signal in accordance with a chaotic signal processing method in order to analyze and diagnose.
The devices and systems using the chaotic processing method as disclosed in the patent references cited above use any one of chaotic analysis well known in the art including such as Wolf's algorithm, Kantz' algorithm, Rosenstein's algorithm, Worel's algorithm, and Sano-Sawada's algorithm.
In the prior art as have been described above, in particular, the device disclosed in the patent reference #1 cited above, has the object to obtain and evaluate the voice signal uttered by imposing a load which is intentional to and recognizable by the subject. The load intentional to the subject is applied because the application of the load to the subject increases to the maximum the activity of the cerebrum of the subject, and the measurement of the maximum limit value contributes to the evaluation of the activity of cerebrum of the subject, more specifically, to evaluate and diagnose the state of cerebral diseases.
In the study of one of the inventors in recent years (Kakuichi SHIOMI, “Cerebral Function Model considered based on Speech Analysis”, Journal of Kansei Engineering, Collected Papers of Japan Society of Kansei Engineering, vol. 4, no. 1, February 2004, p. 3-p. 12), the speech signal uttered by a subject has been shown to include the speech signal and some noises which disturb the chaoticity of the speech signal (the noise here is the noise generated in the signal transmitted between the cerebral areas when the subject speaks. In accordance with the study of one of the inventors of the present invention, it is suggested that the noise is generated along with the signals exchanged between the Wernicke's area and the Broca's area and the signals within those areas). It is thought that the chaoticity of the speech signal does not vary itself whether or not the subject is applied with a load and that the noise part thereof varies by imposing the load.
In accordance with the cerebral function model of the above consideration, the application of load recognizable by the subject in the prior art is no more than increasing the noise. In other words, the prior art does perform chaotic analysis of a speech signal including the noise and does not perform the chaotic analysis of the speech signal intrinsic to the subject. Moreover, the prior art may not obtain any significant value for effective analysis because the speech signal is a system that the dynamics changes along with the time, as have been described above.
The chaotic analysis of the prior art described above assumes that the object of the analysis is a system having the stable dynamics (dynamics is the behavior limited by the physical shape, or the property which provides the behavior). Therefore, in a system such as the speech signal in which the dynamics changes along with the time, temporally local first Lyapunov exponent, or the Lyapunov spectrum as in the Sano-Sawada's algorithm cannot be calculated as a significant value.
A system with the stable dynamics is the one in which the physical arrangement or length does not vary, and in case when such a system shows some chaotic behavior, the shape of the strange attractor generated by the time-series signal given by the system will have a similar form. In addition, an exemplary system in which the dynamics changes along with the time is the system of speech vocal organ of a living body, in which the physical arrangement or the length changes. When pronouncing /a/ phoneme and /o/ phoneme, for example, the shape from the throat to oral cavity is different, and the strange attractor generated by the speech signal has a different form.
The speech signal, on the other hand, is thought of a time-series signal to be generated by a system with the dynamics changing along with the time, because of many factors such as that the shape from the throat to the oral cavity changes when speaking as have been described above. The chaotic analysis methods of the patent references as cited above, which assume the chaotic analysis in a system with the dynamics stable along with the time, therefore cannot calculate the processing result as significant value, thus cannot be effective analysis.
The inventors of the present invention has invented a cerebrum evaluation device for measuring and evaluating the activity of the cerebrum of a subject, by obtaining the speech signal uttered by the subject, which signal is a time-series signal of a system with the dynamics changing along with the time, and by performing chaotic analysis on the speech signal by using the chaotic signal processing method, invented by the inventors of the present invention, using the periodicity of the speech signal.
In the chaotic signal processing using the periodicity of the speech signal implemented in the cerebrum evaluation device in accordance with the present invention is capable of performing relative evaluation of the intensity of the chaoticity and the intensity of the noise that disturbs the chaoticity, so that the load recognizable by the subject is not needed to be applied, as shown in the patent reference #1.
The invention set forth in claim 1 provides a cerebrum evaluation device for evaluating the status of cerebrum by the speech signal uttered by the subject. The cerebrum evaluation device comprises a statistic information database containing chaotic index values of speech signals of a plurality of subjects; a speech signal acquisition unit for acquiring said speech signal; a chaotic index value calculation unit for calculating a chaotic index value of said speech signal by chaotic signal processing using the periodicity of said acquired speech signal; an evaluation unit for evaluating the cerebral state of said subject from said calculated chaotic index value by referencing said statistic information database; and an output unit for outputting the result evaluated by said evaluation unit.
In accordance with the present invention, significant chaotic index values can be calculated based on the speech signal, which is a time-series signal of the system with the dynamics changing along with the time. The chaotic index value thus calculated may be compared with the statistic information on the chaotic index values of a plurality of subjects to coordinate the cerebral activity of the subject to the statistic data to evaluate (diagnose) the state of the cerebrum of the subject.
The invention set forth in claim 2 provides a cerebrum evaluation device for evaluating the state of the cerebrum by the speech signal uttered by a subject. The cerebrum evaluation device comprises a statistic information database containing time-sequentially the chaotic index values of the speech signal of said subject; a speech signal acquisition unit for acquiring said speech signal; a chaotic index value calculating unit for calculating the chaotic index value of said speech signal by acquired chaotic signal processing using the periodicity of said speech signal; an evaluation unit for evaluating the cerebral state of said subject from said calculated chaotic index value by referencing said statistic information database; and an output unit for outputting the result evaluated by said evaluation unit.
In accordance with the present invention, a significant chaotic index value can be calculated based on the speech signal, which is a time-series signal of the system with the dynamics changing along with the time. The change along with the time of the state of the cerebrum of the subject can be evaluated by storing sequentially the chaotic index value calculated of the subject, allowing the evaluation of the possibility of onset as well as the progress of a cerebral functional disease of the subject.
The invention set forth in claim 3 provides a cerebrum evaluation device, in which said speech signal acquisition unit obtains the speech signal sampled by an A/D converter from the speech signal obtained by a voice acquisition unit.
The voice of a subject is collected by a microphone. The speech signal thus acquired is analog signal, which is preferably converted to digital signal by an A/D converter for the chaotic analysis by the cerebrum evaluation device.
The invention set forth in claim 4 provides a cerebrum evaluation device, in which said statistic information database contains the chaotic index values of the speech signals of said plurality of subjects in relation with one or more of the race, age, gender of subject; said evaluation unit compares any one or more of race, age, gender of said uttering subject and the chaotic index value of the subject with the race, age, gender, and chaotic index value stored in said statistical information database to evaluate the state of the cerebrum of said subject.
When performing the chaotic examination of the speech signal in accordance with the present invention, the race, age, gender, and the like of the subject may be stored in relation with the chaotic index value so as to evaluate the state of the cerebrum of the subject with a higher precision.
The invention set forth in claim 5 provides a cerebrum evaluation device, in which said statistic information database stores the chaotic index values of the speech signal of said subject in relation with the aging information of the subject and the time-sequential change of the state of cerebral function disease, said evaluation unit evaluates the state of the cerebrum of said subject based on the time-sequential change of the chaotic index value of said subject.
When performing the chaotic examination of the speech signal using the present invention the time-sequential storage of chaotic index value of the subject allows profiling the time-sequential change of the subject.
The invention set forth in claim 6 provides a cerebrum evaluation device, in which said cerebrum evaluation device is connected to a speech voice acquisition environment generator unit for controlling the acquisition environment of said speech voice, and to an environment replaying unit for replaying the environment specified by said speech voice acquisition environment generator unit, said speech voice acquisition environment generator unit decides any one or more of the visual movie, still image, voice as the environment to be replayed for said subject, and said environment replaying unit replays the environment decided.
By using a speech acquisition environment generating apparatus as in the present invention to concentrate the conscience of the subject on the picture, image, and voice reproduced by the environment generating apparatus when acquiring the speech voice of the subject, the speech uttered by the subject can be made homogeneous. This allows the precision of the chaotic index value calculated by the cerebral evaluation device to be improved thereby.
By using the present invention, the cerebral activity of the subject can be significantly chaotically evaluated based on the speech signal. Then the value thus measured can be compared with the statistic data of the cerebral activity previously recorded to infer the level of cerebral activity of the subject, such as for example the progress of dementia on the subject.
Now referring to
Now referring to
The speech signal acquisition unit 2 is a means for acquiring the speech signal amplified by the head amplifier 11.
The chaotic index value calculating unit 3 is a means for calculating the chaotic index value of the speech signal based on the chaotic signal processing method using the periodicity of the speech signal. The chaotic signal processing method is achievable by calculation using the method disclosed in the international application PCT/JP2003/16954, “Cerebral Function Model based on Speech Analysis” (Kakuichi Shiomi, Journal of Kansei engineering, Collected Papers of Japan Society of Kansei Engineering, vol. 4, no. 1, February 2004, p. 3-p. 12).
More specifically, the speech signal acquired by the speech signal acquisition unit 2 is sampled and cut out for a predetermined processing unit for calculating the chaotic index value corresponding to the sampled time as a microscopic chaotic index value. From the speech signal of a predetermined processing unit thus cut out the microscopic chaotic index value is calculated.
The chaotic index value of the speech signal for a predetermined period of time can be calculated as macroscopic chaotic index value, based on the microscopic chaotic index value.
The microscopic chaotic index value is the chaotic index value of the speech signal for each sampling time as described above, and the macroscopic chaotic index value is the chaotic index value for a predetermined period of time, for example the duration of a phoneme, based on the microscopic chaotic index value. This concept is shown in
The evaluation unit 4 is means for evaluating the cerebral activity of the subject from the chaotic index value (macroscopic chaotic index value) of the subject calculated by the chaotic index value calculating unit 3 by referring the statistic information database 6 as described later.
The output unit 5 is means for outputting the result of evaluation by the evaluation unit 4 to the output device 13 such as a display or a printer connected to the cerebrum evaluation device 1.
The statistic information database 6 is a database storing the chaotic index values (macroscopic chaotic index values) of the speech signals of a plurality of subjects in accordance with the race, age, gender and so on of the subjects.
When comparing the chaotic index value of the subject with the chaotic index values contained in the statistic information database 6, if the subject is 60 years old but the chaotic index value is significantly lower than the chaotic index values stored in the statistic information database 6, then the subject is suspected to have a cerebral anomaly (for example cerebral function disease or dementia). Therefore the evaluation unit 4 performs such numerical comparison.
The statistic information database 6 stores the chaotic index value of the speech signal of each subject in accordance with the aging information of the subject for a long period of time, or in accordance with the information on the change of the disease along with the time if the subject has a cerebral functional disease revealed.
An exemplary flow of process in the cerebrum evaluation device 1 in accordance with the present invention will be described herein below in greater details with reference to the flow chart shown in
First, the subject speaks and the speech is captured by the microphone 10 (S100). The speech signal of the speech thus obtained is amplified by the head amplifier 11 for microphone up to the level of audio line (S110).
The speech signal thus amplified is input into the cerebral evaluation device 1, and the speech signal acquisition unit 2 of the cerebrum evaluation device 1 acquires the signal (S120). If the speech signal acquired by the speech signal acquisition unit 2 is not digital signal, then an A/D converter or the like may be used to convert analog signals to digital signals.
The speech signal is sampled by the A/D converter, the chaotic index value calculating unit 3 uses the periodicity of the speech signal of the subject to calculate the chaotic index value of the subject (S130). More specifically, first, is cut out for a predetermined processing unit for calculating the chaotic index value corresponding to a given sampling time as microscopic chaotic index value. Then a microscopic chaotic index value is calculated for each speech signal of the predetermined processing unit thus cut out.
Based on the microscopic chaotic index value thus calculated, the chaotic index value of the speech signal for a predetermined period of time, namely a macroscopic chaotic index value is then calculated. The predetermined period of time may be the duration of a phoneme, for example. The macroscopic chaotic index value thus calculated is transmitted to the evaluation unit 4 as the chaotic index value output by the chaotic index value calculating unit 3.
The evaluation unit 4 refers the statistic information database 6 to evaluate the cerebral activity of the subject from the chaotic index value of the subject calculated by the chaotic index value calculating unit 3 (S140). The statistic information database 6 stores the chaotic index values of the speech signals of a plurality of subjects in accordance with their race, age, gender and so on. The evaluation unit 4 then compares the chaotic index value of the subject calculated in S130 with the chaotic index values stored in the statistic information database 6 for the purpose of evaluation.
For example, when in the statistic information database 6, the chaotic index values of a plurality of subjects are stored along with the age, if the age and the chaotic index value of the subject to be evaluated is compared with the ages and chaotic index values stored in the statistic information database 6, the cerebral activity of the subject to be evaluated can be evaluated whether to comply with the statistic information of the age of the subject.
When the correspondence between the chaotic index value and the age stored in the statistic information database 6 is as shown in
The result of such evaluation is output from the output unit 5 to the output device 13 (S150). For example, in the example as have been described above, the chaotic index value of the subject may be output to the output device 13, or displayed as the overlay on a graph shown in
By storing the chaotic index value as the processing result of the speech signal of each subject along with the aging information of the subject for a long period of time in the statistic information database 6, or along with the information on revelatory change of the disease state if the subject is revealed to have a cerebral functional disease, the onset of a cerebral functional disease of the subject or the progress of the disease can be evaluated from the change of the chaotic index value of the subject along with the time.
The speech acquisition environment generating unit 14 is a device achieving the speech acquisition environment similar to the eye test or audiometry, and the environment playback unit 15 is a display for replaying pictures or images, or a speaker or a headphone for replaying the speech voice.
By using the speech acquisition environment generating unit 14, the subject focuses on the picture or image and speech displayed on the environment playback unit 15 to allow the speech uttered by the subject to be made homogeneous. This may improve the precision of the chaotic index value calculated by the cerebrum evaluation device 1.
For example, when the environment playback unit 15 is served instead of the output device 13, the subject is instructed to watch the environment playback unit 15, and the speech acquisition environment generating unit 14 displays a picture, illustration, silhouette of an object, or eye chart on the environment playback unit 15. The subject is asked to recognize by speech and the microphone 10 acquires the speech.
For instance, the subject is asked “what can you see?”, then the subject responds “a puppy”. At that time the microphone 10 acquires the speech as the object to be analyzed.
When the environment playback unit 15 is used as a sound player device such as a headphone or a speaker, the speech acquisition environment generating unit 14 plays the sound such as glass breaking, running train, wave sound, varying from a very small sound at first then gradually larger sound level, or intermittently playing the sound and the subject is asked to recognize verbally the sound.
For instance, the subject is asked “what can you hear”, then the subject responds “a siren of a police car” at that moment the speech is acquired by the microphone 10 as the object to be analyzed.
The speech signal thus acquired is used in the cerebral evaluation device 1 to calculate and evaluate the chaotic index value.
The environment playback unit 15 in the above embodiment may use, in addition to the picture, image, and sound, the smell, taste, vibration and the like as the object on which the subject concentrate.
The means and database in accordance with the present invention are solely distinguished by logical function, these may physically or virtually share the same area. The term database may be any one of storage means for storing any data, and a data file may be used instead of the database, therefore the term database includes a data file.
It is appreciated that, when embodying the present invention a software program stored in a recording medium which achieves the functionality of the preferred embodiment may be provided to a system, and the computer in the system reads out the program stored in the recording medium and executes the program to achieve the present invention.
In this case the program itself which is read out from the recording medium achieves the functionality of the preferred embodiment, therefore the recording medium storing the program constitutes part of the present invention.
Some examples of recording medium for supplying the program may include for example, a magnetic disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, and the like.
The functionality of the preferred embodiment described above may be achieved not only by executing the program read out by the computer, but also by an operating system running on the computer which executes all or part of the actual processing, based on the instruction of the program, to thereby achieve functionality of the preferred embodiment.
In addition, the program read out from the recording medium may be written into a nonvolatile or volatile storage means in an expansion card inserted in the computer or an expansion unit connected to the computer, then the processing unit of the expansion card or the expansion unit executes all or part of the actual processing based on the instruction of the program to thereby achieve the functionality of the preferred embodiment as have been described above.
Using the present invention allows measuring the cerebral activity of a subject from the speech signal while the subject does not recognize as burden. By comparing the measured value with the statistic data of the cerebral activity previously recorded, the level of the cerebral activity of the subject for example the progress of the dementia of the subject can be diagnosed.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2004/005663 | 4/28/2004 | WO | 00 | 8/22/2007 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2005/104950 | 11/10/2005 | WO | A |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7363226 | Shiomi et al. | Apr 2008 | B2 |
| 7737859 | Takaoka et al. | Jun 2010 | B2 |
| 20030065241 | Hohnloser | Apr 2003 | A1 |
| 20050065412 | Shiomi et al. | Mar 2005 | A1 |
| 20070174377 | Shiomi et al. | Jul 2007 | A2 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1 454 586 | Sep 2004 | EP |
| 2002-306492 | Oct 2002 | JP |
| 2003-79602 | Mar 2003 | JP |
| 2003-144438 | May 2003 | JP |
| 2003-280684 | Oct 2003 | JP |
| WO 03041589 | May 2003 | WO |
| WO 2004075074 | Feb 2004 | WO |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20080132768 A1 | Jun 2008 | US |
