System and method for automatic provision and creation of speech stimuli for treatment of speech disorders

Abstract

A method and system for automatically generating speech stimuli for treatment of speech disorders. The method comprises receiving, from a fluency practice device, a feedback respective of a fluency practice session; generating at least one recommendation based in part on the feedback; configuring a fluency practice exercise based on the at least one recommendation; retrieving at least one stimulus based on the configuration; and providing the retrieved at least one stimulus for practicing during the fluency practice exercise.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for automatically generating speech stimuli for treatment of speech disorders, comprising:
 receiving, from a fluency practice device, a feedback respective of a fluency practice session;   generating at least one recommendation based in part on the feedback;   configuring a fluency practice exercise based on the at least one recommendation;   retrieving at least one stimulus based on the configuration; and   providing the retrieved at least one stimulus for practicing during the fluency practice exercise.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the fluency practice device is configured to generate the feedback based on the fluency practice session, wherein generating the feedback includes receiving at least one sound sample respective of the fluency practice session and causing, by a feedback generator system, an analysis of the at least one sound sample. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the analysis of the at least one sound sample includes processing a voice production of the at least one sound sample to evaluate a correct execution of the voice production. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining progress indicators based at least in part on the feedback.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 monitoring, respective of the speech stimuli, the fluency practice session to detect a change in the progress indicators; and   upon detecting the change in the progress indicators, generating at least one modified speech stimulus based on the changed progress indicators.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein each of the progress indicators is any of: a current progress level, previous successes, difficulties, and errors. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each recommendation is for a stimulus defining at least one parameter, wherein each parameter is any of: a number of syllables per word, a letter, a syllable, a word, a pattern of syllables, a pattern of letters, and a transition between words. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one stimulus is retrieved from a database. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one stimulus is part of at least one of: a word, and a sentence. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the fluency practice exercise is configured in real-time as a user practices. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one stimulus is based at least in part on at least one audio sample and at least one text sample. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the at least one stimulus is further based on at least one filtering rule, wherein the at least one filtering rule is applied to each of the at least one audio sample and each of the at least one text sample based on phonetic identifiers in the samples. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the phonetic identifiers in the at least one audio sample are matched to the phonetic identifiers in the at least one text sample to verify accuracies of the samples. 
     
     
         14 . A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions for executing the method according to  claim 1 . 
     
     
         15 . A system for automatically generating speech stimuli for treatment of speech disorders, comprising:
 a processing unit; and   a memory, the memory containing instructions that, when executed by the processing unit, configure the system to:   receive, from a fluency practice device, a feedback respective of a fluency practice session;   generate at least one recommendation based in part on the feedback;   configure a fluency practice exercise based on the at least one recommendation;   retrieve at least one stimulus based on the configuration; and   provide the retrieved at least one stimulus for practicing during the fluency practice exercise.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the fluency practice device is configured to generate the feedback based on the fluency practice session, wherein generating the feedback includes receiving at least one sound sample respective of the fluency practice session and causing, by a feedback generator system, an analysis of the at least one sound sample. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the analysis of the at least one sound sample includes processing a voice production of the at least one sound sample to evaluate a correct execution of the voice production. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the system is further configured to:
 determine progress indicators based at least in part on the feedback.   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the system is further configured to:
 monitor, respective of the speech stimuli, the fluency practice session to detect a change in the progress indicators; and   upon detecting the change in the progress indicators, generate at least one modified speech stimulus based on the changed progress indicators.   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein each of the progress indicators is any of: a current progress level, previous successes, difficulties, and errors. 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein each recommendation is for a stimulus defining at least one parameter, wherein each parameter is any of: a number of syllables per word, a letter, a syllable, a word, a pattern of syllables, a pattern of letters, and a transition between words. 
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the at least one stimulus is retrieved from a database. 
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the at least one stimulus is part of at least one of: a word, and a sentence. 
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the fluency practice exercise is configured in real-time as a user practices. 
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the at least one stimulus is based at least in part on at least one audio sample and at least one text sample. 
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 25 , wherein the at least one stimulus is further based on at least one filtering rule, wherein the at least one filtering rule is applied to each of the at least one audio sample and each of the at least one text sample based on phonetic identifiers in the samples. 
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 26 , wherein the phonetic identifiers in the at least one audio sample are matched to the phonetic identifiers in the at least one text sample to verify accuracies of the samples.