Speech processing apparatus and method

A method of collecting utterance data comprising the steps of:

• displaying a first user interface to enable user input of speaker identifiers and storing said speaker identifiers in a speaker database;
• displaying a second user interface to enable user input of word identifiers and storing said word identifiers in a vocabulary database;
• displaying a series of prompts to prompt the utterance of words corresponding to word identifiers stored in said vocabulary database by speakers identified by speaker identifiers stored in said speaker database;
• and
• synchronising the collection of utterance data indicative of the pronunciation of words with said series of prompts.

Apparatus for collecting utterance data indicative of the pronunciation of one or more words by one or more speakers, the apparatus comprising:

• a data collection unit operable to collect and store utterance data indicative of the pronunciation of one or more words by one or more speakers;
• a vocabulary database operable to store word identifiers indicative of one or more words;
• a speaker database operable to store speaker identifiers indicative of speaker from whom utterance data is to be collected;
• and
• a co-ordination unit, said co-ordination unit being operable:
• to generate a first user interface to enable user input of speaker identifiers for storage in said speaker database;
• to generate a second user interface to enable user input of word identifiers for storage in said vocabulary database;
• and
• to generate a third user interface operable to generate a series of prompts to prompt the utterance of words corresponding to word identifiers stored in said vocabulary database by speakers identified by speaker identifiers stored said speaker database and to synchronise said series of prompts with the collection of utterance data indicative of pronunciation of words.

A method of generating speech models comprising the steps of:

• providing a computer system operable to collect utterance data, to generate speech models utilising said collected utterance data and to test the accuracy of matching utterances to said generated speech models;
• collecting data indicative of the pronunciation of one or more words by one or more speakers utilising said apparatus;
• generating speech models utilizing said collected utterances;
• determining whether said accuracy of said generated models is satisfactory by testing said models utilizing said apparatus;
• and
• outputting speech models determined to be satisfactory in said determination step.