Speech recognition apparatus and speech recognition method

A speech recognition apparatus comprising:

• a speech input unit to acquire collected speech and to convert the speech to speech data;
• a non-speech information input unit to acquire information other than the speech;
• a non-speech operation recognition unit to recognize a user state from the information other than the speech the non-speech information input unit acquires;
• a non-speech section decider to decide whether the user is talking or not from the user state the non-speech operation recognition unit recognizes;
• a threshold learning unit to set a first threshold from the speech data converted by the speech input unit when the non-speech section decider decides that the user is not talking, and to set a second threshold from the speech data converted by the speech input unit when the non-speech section decider decides that the user is talking;
• a speech section detector to detect, using the threshold set by the threshold learning unit, a speech section indicating that the user is talking from the speech data converted by the speech input unit;
• and
• a speech recognition unit to recognize the speech data in the speech section detected by the speech section detector, and to output a recognition result, wherein
• the speech section detector detects the speech section by using the first threshold, if the speech section detector cannot detect the speech section by using the second threshold.

A speech recognition method comprising:

• acquiring, by a speech input unit, collected speech and converting the speech to speech data;
• acquiring, by a non-speech information input unit, information other than the speech;
• recognizing, by a non-speech operation recognition unit, a user state from the information other than the speech;
• deciding, by a non-speech section decider, whether the user is talking or not from the user state recognized:
• setting, by a threshold learning unit, a first threshold from the speech data when decided that the user is not talking, and a second threshold when decided that the user is talking;
• detecting, by a speech section detector, a speech section indicating that the user is talking from the speech data converted by the speech input unit by using the first threshold or the second, and detecting the speech section by using the first threshold when the speech section cannot be detected by using the second threshold;
• and
• recognizing, by a speech recognition unit, speech data in the speech section detected, and outputting a recognition result.