Method and monitor for voice fluency

The method of determining the relative fluency of speech of a human subject;

• comprising the steps of:
• having the subject utter oral speech,
• obtaining from said speech a determination of the hesitation pauses which are absence of vocal sounds within the speech uttered by the subject which pauses are in excess of a given time interval in the order of one second of time,
• determining the number of such pauses in a period of time of speech of the subject, and
• indicating the subject's greater relative fluency of speech where the rate of such pauses is less than a value in the order of two pauses per minute.

A voice fluency monitor to determine the fluency of uttered speech of a human subject during a dialogue with another person comprising in combination,

• first transducer means connected to be responsive to the voice of a subject,
• second transducer means connected to be responsive to the voice of a person with whom the subject may have a dialogue,
• pause means connected to both of said transducer means and responsive to the lack of output of that transducer means which is responsive to the vocal sounds of substantially only one of the two persons to determine hesitation pauses of the subject which pauses are in excess of a time interval of one second of time and which pauses include joint silence of both persons, and
• indicator means connected to said pause means and having an output upon the rate of such hesitation pauses being in excess of a rate in the order of two pauses per minute.

The method of using first and second transducers for determining the relative fluency of speech of a human subject during dialogue with another person, comprising the steps of:

• having the subject utter oral speech to act on a first transducer,
• having another person utter oral speech to act substantially only on a second transducer,
• obtaining from said first transducer as controlled by said second transducer a determination of the hesitation pauses which are absence of vocal sounds within the speech uttered by the subject which pauses are in excess of a given time interval in the order of one second of time, and
• indicating the subject's greater relative fluency of speech where the rate of such pauses is less than a rate in the order of two pauses per minute.