Method, device and system for estimating the condition of a user

A method for estimating the status of at least one of a physiological and psychological condition of a user, wherein

• taking speech samples from the user and processing said samples into an input audio signal;
• generating a set of values of speech coding parameters from said input audio signal, said speech coding parameters representing characteristics of said input audio signal;
• applying a user specific mathematical relation to calculate values for parameters of said condition from said set of values of speech coding parameters;
• estimating the status of said condition based on said calculated values of said condition parameters;
• wherein said condition is the condition of user's pulmonary function, and the method further comprises the steps of
• measuring values of chosen pulmonary function parameters in a number of different asthma conditions;
• taking speech samples virtually simultaneously with said measurements and processing said samples into input audio signals;
• generating a set of values for certain speech coding parameters from said input audio signals;
• and
• deriving a user-specific mathematical relation between said values of pulmonary function parameters and values of speech coding parameters.

A method for estimating the status of at least one of a physiological and psychological condition of a user, wherein

• taking speech samples from the user and processing said samples into an input audio signal;
• generating a set of values of speech coding parameters from said input audio signal, said speech coding parameters representing characteristics of said input audio signal;
• applying a user specific mathematical relation to calculate values for parameters of said condition from said set of values of speech coding parameters;
• wherein the mathematical relation is a user-specific transformation matrix Cnxk derived from the equation:
• Amxn×Cnxk=Bmxk
• the matrix Amx consisting of n values of m speech coding parameters and matrix Bmxk consisting of m generated values of k associated speech coding parameters;
• and
• estimating the status of said condition based on said calculated values of said condition parameters.

A method for estimating the status of at least one of a physiological and psychological condition of a user, wherein

• taking speech samples from the user and processing said samples into an input audio signal;
• generating a set of values of speech coding parameters from said input audio signal, said speech coding parameters representing characteristics of said input audio signal, wherein said speech coding parameters comprise at least one of the following parameters of an RPE-LTP speech encoder:
• LPC coefficients, LTP parameters, FFT spectrum calculated from the LPC residual signal, parameters from the LPC residual signal, parameters from the LPC residual signal calculated using true LPC coefficients instead of the quantized coefficients;
• applying a user specific mathematical relation to calculate values for parameters of said condition from said set of values of speech coding parameters;
• and
• estimating the status of said condition based on said calculated values of said condition parameters.

A device (MS) for estimating the status of at least one of a physiological and psychological condition of a user, wherein the device comprises:

• input means (21;
• 320, 301) for receiving input speech and transforming it into input audio signal;
• a speech encoder (22;
• 302) for generating a set of values of speech coding parameters from said input audio signal, said speech coding parameters representing characteristics of said input audio signal;
• a memory (23;
• 330) for storing data on a user-specific mathematical relation between parameters of said condition and speech parameters;
• a processor (24;
• 319) for applying said user-specific mathematical relation to calculate values of said condition parameters from said set of values of speech coding parameters;
• and
• output means (25;
• 320) for providing the resulting calculated values of certain condition parameters for estimation of the status of the user's condition.

A device (MS) for estimating the status of at least one of a physiological and psychological condition of a user, wherein the device comprises:

• input means (21;
• 320, 301) for receiving input speech and transforming it into input audio signal;
• a speech encoder (22;
• 302) for generating a set of values of speech coding parameters from said input audio signal, said speech coding parameters representing characteristics of said input audio signal;
• a memory (23;
• 330) for storing data on a user-specific mathematical relation between parameters of said condition and speech parameters, wherein said condition is the condition of user's pulmonary function;
• a processor (24;
• 319) for applying said user-specific mathematical relation to calculate values of said condition parameters from said set of values of speech coding parameters;
• and
• output means (25;
• 320) for providing the resulting calculated values of certain condition parameters for estimation of the status of the user's condition.

A system for estimating the status of at least one of a physiological and psychological condition of a user, wherein said system comprising:

• a plurality of monitoring devices (MS) comprising
• input means (21;
• 320, 301) for receiving input speech and transforming it into input audio signal, and
• a speech encoder (22;
• 302) for generating a set of values for speech coding parameters from said input audio signal, said speech coding parameters representing characteristics of said input audio signal;
• a central monitoring unit (SYS) comprising
• a database (DB) for storing data on a user-specific mathematical relation between parameters representing said condition and speech parameters, separately defined for each user,
• a processing unit (CP) for, as a response to a received set of values for certain speech coding parameters, retrieving the user-specific mathematical relation from the database (DB) and applying said relation to calculate the values of chosen condition parameters from said set of values for chosen speech parameters;
• an estimation unit (SYS) for, as a response to the calculated values of chosen condition parameters, producing an estimate on the status of condition of the user.

A system for estimating the status of at least one of a physiological and psychological condition of a user, wherein said system comprising:

• a plurality of monitoring devices (MS) comprising:
• input means (21;
• 320, 301) for receiving input speech and transforming it into input audio signal,
• a speech encoder (22;
• 302) for generating a set of values for speech coding parameters from said input audio signal, said speech coding parameters representing characteristics of said input audio signal;
• a central monitoring unit (SYS) comprising:
• a database (DB) for storing data on a user-specific mathematical relation between parameters representing said condition and speech parameters, separately defined for each user, wherein said condition is the condition of user's pulmonary function;
• a processing unit (CP) for, as a response to a received set of values for certain speech coding parameters, retrieving the user-specific mathematical relation from the database (DB) and applying said relation to calculate the values of chosen condition parameters from said set of values for chosen speech parameters;
• an estimation unit (SYS) for, as a response to the calculated values of chosen condition parameters, producing an estimate on the status of condition of the user.

A method for estimating the status of at least one of a physiological and psychological condition of a user, wherein

• taking speech samples from the user and processing said samples into an input audio signal;
• generating a set of values of speech coding parameters from said input audio signal, said speech coding parameters representing characteristics of said input audio signal;
• applying a user specific mathematical relation to calculate values for parameters of said condition from said set of values of speech coding parameters;
• estimating the status of said condition based on said calculated values of said condition parameters;
• wherein said condition is the condition of user's physiological and psychological function, and the method further comprises the steps of
• measuring values of chosen physiological and psychological function parameters in a number of different pulmonary conditions;
• taking speech samples virtually simultaneously with said measurements and processing said samples into input audio signals;
• generating a set of values for certain speech coding parameters from said input audio signals;
• and
• deriving a user-specific mathematical relation between said values of physiological and psychological function parameters and values of speech coding parameters.

A method for estimating the status of at least one of a physiological and psychological condition of a user, wherein

• taking speech samples from the user and processing said samples into an input audio signal;
• generating a set of values of speech coding parameters from said input audio signal, said speech coding parameters representing characteristics of said input audio signal, wherein said speech coding parameters comprise at least one of the following parameters of speech encoder:
• LPC coefficients, LTP parameters, FFT spectrum calculated from the LPC residual signal, parameters from the LPC residual signal, parameters from the LPC residual signal calculated using true LPC coefficients instead of the quantized coefficients;
• applying a user specific mathematical relation to calculate values for parameters of said condition from said set of values of speech coding parameters;
• and
• estimating the status of said condition based on said calculated values of said condition parameters.