Casa Futura Technologies is the leading manufacturer of electronic assistive
devices for speech disorders. We need to contract a developer to make a
speech aid for Parkinson's patients. For 15+ years our devices have been
based on karaoke chips, but these chips are becoming obsolete and our
devices are becoming more complex, so we need to move to a DSP-based
platform. (We considered developing an iPhone app, but the iPhone lacks
sufficient processing power and has various other problems, e.g., poor
quality microphones, short battery life, etc.)

We have patents on everything so I can provide a specification without a
non-disclosure agreement.

Our devices provide the user's voice to the user's ears in real time,
altered in several ways:

- Delay. 50 to 200 milliseconds. Receives input from the microphone, outputs
the delayed signal to the headphones.

- Pitch-shift. -1 to +1 octaves. Receives input from the microphone, outputs
the pitch-shifted signal to the headphones.

- Binaural switching. The user's voice is switched between his left and
right ears about 24 times per second.

- Analysis of the user's vocal volume (the microphone input volume).

- Analysis of the user's vocal pitch (the microphone input fundamental
frequency).

- "Multitalker babble noise." This is an MP3 file that sounds like 20 people
talking at a party. The multitalker babble noise is mixed with the user's
delayed and pitch-shifted voice, and output to the user's headphones.

- The volume of the multitalker babble noise is inversely related to the
user's vocal volume. I.e., when the user talks too quietly, the user hears
loud multitalker babble noise; this induces the Lombard effect and he speaks
louder, causing the multitalker babble noise to diminish in volume so he
hears only his own voice (which has been delayed and pitch-shifted).

- The volume of the user's delayed and pitch-shifted voice is directly
related to the user's vocal pitch. I.e., when the user speaks at a higher
vocal pitch, he hears his delayed and pitch-shifted voice loudly; when he
speaks at a deeper pitch, the volume of the delayed and pitch-shifted voice
diminishes.

- A graphic display of microphone volume and pitch.

- Bluetooth interface to a cellphone earset, plus 3.5mm jacks for standard
microphone and earphones.

- Portable size, battery powered. Our current devices are similar to an iPod
Mini, with a battery life of 12-15 hours.

Parkinson's patients lose their ability to move their speech muscles
sufficiently, resulting in quiet, inarticulate mumbling (hypokinetic
dysarthria). Hearing their voices shifted up one octave induces increased
speech motor activity and makes them speak clearly. Hearing their voices
delayed steadies their pacing (preventing festinating speech). The binaural
switching increases effectiveness. However, hearing their voices loudly in
their ears induces them to speak more quietly, which is a problem as
Parkinson's patients speak too quietly. The multitalker babble noise induces
louder speech, but simply mixing multitalker babble noise with the vocal
signal decreases the effectiveness of the delay and pitch-shift; thus the
plan to provide multitalker babble noise only when the user's voice is too
quiet, and get rid of it when the user it speakly sufficiently loud.

The vocal pitch analysis is used with stutterers. When stutterers speak at
the lower vocal pitch (by relaxing their vocal folds and other speech
production muscles) they are fluent. The delay and pitch shift induces
stutterers to speak fluently, but by reducing the volume as they relax their
speech-production muscles our devices train them to need the devices less
and less. We hope to experiment with having Parkinson's patients try the
opposite, i.e., when they speak at a higher pitch as well as a higher volume
we reduce the volume in their earphones.

If you would like to develop this device for us, please recommend what DSP
you would use, what similar projects you've done, and give us a time and
cost estimate. We can do the plastic case, jacks, controls, batteries, etc.
--
Thomas David Kehoe
Casa Futura Technologies
http://www.casafuturatech.com Start a New Thread