20150106087 | Efficient Discrimination of Voiced and Unvoiced Sounds - A method is disclosed for discriminating voiced and unvoiced sounds in speech. The method detects characteristic waveform features of voiced and unvoiced sounds, by applying integral and differential functions to the digitized sound signal in the time domain. Laboratory tests demonstrate extremely high reliability in separating voiced and unvoiced sounds. The method is very fast and computationally efficient. The method enables voice activation in resource-limited and battery-limited devices, including mobile devices, wearable devices, and embedded controllers. The method also enables reliable command identification in applications that recognize only predetermined commands. The method is suitable as a pre-processor for natural language speech interpretation, improving recognition and responsiveness. The method enables realtime coding or compression of speech according to the sound type, improving transmission efficiency. | 04-16-2015 |