SBIR Phase II: Automated Public Speaking Assessment

SBIR 第二阶段：自动公开演讲评估

• 批准号: 1632582
• 负责人: Debra Cancro
• 金额: $ 74.74万
• 依托单位: VoiceVibes, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-08-15 至 2020-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1632582&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; II; Automated; Public

This Phase II project aims to develop software to automatically assess public speaking skills and prepare students with better oral communications skills necessary to perform job tasks. Oral expression is the most highly valued ability throughout the economy and ranks as the second most highly-valued skill for high-wage, high-growth, high-skill occupations. Approximately 4.5 million college students take a basic communications course each year, however, as class sizes get larger and online learning becomes more common, public speaking instruction becomes increasingly difficult. Practice and feedback are essential aspects of these courses, yet it is a struggle for teachers to find enough time to sufficiently interact with students. This SBIR project aims to develop the key concepts of automated public speaking assessment such that a student?s vocal delivery can be objectively measured and presented in a manner that creates an independent, personalized learning experience. Unlike traditional methods of public speaking assessment, the proposed system can be available at any time, provide objective feedback and track student practice and improvement. The proposed Software-as-a-Service is projected to generate $16 Million in revenue over five years and create more than 25 high-paying, US-based jobs. This Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase II project proposes to develop an automated assessment system for public speaking that determines how a speaker would be perceived by an audience. Automated assessment for speech has already occurred in spoken language proficiency, which leverages Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) and semantic analysis. Automated voice assessment has also been utilized in lie detection and emotion detection, which focus on autonomic responses in the user?s voice, such as when stress affects the vocal cords. The hypothesis behind this SBIR project is that speakers can consciously use and modify non-semantic speech behaviors to produce more desirable listener perceptions. Automatically linking listener perception to speech behaviors represents a novel direction in automated assessment for speech. The Phase II objective is to develop software sufficient for automated public speaking assessment such that a student?s vocal delivery can be objectively measured and presented in a manner that creates an independent, personalized learning experience. Voice analytics capability investigated in Phase I will be enhanced and developed into a cloud-based service which helps students practice, track, and improve their public speaking habits.

该第二阶段项目旨在开发软件来自动评估公开演讲技能，并让学生具备执行工作任务所需的更好的口头沟通技能。口语表达是整个经济中最受重视的能力，在高工资、高增长、高技能职业中位居第二位最受重视的技能。每年大约有 450 万大学生参加基础传播课程，然而，随着班级规模的扩大和在线学习的普及，公开演讲教学变得越来越困难。 实践和反馈是这些课程的重要方面，但教师很难找到足够的时间与学生充分互动。该 SBIR 项目旨在开发自动公开演讲评估的关键概念，以便能够客观地测量和呈现学生的声音，从而创造独立、个性化的学习体验。与传统的公开演讲评估方法不同，该系统可以随时使用，提供客观的反馈并跟踪学生的练习和改进。拟议的软件即服务预计将在五年内产生 1600 万美元的收入，并在美国创造超过 25 个高薪就业岗位。这个小型企业创新研究 (SBIR) 第二阶段项目提议开发一种公开演讲自动评估系统，确定听众如何看待演讲者。 口语能力中已经出现了语音自动评估，它利用了自动语音识别 (ASR) 和语义分析。自动语音评估也被用于测谎和情绪检测，重点关注用户声音的自主反应，例如当压力影响声带时。该 SBIR 项目背后的假设是，说话者可以有意识地使用和修改非语义言语行为，以产生更理想的听众感知。自动将听众感知与言语行为联系起来代表了语音自动评估的一个新方向。第二阶段的目标是开发足以进行自动公开演讲评估的软件，以便可以客观地测量和呈现学生的声音，从而创造独立、个性化的学习体验。第一阶段研究的语音分析能力将得到增强，并开发为基于云的服务，帮助学生练习、跟踪和改善他们的公开演讲习惯。