Xu, Yapanel, Gray, Gilkerson, Richards, Hansen
Speech
signal processing and other man-machine interaction technologies have been
developed for improved child-computer interaction for education,
entertainment, as well as other applications [1, 2]. However, for very young
children (in the age range of 0 to 4 years old, and especially 0 to 2), such
interaction is not encouraged [3, 4]. Instead, parent-child interaction is
highly recommended [3, 4] since it promotes improved language development. In
this study, a new system entitled LENATM (Language Environment Analysis) and
its associate processing technologies will be introduced. LENA provides
parents/caregivers with quantified statistical information concerning the
language environment and development status of children in order to allow for
the determination of what needs to improve and how to improve. The adult word
count (AWC) estimation algorithm is shown to reduce the relative Root Mean
Square Error from an initial 42% to 7-8% after 5 hours of measuring time. If
LENA’s feedback suggests any potential development problem, parents can take
action at a crucial early stage. LENA is a new processing system not only for
parents/caregivers but for pediatricians, speech language pathologists, child
development psychologists, and other researchers as well. This system
represents one of the first breakthroughs in assessing early childhood
language development and child environment conditions.