Assistive Speech and Language Analysis

The Assistive Speech and Language Analysis Group is working on the integration of speech therapy know-how into digital applications. At the centre of the group’s applied research are computer-assisted digital technologies for automatic language, speech and voice assessment. Here, the Oldenburg team is using and further developing its own technical methods for automatic speech recognition, acoustic voice analysis and digital signal processing as well as machine learning and computational linguistics.

In health research, the Assistive Speech and Language Analysis Group is making a significant contribution to counteracting the social withdrawal of persons affected by speech problems, for example due to illnesses such as Parkinson’s disease or after a stroke, and to helping them communicate. In addition, language features are applied as biomarkers, contributing in this way to the prevention and early detection of disease. The group’s language technologies and activities also support language education and literacy.

The team is also working on the accessibility for a broader public via digital learning platforms: Combining AI and mobile devices generates analysis and assessment tools for a wide range of health-related and learning applications, which are also available on a privacy-compliant server infrastructure.

Assistive speech and language analysis make a significant contribution to connected health and thus also to pioneering health research. To this end, Fraunhofer IDMT is working closely with the University Medicine of Oldenburg. In addition to voice and speech analyses, researchers are also studying and developing the recording of biosignals, e. g. with the SensOhr®-Platform, as a means to describe health and other vital parameters through body-worn sensors.

Findings from research and development are transposed into practice in the shape of mobile, sensor-based systems that can be used flexibly and without clinical infrastructure. As networked technological solutions, they facilitate improved diagnostics and therapy for specific diseases as well as digital language learning and support. For example, in the project »LeseKind« the Fraunhofer IDMT uses AI-supported applications for assessing reading proficiency.