AUTOMATIC SPEECH RECOGNITION TO ENHANCE COMPLIANCE WITH ANTIHYPERTENSIVE DRUGS

THE GOAL OF THIS APPLICATION IS AN INTERACTIVE, COMPUTER-MEDIATED, TELEPHONE MONITORING SYSTEM THAT USES AUTOMATIC SPEECH RECOGNITION (ASR) TO IMPROVE BLOOD PRESSURE CONTROLLING HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS BY IMPROVING PHYSICIAN MONITORING AND PATIENT COMPLIANCE WITH ANTIHYPERTENSIVE DRUG REGIMENS. THE SYSTEM WILL INTEGRATE SOLILOQUOY (TM), EMERSON AND STERN'S SPEECH RECOGNITION SOFTWARE, WITH BOSTON UNIVERSITY'S TELEPHONE-LINKED COMPUTER SYSTEM THE TLC. SOLILOQUY IS A SPEAKER-INDEPENDENT, TELEPHONE-COMPATIBLE CONTINUOUS SPEECH RECOGNIZER CAPABLE OF HANDLING FLEXIBLE VOCABULARIES AND NATURAL LANGUAGE PHRASEOLOGY. THE TLC, AN INTERACTIVE AMBULATORY PATIENT MONITORING SYSTEM, PRODUCES SYNTEHSIZED SPEECH OUTPUT AND ACCEPTS TOUCHTONE INPUT. THE TLC HAS BEEN LIMITED TO NUMERICAL RESPONSES AND ASSIGNED BUTTONS FOR YES/NO, SINCE IT IS DIFFICULT TO SPELL WORDS USING A TELEPHONE KEYPAD. PHASE I AIMS INCLUDE CREATING A LIMITED VOCABULARY/PHRASE SET INCLUDING MEDICATION SIDE EFFECTS; COLLECTING SPEECH DATA FROM A REPRESENTATIVE POPULATION; INTEGRATING THE TWO SYSTEMS TO ESTABLISH FEASIBILITY; AND LIVE TESTING WITH STAFF. IN PHASE II THE VOCABULARY/PHRASE SETS WILL BE EXPANDED AND THE SYSTEM WILL BE PORTED TO "ONE BOX" THAT WILL BE TESTED ONE PATIENT POPULATION. NO ONE HAS CREATED SUCH A SYSTEM BEFORE SINCE THE TECHNOLOGY WAS NOT AVAILABLE, AND NO ONE HAS DONE THE NECESSARY LINGUISTIC RESEARCH FOR THIS POPULATION. OBVIOUS COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS INCLUDE OTHER MEDICAL MONITORING ENVIRONMENTS OR TELEPHONE INQUIRIRES TO VARIOUS EXPERT SYSTEMS.