Lithuanian research: AI will become a translator for patients after laryngectomy

“By using Pareto optimisation in deep learning and integrating certain techniques, we can control factors such as noise reduction, speech quality and computational efficiency. This synergy improves the efficiency of noise reduction in disrupted speech,” says Maskeliūnas.

According to him, the algorithm’s speech operation involves calculating the spectrogram of the noisy voice.

In addition, deriving frequency statistics, measuring noise sensitivity, noise generation and other parameters that are involved in the “cleaning” of the voice.

“It is important to note that we have chosen a very topical and specialised area, based on the insights of the LSMU experts. The results of the study already show the potential to improve the intelligibility and quality of speech in the presence of a variety of factors, and we believe that we will apply this system to medical disorders and patients with different conditions,” says the KTU researcher.

In the future, it is hoped that a smartphone will be able to record what the patient wants to say and then “clean up” and enrich this signal to produce a coherent and clear result.

The smartphone will help patients speak clearly

According to LSMU professor Ulozas, the research is in its experimental phase and the studies are being conducted on voice recordings from patients with ear, nose and throat diseases.

“The study involves patients at Kaunas Clinic who have undergone surgery for laryngeal cancer. These patients are left without a voice after a complete laryngeal removal operation, and then, during the next operation, a tracheoesophageal prosthesis is inserted, which allows the patients to speak, while breathing takes place through the tracheal opening,” says the professor.

After such an operation, the patient regains the ability to speak, but the quality of speech is very poor, there is a lot of noise, pauses and interruptions, so it is difficult to understand what is being said, which hinders the patient’s quality of life, according to Ulozas.

According to Maskeliūnas, the aim of the study is to ensure that the delay in speech is minimal: “For example, it would correspond to a comfortable telephone conversation when the surgeon calls the interlocutor. Nowadays, the telephone often “understands” the interlocutor’s voice as a noise, and the interlocutor does not understand what is being said”.

According to the researchers, once the technology has been tested to the point where it is easy to operate, the study will be carried out by meeting the patients live. Today, the researchers are looking ahead to the study:

“We think that a two to three year timeframe is very realistic for the study, especially given that we already have funding for this promising research, helped by the very rapid development of IoT equipment”.

Read more at: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/15/14/3644