| abstract |
An electronic hand-held, talking learning aid 1 is disclosed. The learning aid includes an MOS speech synthesizer chip having an active surface area of the order of 45,000 square mils. The speech synthesizer chip includes a digital filter, a voiced/unvoiced excitation circuit, a speech parameter interpolator, an input parameter decoder, a digital-to-analogue converter and associated timing circuits. The learning aid is also provided with a micro-processor which functions as a controller for controlling the operation of the unit. A small speaker is driven by the digital-to- analogue converter on the speech synthesizer chip and a keyboard 3 and a display 2 are strobed by the microprocessor controller. In a first, spelling, mode, a question is posed via the speaker and an answer entered via the keyboard by the operator is compared with the correct answer, a resultant response being given via the speaker. In a second mode the operator is shown a word via the display and asked to speak it; after a delay the correct pronunciation is produced by the learning aid via the speaker. In a third mode, a word is selected for display, but certain letters are omitted, leaving the operator to complete the word. In third and fourth modes, respectively, encoding/decoding of words and generation of a random word are performed. <IMAGE> |