An Automatic Device for Discriminating between Speech and Music

Abstract

An automatic electronic device will be described which sets a relay one way when the input is speech and the other way when the input is music. Actually, it is difficult to draw a line between speech and music except by arbitrary rules; patter songs certainly have elements of both. In fact, for each of the operating principles which one might use, it is possible to select a list of program materials which form a fairly continuous transition from music to speech. For the device to be described in detail, the writer has termed the variable involved in the transition from music to speech the diction, because when speech alone is involved, the current through the relay coil agrees rather well with one's subjective estimate of the distinctness of the diction. Since speech-music dichotomies are arbitrary and personal, the merit of a discriminator should be judged on the basis of the way that the relay current accords with the diction variable, rather than upon the agreement with an arbitrary speech-music dichotomy. The presentation will include a demonstration of the device.