New AI system can identify emotions in human voice

Scientists have created a new artificial intelligence system that can identify a range of emotions - from happiness to disgust - in human speech. For a long time, computers have successfully converted speech into text. However, the emotional component, which is important for conveying meaning, has been neglected.

Neural networks are processors connected with each other and capable of learning, analysis and synthesis. This smart system surpasses traditional algorithms in that the interaction between a person and computer becomes more interactive.

Researchers at the National Research University Higher School of Economics in Russia trained a neural network to recognise eight different emotions: neutral, calm, happy, sad, angry, scared, disgusted, and surprised. In 70 per cent cases the computer identified the emotion correctly, say the researchers.

The researchers have transformed the sound into images - spectrograms - which allowed them to work with sound using the methods applied for image recognition.

A deep learning approach was used in the research.