Intelligent animated agents for interactive language training

This report describes a three-year project, now eight months old, to develop interactive learning tools for language training with profoundly deaf children. The tools combine four key technologies: speech recognition, developed at the Oregon Graduate Institute; speech synthesis, developed at the University of Edinburgh and modified at OGI; facial animation, developed at University of California, Santa Cruz; and face tracking and speech reading, developed at Carnegie Mellon University. These technologies are being combined to create an intelligent conversational agent; a three-dimensional face that produces and understands auditory and visual speech. The agent has been incorporated into CSLU Toolkit, a software environment for developing and researching spoken language systems. We describe our experiences in bringing interactive learning tools to classrooms at the Tucker-Maxon Oral School in Portland, Oregon, and the technological advances that are required for this project to succeed.