Creating a CBT Chatbot with Voice Capabilities

In this article, we’ll explore how to create a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) chatbot designed to offer vocal support to users. This project combines a Node.js server, OpenAI’s API for dialogue generation, and Google TTS for voice synthesis, creating an interactive and accessible platform for users seeking CBT support. Below are the key steps and technologies used to bring this project to life.

1. Setting Up the Backend

Technologies: The backend uses Node.js and Express to manage requests and OpenAI’s API to generate the chatbot responses. Voice synthesis is integrated using google-tts-api to convert text messages into audio responses.

Steps:

• Dependency Installation: First, install the necessary libraries using npm (express, openai, google-tts-api, cors, dotenv). These will provide all the backend functionality required.
• Server Configuration: Configure Express to handle user requests and connect to the OpenAI API. Finalize the configuration by setting up environment variables, including your OpenAI API key.
• Key Endpoints: Create two essential endpoints:
  • /voice-interaction: accepts user text input and returns both a textual response and an audio URL using Google TTS for voice synthesis.
  • /download-report: allows users to download a report of the conversation in .txt format.

2. Setting Up Environment Variables

To secure the API key, the project uses a .env file to store the OpenAI API key. Place your API key in this file and ensure it’s not uploaded to public repositories.

3. Building the Frontend

The frontend is designed to provide a simple user interface with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, enabling users to interact easily with the CBT chatbot.

Steps:

• Page Structure: The HTML page includes a text area for user input, a button to submit requests to the chatbot, and another to download the conversation report.
• Page Styling: Use basic CSS to style the page, ensuring input fields and buttons are easy to locate and use.
• JavaScript Functions:
  • Users can send text and receive both a text and an audio response directly on the page.
  • It also provides a download option to save the conversation in .txt format.

4. Running and Testing the Application

Running the Backend

After configuring all components, launch the Node.js server, which will listen for requests on localhost. Confirm that your variables are set correctly and that the server responds with the appropriate message when active.

Testing the Endpoints

You can use tools like Postman to test the backend and verify that the endpoints work as expected:

• Voice Interaction: Send text to the endpoint and check that it returns both the text response and an audio URL.
• Report Download: Send text content and ensure that the server returns a .txt file containing the provided text.

5. User Interface and Final Testing

Open index.html to run the frontend. Type a message in the text area and click “Send” to initiate the interaction with the bot. You should see the text response and be able to play the audio directly from the page. After the conversation, you can also download the report with a single click.

Conclusion

This CBT chatbot with voice capabilities is a powerful tool for providing accessible therapeutic support. By combining OpenAI’s API and voice synthesis, it offers a unique interactive experience that brings users closer to the benefits of CBT in an innovative way.

Foto di Kindel Media