3 research outputs found
New linear predictive methods for digital speech processing
Speech processing is needed whenever speech is to be compressed, synthesised or recognised by the means of electrical equipment. Different types of phones, multimedia equipment and interfaces to various electronic devices, all require digital speech processing. As an example, a GSM phone applies speech processing in its RPE-LTP encoder/decoder (ETSI, 1997). In this coder, 20 ms of speech is first analysed in the short-term prediction (STP) part, and second in the long-term prediction (LTP) part. Finally, speech compression is achieved in the RPE encoding part, where only 1/3 of the encoded samples are selected to be transmitted.
This thesis presents modifications for one of the most widely applied techniques in digital speech processing, namely linear prediction (LP). During recent decades linear prediction has played an important role in telecommunications and other areas related to speech compression and recognition. In linear prediction sample s(n) is predicted from its p previous samples by forming a linear combination of the p previous samples and by minimising the prediction error. This procedure in the time domain corresponds to modelling the spectral envelope of the speech spectrum in the frequency domain. The accuracy of the spectral envelope to the speech spectrum is strongly dependent on the order of the resulting all-pole filter. This, in turn, is usually related to the number of parameters required to define the model, and hence to be transmitted.
Our study presents new predictive methods, which are modified from conventional linear prediction by taking the previous samples for linear combination differently. This algorithmic development aims at new all-pole techniques, which could present speech spectra with fewer parameters.reviewe
Collaborative adaptive filtering for machine learning
Quantitative performance criteria for the analysis of machine learning architectures
and algorithms have long been established. However, qualitative performance criteria,
which identify fundamental signal properties and ensure any processing preserves the
desired properties, are still emerging. In many cases, whilst offline statistical tests
exist such as assessment of nonlinearity or stochasticity, online tests which not only
characterise but also track changes in the nature of the signal are lacking. To that end,
by employing recent developments in signal characterisation, criteria are derived for
the assessment of the changes in the nature of the processed signal.
Through the fusion of the outputs of adaptive filters a single collaborative hybrid
filter is produced. By tracking the dynamics of the mixing parameter of this filter,
rather than the actual filter performance, a clear indication as to the current nature of
the signal is given. Implementations of the proposed method show that it is possible to
quantify the degree of nonlinearity within both real- and complex-valued data. This is
then extended (in the real domain) from dealing with nonlinearity in general, to a more
specific example, namely sparsity. Extensions of adaptive filters from the real to the
complex domain are non-trivial and the differences between the statistics in the real
and complex domains need to be taken into account. In terms of signal characteristics,
nonlinearity can be both split- and fully-complex and complex-valued data can be
considered circular or noncircular. Furthermore, by combining the information obtained
from hybrid filters of different natures it is possible to use this method to gain a more
complete understanding of the nature of the nonlinearity within a signal. This also
paves the way for building multidimensional feature spaces and their application in
data/information fusion.
To produce online tests for sparsity, adaptive filters for sparse environments are
investigated and a unifying framework for the derivation of proportionate normalised
least mean square (PNLMS) algorithms is presented. This is then extended to derive
variants with an adaptive step-size. In order to create an online test for noncircularity,
a study of widely linear autoregressive modelling is presented, from which a proof of
the convergence of the test for noncircularity can be given. Applications of this method
are illustrated on examples such as biomedical signals, speech and wind data
Models and analysis of vocal emissions for biomedical applications
This book of Proceedings collects the papers presented at the 4th International Workshop on Models and Analysis of Vocal Emissions for Biomedical Applications, MAVEBA 2005, held 29-31 October 2005, Firenze, Italy. The workshop is organised every two years, and aims to stimulate contacts between specialists active in research and industrial developments, in the area of voice analysis for biomedical applications. The scope of the Workshop includes all aspects of voice modelling and analysis, ranging from fundamental research to all kinds of biomedical applications and related established and advanced technologies