2,726 research outputs found
Rank-1 Constrained Multichannel Wiener Filter for Speech Recognition in Noisy Environments
Multichannel linear filters, such as the Multichannel Wiener Filter (MWF) and
the Generalized Eigenvalue (GEV) beamformer are popular signal processing
techniques which can improve speech recognition performance. In this paper, we
present an experimental study on these linear filters in a specific speech
recognition task, namely the CHiME-4 challenge, which features real recordings
in multiple noisy environments. Specifically, the rank-1 MWF is employed for
noise reduction and a new constant residual noise power constraint is derived
which enhances the recognition performance. To fulfill the underlying rank-1
assumption, the speech covariance matrix is reconstructed based on eigenvectors
or generalized eigenvectors. Then the rank-1 constrained MWF is evaluated with
alternative multichannel linear filters under the same framework, which
involves a Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (BLSTM) network for mask
estimation. The proposed filter outperforms alternative ones, leading to a 40%
relative Word Error Rate (WER) reduction compared with the baseline Weighted
Delay and Sum (WDAS) beamformer on the real test set, and a 15% relative WER
reduction compared with the GEV-BAN method. The results also suggest that the
speech recognition accuracy correlates more with the Mel-frequency cepstral
coefficients (MFCC) feature variance than with the noise reduction or the
speech distortion level.Comment: for Computer Speech and Languag
Block-Online Multi-Channel Speech Enhancement Using DNN-Supported Relative Transfer Function Estimates
This work addresses the problem of block-online processing for multi-channel
speech enhancement. Such processing is vital in scenarios with moving speakers
and/or when very short utterances are processed, e.g., in voice assistant
scenarios. We consider several variants of a system that performs beamforming
supported by DNN-based voice activity detection (VAD) followed by
post-filtering. The speaker is targeted through estimating relative transfer
functions between microphones. Each block of the input signals is processed
independently in order to make the method applicable in highly dynamic
environments. Owing to the short length of the processed block, the statistics
required by the beamformer are estimated less precisely. The influence of this
inaccuracy is studied and compared to the processing regime when recordings are
treated as one block (batch processing). The experimental evaluation of the
proposed method is performed on large datasets of CHiME-4 and on another
dataset featuring moving target speaker. The experiments are evaluated in terms
of objective and perceptual criteria (such as signal-to-interference ratio
(SIR) or perceptual evaluation of speech quality (PESQ), respectively).
Moreover, word error rate (WER) achieved by a baseline automatic speech
recognition system is evaluated, for which the enhancement method serves as a
front-end solution. The results indicate that the proposed method is robust
with respect to short length of the processed block. Significant improvements
in terms of the criteria and WER are observed even for the block length of 250
ms.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables. Modified version of the article
accepted for publication in IET Signal Processing journal. Original results
unchanged, additional experiments presented, refined discussion and
conclusion
DNN-Based Multi-Frame MVDR Filtering for Single-Microphone Speech Enhancement
Multi-frame approaches for single-microphone speech enhancement, e.g., the
multi-frame minimum-variance-distortionless-response (MVDR) filter, are able to
exploit speech correlations across neighboring time frames. In contrast to
single-frame approaches such as the Wiener gain, it has been shown that
multi-frame approaches achieve a substantial noise reduction with hardly any
speech distortion, provided that an accurate estimate of the correlation
matrices and especially the speech interframe correlation vector is available.
Typical estimation procedures of the correlation matrices and the speech
interframe correlation (IFC) vector require an estimate of the speech presence
probability (SPP) in each time-frequency bin. In this paper, we propose to use
a bi-directional long short-term memory deep neural network (DNN) to estimate a
speech mask and a noise mask for each time-frequency bin, using which two
different SPP estimates are derived. Aiming at achieving a robust performance,
the DNN is trained for various noise types and signal-to-noise ratios.
Experimental results show that the multi-frame MVDR in combination with the
proposed data-driven SPP estimator yields an increased speech quality compared
to a state-of-the-art model-based estimator
Deep Learning for Environmentally Robust Speech Recognition: An Overview of Recent Developments
Eliminating the negative effect of non-stationary environmental noise is a
long-standing research topic for automatic speech recognition that stills
remains an important challenge. Data-driven supervised approaches, including
ones based on deep neural networks, have recently emerged as potential
alternatives to traditional unsupervised approaches and with sufficient
training, can alleviate the shortcomings of the unsupervised methods in various
real-life acoustic environments. In this light, we review recently developed,
representative deep learning approaches for tackling non-stationary additive
and convolutional degradation of speech with the aim of providing guidelines
for those involved in the development of environmentally robust speech
recognition systems. We separately discuss single- and multi-channel techniques
developed for the front-end and back-end of speech recognition systems, as well
as joint front-end and back-end training frameworks
Watermarking for multimedia security using complex wavelets
This paper investigates the application of complex wavelet transforms to the field of digital data hiding. Complex wavelets offer improved directional selectivity and shift invariance over their discretely sampled counterparts allowing for better adaptation of watermark distortions to the host media. Two methods of deriving visual models for the watermarking system are adapted to the complex wavelet transforms and their performances are compared. To produce improved capacity a spread transform embedding algorithm is devised, this combines the robustness of spread spectrum methods with the high capacity of quantization based methods. Using established information theoretic methods, limits of watermark capacity are derived that demonstrate the superiority of complex wavelets over discretely sampled wavelets. Finally results for the algorithm against commonly used attacks demonstrate its robustness and the improved performance offered by complex wavelet transforms
SEGAN: Speech Enhancement Generative Adversarial Network
Current speech enhancement techniques operate on the spectral domain and/or
exploit some higher-level feature. The majority of them tackle a limited number
of noise conditions and rely on first-order statistics. To circumvent these
issues, deep networks are being increasingly used, thanks to their ability to
learn complex functions from large example sets. In this work, we propose the
use of generative adversarial networks for speech enhancement. In contrast to
current techniques, we operate at the waveform level, training the model
end-to-end, and incorporate 28 speakers and 40 different noise conditions into
the same model, such that model parameters are shared across them. We evaluate
the proposed model using an independent, unseen test set with two speakers and
20 alternative noise conditions. The enhanced samples confirm the viability of
the proposed model, and both objective and subjective evaluations confirm the
effectiveness of it. With that, we open the exploration of generative
architectures for speech enhancement, which may progressively incorporate
further speech-centric design choices to improve their performance.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted in INTERSPEECH 201
Implementation and evaluation of a low complexity microphone array for speaker recognition
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-86).This thesis discusses the application of a microphone array employing a noise canceling beamforming technique for improving the robustness of speaker recognition systems in a diffuse noise field
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