Formant Tracking Linear Prediction Model using HMMs for Noisy Speech Processing

This paper presents a formant-tracking linear prediction (FTLP) model for speech processing in noise. The main focus of this work is the detection of formant trajectory based on Hidden Markov Models (HMM), for improved formant estimation in noise. The approach proposed in this paper provides a systematic framework for modelling and utilization of a time- sequence of peaks which satisfies continuity constraints on parameter; the within peaks are modelled by the LP parameters. The formant tracking LP model estimation is composed of three stages: (1) a pre-cleaning multi-band spectral subtraction stage to reduce the effect of residue noise on formants (2) estimation stage where an initial estimate of the LP model of speech for each frame is obtained (3) a formant classification using probability models of formants and Viterbi-decoders. The evaluation results for the estimation of the formant tracking LP model tested in Gaussian white noise background, demonstrate that the proposed combination of the initial noise reduction stage with formant tracking and LPC variable order analysis, results in a significant reduction in errors and distortions. The performance was evaluated with noisy natual vowels extracted from international french and English vocabulary speech signals at SNR value of 10dB. In each case, the estimated formants are compared to reference formants.

Speech Coding and Recognition

This paper investigates the performance of a speech recognizer in an interactive voice response system for various coded speech signals, coded by using a vector quantization technique namely Multi Switched Split Vector Quantization Technique. The process of recognizing the coded output can be used in Voice banking application. The recognition technique used for the recognition of the coded speech signals is the Hidden Markov Model technique. The spectral distortion performance, computational complexity, and memory requirements of Multi Switched Split Vector Quantization Technique and the performance of the speech recognizer at various bit rates have been computed. From results it is found that the speech recognizer is showing better performance at 24 bits/frame and it is found that the percentage of recognition is being varied from 100% to 93.33% for various bit rates.

Word Recognition and Learning based on Associative Memories and Hidden Markov Models

A word recognition architecture based on a network of neural associative memories and hidden Markov models has been developed. The input stream, composed of subword-units like wordinternal triphones consisting of diphones and triphones, is provided to the network of neural associative memories by hidden Markov models. The word recognition network derives words from this input stream. The architecture has the ability to handle ambiguities on subword-unit level and is also able to add new words to the vocabulary during performance. The architecture is implemented to perform the word recognition task in a language processing system for understanding simple command sentences like “bot show apple".

Person Identification using Gait by Combined Features of Width and Shape of the Binary Silhouette

Current image-based individual human recognition methods, such as fingerprints, face, or iris biometric modalities generally require a cooperative subject, views from certain aspects, and physical contact or close proximity. These methods cannot reliably recognize non-cooperating individuals at a distance in the real world under changing environmental conditions. Gait, which concerns recognizing individuals by the way they walk, is a relatively new biometric without these disadvantages. The inherent gait characteristic of an individual makes it irreplaceable and useful in visual surveillance. In this paper, an efficient gait recognition system for human identification by extracting two features namely width vector of the binary silhouette and the MPEG-7-based region-based shape descriptors is proposed. In the proposed method, foreground objects i.e., human and other moving objects are extracted by estimating background information by a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) and subsequently, median filtering operation is performed for removing noises in the background subtracted image. A moving target classification algorithm is used to separate human being (i.e., pedestrian) from other foreground objects (viz., vehicles). Shape and boundary information is used in the moving target classification algorithm. Subsequently, width vector of the outer contour of binary silhouette and the MPEG-7 Angular Radial Transform coefficients are taken as the feature vector. Next, the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is applied to the selected feature vector to reduce its dimensionality. These extracted feature vectors are used to train an Hidden Markov Model (HMM) for identification of some individuals. The proposed system is evaluated using some gait sequences and the experimental results show the efficacy of the proposed algorithm.