Iterative improvement of speaker segmentation in a noisy environment using high-level knowledge

Author(s):  
Qiang Huang ◽  
Stephen J. Cox
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willem Kleijn ◽  
JB Crespo ◽  
RC Hendriks ◽  
P Petkov ◽  
B Sauert ◽  
...  

Modern communication technology facilitates communication from anywhere to anywhere. As a result, low speech intelligibility has become a common problem, which is exacerbated by the lack of feedback to the talker about the rendering environment. In recent years, a range of algorithms has been developed to enhance the intelligibility of speech rendered in a noisy environment. We describe methods for intelligibility enhancement from a unified vantage point. Before one defines a measure of intelligibility, the level of abstraction of the representation must be selected. For example, intelligibility can be measured on the message, the sequence of words spoken, the sequence of sounds, or a sequence of states of the auditory system. Natural measures of intelligibility defined at the message level are mutual information and the hit-or-miss criterion. The direct evaluation of high-level measures requires quantitative knowledge of human cognitive processing. Lower-level measures can be derived from higher-level measures by making restrictive assumptions. We discuss the implementation and performance of some specific enhancement systems in detail, including speech intelligibility index (SII)-based systems and systems aimed at enhancing the sound-field where it is perceived by the listener. We conclude with a discussion of the current state of the field and open problems. © 2015 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.


Author(s):  
Schruck Gillantes ◽  
Stephan Yreck

The fast advancement in information technology stimulates educational creativity as well. Learning and training practices are often not only carried sout in the traditional manner, but also with the usage of a multitude of learning technologies options. The zoom program is one of the learning resources used in online courses. Zoom was an application developed during the Covid-19 timeframe to address the limitations between educators and students, especially in terms of space and time. With E-learning, educators and students are not limited to one dimension of time and space, and learning will run and neglect both. Learning by simulated children's attention, on the other hand, causes disruption in the learning phase. During the learning phase, students must maintain a high level of concentration. The level of concentration of students has a significant impact on the learning process' outcomes. Since attitude and focus have a beneficial association, high focus may often affect a person's attitude in a learning phase in order to produce optimal performance. Many factors may affect a person's attention, one of which is the learning environment. A peaceful atmosphere can undoubtedly improve a person's concentration level, while a silent / noisy environment will exacerbate one's focus during the learning phase.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 217
Author(s):  
Serkan Hazar

The aim of this study is to investigate whether the intended ambient sound level has an effect on the postural stability. For this purpose 15 man and 12 women totally 27 healthy, voluntary students voluntarily participated in the study. The DT-8820 Multi-Function Environment Meter was used for Sound Level Measurement. Quiet environment, while the volume was maintained at between 15-30 decibel noise level of 90-100 dB in noisy environments. The Biodex balance system (Biodex, Inc., Shirley, New York) was used for postural stability measurement. SPSS 21.0 package program was used in the analysis of the data. The Wilcoxon Signed Ranks and Mann Whitney U test was used to compare measurement Significance level was set at 0.05 and 0.01 levels. When the balance performances at different sound levels are compared by gender, It was found that there was a significantly meaningful result in favor of men in quite environment oscillation balance scores both open eye and closed eye. However there was no significant difference among man and women other scores. On the other hand it was determined significant differences in the women closed eye oscillation score. In the man excepting open eye oscillation score the noisy environment was negatively affected all parameter. Postural stability was negatively affected noisy environment. As a result; In the study conducted that the high level of sound impaired the balance performance by affecting the vestibular system in both women and men and the effect was higher when closed eyes. ÖzetYapılan çalışmanın amacı ortam ses seviyesinin denge performansına etkisinin olup olmadığının araştırılmasıdır. Bu amaçla çalışmaya 15’i erkek, 12’si bayan toplam 27 öğrenci alınmıştır. Ortam Ses Seviyesi Ölçümü DT-8820 Multi-Function Environment Meter cihazı ile yapıldı. Sessiz ortam ses seviyesi 15-30 desibel arasında iken gürültülü ortam ses seviyesi 90-100 desibel arasında tutulmuştur.Denge ölçümü için BİODEX denge sistemi (Biodex, Inc, Shirley New York) kullanılmıştır.Verilerin analizinde SPSS 21.0 paket programı kullanıldı.  Verilerinin kıyaslanmasında Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test ve Mann Whitney U test kullanıldı. Anlamlılık düzeyi 0.05 ve 0.01 seviyesinde kurgulandı. Sessiz ortam salınım değerlerinde hem gözler açıkken hem de gözler kapalıyken ölçülen değerlerde erkekler lehine anlamlı bir sonuç olduğu tespit edilirken diğer değerlerde cinsiyetler arası farklılık olmadığı tespit edilmiştir. Diğer taraftan kadınlarda ortam ses seviyesinin gözler kapalı iken ölçülen salınım denge değerlerinde anlamlı farklılık olduğu, gürültünün denge performansını olumsuz etkilediği, erkeklerde ise gözler açık salınım denge değeri hariç hem statik hem dinamik hemde gözler kapalı salınım denge değerlerinde anlamlı farklılık olduğu,  dengenin gürültüden olumsuz etkilendiği tespit edilmiştir. Sonuç olarak; yapılan çalışmada yüksek ses seviyesinin hem bayanlarda hem de erkeklerde vestibüler sistemi etkileyerek denge performansını bozduğu, bu etkinin gözler kapalıyken daha yüksek olduğu tespit edilmiştir. 


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willem Kleijn ◽  
JB Crespo ◽  
RC Hendriks ◽  
P Petkov ◽  
B Sauert ◽  
...  

Modern communication technology facilitates communication from anywhere to anywhere. As a result, low speech intelligibility has become a common problem, which is exacerbated by the lack of feedback to the talker about the rendering environment. In recent years, a range of algorithms has been developed to enhance the intelligibility of speech rendered in a noisy environment. We describe methods for intelligibility enhancement from a unified vantage point. Before one defines a measure of intelligibility, the level of abstraction of the representation must be selected. For example, intelligibility can be measured on the message, the sequence of words spoken, the sequence of sounds, or a sequence of states of the auditory system. Natural measures of intelligibility defined at the message level are mutual information and the hit-or-miss criterion. The direct evaluation of high-level measures requires quantitative knowledge of human cognitive processing. Lower-level measures can be derived from higher-level measures by making restrictive assumptions. We discuss the implementation and performance of some specific enhancement systems in detail, including speech intelligibility index (SII)-based systems and systems aimed at enhancing the sound-field where it is perceived by the listener. We conclude with a discussion of the current state of the field and open problems. © 2015 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.


Author(s):  
Stanislaw Osowski ◽  
Krzysztof Siwek ◽  
Tomasz Grzywacz

Purpose – The paper is concerned with exploration of sensor signals in differential electronic nose. It is a special type of nose, which applies double sensor matrices and exploits only their differential signals, which are used in recognition of patterns associated with them. The purpose of this paper is to study the application of differential nose in dynamic measurement of aroma of 11 brands of cigarettes. Design/methodology/approach – The most important task in pattern recognition using electronic nose is its resistance to the noise corrupting the measurement. The authors will analyze and compare the performance of the nose in the noisy environment by applying two classifier systems: the support vector machine (SVM) and random forest (RF) of decision trees. Findings – On the basis of numerical experiments the authors have found that application of SVM as the classifier in the electronic nose is more advantageous than RF, especially at high level of noise and small number of measuring sensors. Its application allowed to recognize 11 brands of cigarettes with the accuracy close to 100 percent. Practical implications – Thanks to application of two identical sensors working in a differential mode the authors avoid the baseline estimation and thus the solution is well suited for on-line dynamic measurements of the process. Originality/value – The paper has studied the advantages and limitations of the differential electronic nose following from the existence of the noise, corrupting the measurements. It has pointed an important role of the applied classifier system in getting the electronic nose of the highest quality.


Author(s):  
David P. Bazett-Jones ◽  
Mark L. Brown

A multisubunit RNA polymerase enzyme is ultimately responsible for transcription initiation and elongation of RNA, but recognition of the proper start site by the enzyme is regulated by general, temporal and gene-specific trans-factors interacting at promoter and enhancer DNA sequences. To understand the molecular mechanisms which precisely regulate the transcription initiation event, it is crucial to elucidate the structure of the transcription factor/DNA complexes involved. Electron spectroscopic imaging (ESI) provides the opportunity to visualize individual DNA molecules. Enhancement of DNA contrast with ESI is accomplished by imaging with electrons that have interacted with inner shell electrons of phosphorus in the DNA backbone. Phosphorus detection at this intermediately high level of resolution (≈lnm) permits selective imaging of the DNA, to determine whether the protein factors compact, bend or wrap the DNA. Simultaneously, mass analysis and phosphorus content can be measured quantitatively, using adjacent DNA or tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) as mass and phosphorus standards. These two parameters provide stoichiometric information relating the ratios of protein:DNA content.


Author(s):  
J. S. Wall

The forte of the Scanning transmission Electron Microscope (STEM) is high resolution imaging with high contrast on thin specimens, as demonstrated by visualization of single heavy atoms. of equal importance for biology is the efficient utilization of all available signals, permitting low dose imaging of unstained single molecules such as DNA.Our work at Brookhaven has concentrated on: 1) design and construction of instruments optimized for a narrow range of biological applications and 2) use of such instruments in a very active user/collaborator program. Therefore our program is highly interactive with a strong emphasis on producing results which are interpretable with a high level of confidence.The major challenge we face at the moment is specimen preparation. The resolution of the STEM is better than 2.5 A, but measurements of resolution vs. dose level off at a resolution of 20 A at a dose of 10 el/A2 on a well-behaved biological specimen such as TMV (tobacco mosaic virus). To track down this problem we are examining all aspects of specimen preparation: purification of biological material, deposition on the thin film substrate, washing, fast freezing and freeze drying. As we attempt to improve our equipment/technique, we use image analysis of TMV internal controls included in all STEM samples as a monitor sensitive enough to detect even a few percent improvement. For delicate specimens, carbon films can be very harsh-leading to disruption of the sample. Therefore we are developing conducting polymer films as alternative substrates, as described elsewhere in these Proceedings. For specimen preparation studies, we have identified (from our user/collaborator program ) a variety of “canary” specimens, each uniquely sensitive to one particular aspect of sample preparation, so we can attempt to separate the variables involved.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 738-761
Author(s):  
Tess K. Koerner ◽  
Melissa A. Papesh ◽  
Frederick J. Gallun

Purpose A questionnaire survey was conducted to collect information from clinical audiologists about rehabilitation options for adult patients who report significant auditory difficulties despite having normal or near-normal hearing sensitivity. This work aimed to provide more information about what audiologists are currently doing in the clinic to manage auditory difficulties in this patient population and their views on the efficacy of recommended rehabilitation methods. Method A questionnaire survey containing multiple-choice and open-ended questions was developed and disseminated online. Invitations to participate were delivered via e-mail listservs and through business cards provided at annual audiology conferences. All responses were anonymous at the time of data collection. Results Responses were collected from 209 participants. The majority of participants reported seeing at least one normal-hearing patient per month who reported significant communication difficulties. However, few respondents indicated that their location had specific protocols for the treatment of these patients. Counseling was reported as the most frequent rehabilitation method, but results revealed that audiologists across various work settings are also successfully starting to fit patients with mild-gain hearing aids. Responses indicated that patient compliance with computer-based auditory training methods was regarded as low, with patients generally preferring device-based rehabilitation options. Conclusions Results from this questionnaire survey strongly suggest that audiologists frequently see normal-hearing patients who report auditory difficulties, but that few clinicians are equipped with established protocols for diagnosis and management. While many feel that mild-gain hearing aids provide considerable benefit for these patients, very little research has been conducted to date to support the use of hearing aids or other rehabilitation options for this unique patient population. This study reveals the critical need for additional research to establish evidence-based practice guidelines that will empower clinicians to provide a high level of clinical care and effective rehabilitation strategies to these patients.


2006 ◽  
Vol 175 (4S) ◽  
pp. 260-260
Author(s):  
Rile Li ◽  
Hong Dai ◽  
Thomas M. Wheeler ◽  
Anna Frolov ◽  
Gustavo Ayala

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