Computational differences between whispered and non-whispered speech

Lim, Boon Pang

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/24283 Copy

Description

Title

Computational differences between whispered and non-whispered speech

Author(s)

Lim, Boon Pang

Issue Date

2011-05-25T14:52:30Z

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Hasegawa-Johnson, Mark A.

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

• Hasegawa-Johnson, Mark A.
• Sproat, Richard W.

Committee Member(s)

• Shosted, Ryan K.
• Levinson, Stephen E.
• Lumetta, Steven S.

Department of Study

Electrical & Computer Eng

Discipline

Electrical & Computer Engr

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• speech recognition
• whispered speech
• modified rhyme test
• eigenvoices
• speaker adaptation

Abstract

Whispering is a common type of speech which is not often studied in speech technology. Perceptual and physiological studies show us that whispered speech is subtly di erent from phonated speech, and is surprisingly able to carry a tremendous amount of information. In this dissertation we con- sider the question: What makes whispering a good form of communication? We examine the di erences between normal phonated speech and whispered speech, and gauge the e ectiveness of state-of-the-art speech recognition al- gorithms at recognizing whisper. Our perceptual experiments add to the literature on the intelligibility of whispered speech. Comparisons with ASR results yield interesting insights into the di erences between the two systems. A method for building speech recognizers for whispered speech using lim- ited whispered speech data is proposed and evaluated. Our approach ef- fectively performs speaker-adaptation for whispered speech acoustic models without needing whispered speech from the target speaker. Results show im- provement over the standard speaker-independent models. Our work opens up additional avenues for research, which are outlined in the conclusions.

Graduation Semester

2011-05

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/24283

Copyright and License Information

(c) 2011 Boon Pang Lim

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