Abstract

One of the keys to success in machine learning applications is to improve each user’s personal experience via personalized models. A personalized model can be a more resource-efficient solution than a general-purpose model, too, because it focuses on a particular sub-problem, for which a smaller model architecture can be good enough. However, training a personalized model requires data from the particular test-time user, which are not always available due to their private nature and technical challenges. Furthermore, such data tend to be unlabeled as they can be collected only during the test time, once after the system is deployed to user devices. One could rely on the generalization power of a generic model, but such a model can be too computationally/spatially complex for real-time processing in a resource-constrained device. In this talk, I will present some techniques to circumvent the lack of labeled personal data in the context of speech enhancement. Our machine learning models will require zero or few data samples from the test-time users, while they can still achieve the personalization goal. To this end, we will investigate modularized speech enhancement models as well as the potential of self-supervised learning for personalized speech enhancement. Because our research achieves the personalization goal in a data- and resource-efficient way, it is a step towards a more available and affordable AI for society.

Biography

Minje Kim is an associate professor in the Dept. of Intelligent Systems Engineering at Indiana University, where he leads his research group, Signals and AI Group in Engineering (SAIGE). He is also an Amazon Visiting Academic, consulting for Amazon Lab126. At IU, he is affiliated with various programs and labs such as Data Science, Cognitive Science, Dept. of Statistics, and Center for Machine Learning. He earned his Ph.D. in the Dept. of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Before joining UIUC, He worked as a researcher at ETRI, a national lab in Korea, from 2006 to 2011. Before then, he received his Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in the Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering at POSTECH (Summa Cum Laude) and in the Division of Information and Computer Engineering at Ajou University (with honor) in 2006 and 2004, respectively. He is a recipient of various awards including NSF Career Award (2021), IU Trustees Teaching Award (2021), IEEE SPS Best Paper Award (2020), and Google and Starkey’s grants for outstanding student papers in ICASSP 2013 and 2014, respectively. He is an IEEE Senior Member and also a member of the IEEE Audio and Acoustic Signal Processing Technical Committee (2018-2023). He is serving as an Associate Editor for EURASIP Journal of Audio, Speech, and Music Processing, and as a Consulting Associate Editor for IEEE Open Journal of Signal Processing. He is also a reviewer, program committee member, or area chair for the major machine learning and signal processing. He filed more than 50 patent applications as an inventor.

Abstract

Speech communications represents a core domain for education, team problem solving, social engagement, and business interactions. The ability for Speech Technology to extract layers of knowledge and assess engagement content represents the next generation of advanced speech solutions. Today, the emergence of BIG DATA, Machine Learning, as well as voice enabled speech systems have required the need for effective voice capture and automatic speech/speaker recognition. The ability to employ speech and language technology to assess human-to-human interactions offers new research paradigms having profound impact on assessing human interaction. In this talk, we will focus on big data naturalistic audio processing relating to (i) child learning spaces, and (ii) the NASA APOLLO lunar missions. ML based technology advancements include automatic audio diarization, speech recognition, and speaker recognition. Child-Teacher based assessment of conversational interactions are explored, including keyword and “WH-word” (e.g., who, what, etc.). Diarization processing solutions are applied to both classroom/learning space child speech, as well as massive APOLLO data. CRSS-UTDallas is expanding our original Apollo-11 corpus, resulting in a massive multi-track audio processing challenge to make available 150,000hrs of Apollo mission data to be shared with science communities: (i) speech/language technology, (ii) STEM/science and team-based researchers, and (iii) education/historical/archiving specialists. Our goals here are to provide resources which allow to better understand how people work/learn collaboratively together. For Apollo, to accomplish one of mankind’s greatest scientific/technological challenges in the last century.

Biography

John H.L. Hansen, received Ph.D. & M.S. degrees from Georgia Institute of Technology, and B.S.E.E. from Rutgers Univ. He joined Univ. of Texas at Dallas (UTDallas) in 2005, where he currently serves as Associate Dean for Research, Prof. of ECE, Distinguished Univ. Chair in Telecom. Engineering, and directs Center for Robust Speech Systems (CRSS). He is an ISCA Fellow, IEEE Fellow, and has served as Member and TC-Chair of IEEE Signal Proc. Society, Speech & Language Proc. Tech. Comm.(SLTC), and Technical Advisor to U.S. Delegate for NATO (IST/TG-01). He served as ISCA President (2017-21), continues to serve on ISCA Board (2015-23) as Treasurer, has supervised 99 PhD/MS thesis candidates (EE,CE,BME,TE,CS,Ling.,Cog.Sci.,Spch.Sci.,Hear.Sci), was recipient of 2020 UT-Dallas Provost’s Award for Grad. PhD Research Mentoring; author/co-author of 865 journal/conference papers including 14 textbooks in the field of speech/language/hearing processing & technology including coauthor of textbook Discrete-Time Processing of Speech Signals, (IEEE Press, 2000), and lead author of the report “The Impact of Speech Under ‘Stress’ on Military Speech Technology,” (NATO RTO-TR-10, 2000). He served as Organizer, Chair/Co-Chair/Tech.Chair for ISCA INTERSPEECH-2022, IEEE ICASSP-2010, IEEE SLT-2014, ISCA INTERSPEECH-2002, and Tech. Chair for IEEE ICASSP-2024. He received the 2022 IEEE Signal Processing Society Leo Beranek MERITORIOUS SERVICE Award.