SPEECH REPRESENTATION AND SPEECH UNDERSTANDING

SPEECH UNDERSTANDING UTILIZES SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE OUTSIDE OF THE SPEECH SIGNAL TO RESOLVE THE AMBIGUITY INHERENT IN SPEECH. THE EFFICIENCY AND ACCURACY OF THIS PROCESS IS CLOSELY RELATED TO THE REPRESENTATION OF THE INFORMATION IN THE SPEECH SIGNAL. IF THE SPEECH REPRESENTATION CONDENSES THE RELEVANT INFORMATION IN THE SPEECH SIGNAL WELL, OTHER SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE CAN BE APPLIED SUCCESSIVELY WITHOUT DESTROYING THE ORIGINAL INFORMATION IN THE SPEECH SIGNAL--AND PERHAPS COMPOUNDING ERRORS. THE PROPOSED STUDY WILL ANALYZE ALTERNATIVE REPRESENTATION OF THE INFORMATION IN THE SPEECH SIGNAL, INCLUDING THE INTRINSIC AMBIGUITY. WE WILL MODEL KNOWLEDGE SOURCES SUCH AS VOCABULARY, SYNTAX, AND APPLICATION--SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE MODELS AT A GLOBAL LEVEL, AND, BY EXAMPLE, EXAMINE TRADEOFFS IN ACCURACY AND COMPUTATIONAL COMPLEXITY FOR GIVEN SPEECH REPRESENTATIONS. THE RESULTING REPORT WILL CLARIFY ALTERNATIVES AND THEIR RELATIVE BENEFITS.