Abstract
When an Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) system is applied in noisy environments, Voice Activity Detection (VAD) is crucial to the performance of the overall system. The employment of the VAD for ASR on embedded mobile systems will minimize physical distractions and make the system convenient to use. Conventional VAD algorithm is of high complexity, which makes it unsuitable for embedded mobile devices; or of low robustness, which holds back its application in mobile noisy environments. In this paper, we propose a robust VAD algorithm specifically designed for ASR on embedded mobile devices. The architecture of the proposed algorithm is based on a two-level decision making strategy, where there is an interaction between a lower features-based level and subsequent decision logic based on a finite-state machine. Many discriminating features are employed in the lower level to improve the robustness of the VAD. The two-level decision strategy allows different features to be used in different states and reduces the cost of the algorithm, which makes the proposed algorithm suitable for embedded mobile devices. The evaluation experiments show the proposed VAD algorithm is robust and contribute to the overall performance gain of the ASR system in various acoustic environments.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Benassine, A., Shlomot, E., and Su, H. (1997). ITU-T recommendation G.729, annex B, a silence compression scheme for use with G.729 optimized for V.70 digital simultaneous voice and data applications. In IEEE Commun. Mag., pp. 64–97.
Chengalvaryan, R. (2001). Evaluation of front-end features and noise compensation methods for robust mandarin speech recognition. In Proceeding of Eurospeech.
De Wet, F. (2001). A comparison of LPC and FFT-based acoustic features for noise robust ASR. In Proceeding of Eurospeech.
Ganapathiraju, A. (1996). Comparison of energy-based endpoint detection for speech signal processing. In Proceedings of the IEEE Southeastcon. Tampa, Florida, USA, pp. 500–503.
Huang, X.D. and Acero, A. (2001). Spoken Language Processing, A Guide to Theory, Algorithm, and System Development. Prentice Hall.
Junqua, J.C., Reaves, B., and Mak, B. (1991). A study of endpoint detection algorithms in adverse conditions: Incidence on a DTW and HMM recognize. In Proceeding of Eurospeech, pp. 1371–1374.
Martens, J.P. (2000). Continuous speech recognition over the telephone. Final Report of COST Action 249.
Nemer, E. (2001). Robust voice activity detection using higher-order statistics in the LPC residual domain. IEEE Trans. on Speech and Audio Processing, 9(3).
Picone, J. (1993). Signal modeling techniques in speech recognition. Proc. IEEE, 79(4):1215–1247.
Rabiner, L. and Juang, B.H. (1993). Fundamentals of Speech Recognition. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Renevey, P. (2001). Entropy based voice activity detection in very noisy conditions. In Proceeding of Eurospeech.
Savoji, M.H. (1989). A robust algorithm for accurate endpointing of speech. Speech Communication, 8:45–60.
Shieh, W.C. (1999). The dependence of feature vectors under adverse noise, In Proceeding of Eurospeech.
Shin, W.H. (2000). Speech/non-speech classification using multiple features for robust endpoint detection. In Proceeding of ICASSP.
Tanyer, S.G. (2000). Voice activity detection in nonstationary noise. IEEE Trans. On Speech and Audio Processing, 8(4).
Tucker, R. (1992). Voice activity detection using a periodicity measure. In Proc Inst. Elect. Eng., 139:377–380.
Wu, G.D. and Lin, C.T. (2000). Word boundary detection with mel-scale frequency bank in noisy environment. IEEE Trans. Speech and Audio Processing, 8(5).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wu, B., Ren, X., Liu, C. et al. A Robust, Real-Time Voice Activity Detection Algorithm for Embedded Mobile Devices. Int J Speech Technol 8, 133–146 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10772-005-2165-7
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10772-005-2165-7