topics

Perceptual constancy in audition

avbees
2015-01-20

My PhD research was funded within an EPSRC project on perceptual constancy in audition.

Reverberation poses a problem for artificial listening devices, and automatic speech recognition suffers increased error rates when reflected sound energy is present. My approach to this topic lies in the development of computational models based on psychoacoustic principles of hearing. Like people, these models use auditory feedback signals to glean environmental clues from contextual sound, and use these clues to inform their recognition of spoken words in reverberant rooms. Unlike existing methods of dereverberation, the proposed strategy addresses the rapid changes in acoustic conditions that occur in every-day listening.

Further details:

  • Project website: Perceptual constancy in audition
  • Principal Investigator: Guy Brown, Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield
  • Collaborators: Anthony Watkins, Simon Makin and Andrew Raimond, University of Reading
  • Dates: Oct 2008 – Jan 2015 (part-time)

 

efferent auditory model (compensation for reverberation)

Selected publications

  • A. V. Beeston, “Perceptual compensation for reverberation in human listeners and machines,” PhD Thesis, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK, 2015.
    [BibTeX] [link] 
    @phdthesis{Beeston:2015phd,
title={Perceptual compensation for reverberation in human listeners and machines},
author={Beeston, Amy V},
year={2015},
address = {University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK},
link = {http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/8351/2/Beeston_PhD_thesis.pdf},
month = jan
}

  • A. V. Beeston, G. J. Brown, and A. J. Watkins, “Perceptual compensation for the effects of reverberation on consonant identification: Evidence from studies with monaural stimuli,” Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 136, iss. 6, pp. 3072-3084, 2014. [doi:10.1121/1.4900596]
    [BibTeX] [link] [paper] 
    @article{Beeston:2014jasa,
author = {Beeston, Amy V and Brown, Guy J and Watkins, Anthony J},
title = {{Perceptual compensation for the effects of reverberation on consonant identification: Evidence from studies with monaural stimuli}},
journal = {{Journal of the Acoustical Society of America}},
pages = {3072-3084},
year = {2014},
volume = {136},
number = {6},
doi = {10.1121/1.4900596},
link = {https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4900596},
paper = {http://staffwww.dcs.shef.ac.uk/people/A.Beeston/dl/papers/JASMAN_vol_136_iss_6_3072.pdf},
month = dec
}

  • A. V. Beeston and G. J. Brown, “Consonant confusions provide further evidence that time-reversed rooms disturb compensation for reverberation,” in 7th Forum Acusticum, Krakow, Poland, 7-12 Sep, 2014, pp. 1-6.
    [BibTeX] [paper] 
    @inproceedings{Beeston:2014forum,
author = {Beeston, Amy V and Brown, Guy J},
title = {{Consonant confusions provide further evidence that time-reversed rooms disturb compensation for reverberation}},
booktitle = {{7th Forum Acusticum}},
pages = {1-6},
year = {2014},
address = {Krakow, Poland, 7-12 Sep},
paper = {http://staffwww.dcs.shef.ac.uk/people/A.Beeston/dl/papers/forumAcusticum-BeestonBrown.pdf},
month = sep
}

  • A. V. Beeston and G. J. Brown, “Modelling reverberation compensation effects in time-forward and time-reversed rooms,” in UK Speech Conference, Cambridge, UK. Poster. 17-18 Sep, 2013.
    [BibTeX] [poster] 
    @inproceedings{Beeston:2013uk,
author = {Beeston, Amy V and Brown, Guy J},
title = {{Modelling reverberation compensation effects in time-forward and time-reversed rooms}},
booktitle = {{UK Speech Conference}},
year = {2013},
address = {Cambridge, UK. Poster. 17-18 Sep},
poster = {http://staffwww.dcs.shef.ac.uk/people/A.Beeston/dl/Poster_ukspeech2013_reverberation.pdf},
month = sep
}

  • A. V. Beeston, G. J. Brown, and K. J. Palomäki, “Perceptual compensation for effects of reverberation in speech identification: a computer model based on auditory efferent processing,” in INTERSPEECH 2010, Makuhari, Chiba, Japan, 26-30 Sep, 2010, pp. 2462-2465.
    [BibTeX] [paper] 
    @inproceedings{Beeston:2010interspeech,
author = {Beeston, A.V. and Brown, G. J. and Palom{\"a}ki, K.J.},
title = {{Perceptual compensation for effects of reverberation in speech identification: a computer model based on auditory efferent processing}},
booktitle = {{INTERSPEECH 2010}},
year = {2010},
pages = {2462-2465},
address = {Makuhari, Chiba, Japan, 26-30 Sep},
paper = {https://www.isca-speech.org/archive/archive_papers/interspeech_2010/i10_2462.pdf},
month = sep
}

Amy Beeston