- JPB-MSc-123: Data Visualisation for CHiME Domestic Audio Data [Group Project]
- JPB-MSc-4: Realtime Hearing Loss Simulation
- JPB-MSc-5: MATLAB Read-Speech Corpus Collection Tool
- JPB-MSc-6: Estimating Head Motion from In-Ear Microphone Signals
JPB-MSc-123: Data Visualisation for CHiME Domestic Audio Data [Group Project]
Description
As part of a funded research project we have recently collected 50-hours of audio data from a domestic family home. This data has mainly been used as background `noise’ for evaluating speech recognition algorithms, but it also provides an opportunity to learn about the characteristics of everyday listening environments. This project will employ unsupervised learning, clustering and data visualisation techniques in order to infer and represent interesting structure in the data. For example, is it possible to detect changes of state in the acoustic scene (e.g. a TV being turned on, a conversation starting)? Is it possible to detect repeating patterns in the data (e.g. a telephone ringing)? Is it possible to detect novel (i.e. previously unheard) acoustic events?
The project will experiment with traditional and `auditory’ acoustic feature extraction techniques and will start by applying conventional clustering and background modelling ideas. For an example of similar work see here.
This project is suitable for a team of 2 to 3 students. Students will be sharing the same data and some of the same analysis and statistical modelling tools but will be addressing different aspects of the problem. The exact direction of each individual’s project will be determined according to individual interests and experience.
Requirements
An interest in audio signal processing and statistical modelling.
Initial reading
- The CHiME project page
- Christensen, H., Barker, J., Ma, N., and Green, P. (2010) The CHiME corpus: a resource and a challenge for Computational Hearing in Multisource Environments. Interspeech’10, Makuhari, Japan, September 2010.
- Ntalampiras, S., Potamitis, I. and Fakotakis, N. (2011) Probabilistic novelty detection for acoustic surveillance under real-world conditions IEEE Trans. on Multimedia, 13(4), pp713-719, 2011
JPB-MSc-4: Realtime Hearing Loss Simulation
Description
Hearing ability starts to decline from the age of about 40 onwards, and a large number of older people suffer from a degree of hearing loss that significantly impacts their quality of life. Hearing aids provide part of the solution to this problem but a more sustainable solution would be to engineer the environment to make it less challenging for hearing loss sufferers in the first place (e.g., reduce the amount of noise, provide better noise shielding, use more sound absorptive surface coverings, etc). A major barrier to this approach is that people with no hearing impairment have very little understanding of the difficulties faced by hearing loss sufferers, e.g. young architects, designers and planners do not pay sufficient attention to their needs.
This project aims to build a Realtime Hearing Loss Simulator. This will be a bit of software which can run on a mobile device and which would allow the user to experience the environment `through the ears’ of a hearing loss sufferer. The project will entail implementing some real-time signal processing which can filter the signal captured by the device’s microphone before relaying it to the listener. The device will also have an intuitive interface which allows the user to explore different degrees and types of hearing loss. As well as being educational, the device could potentially be used during the design and fitting of, say, work-place environments, helping designers to optimise the placement of acoustic screening etc.
Requirements
Some experience of mobile computing and signal processing would be helpful.
Initial reading
- Hearing loss demos at the Better Hearing Institute
- A Windows-based hearing loss simulator supplied by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
- Moore, B.C.J, An Introduction to the Psychology of Hearing (5th Edition) Academic Press
JPB-MSc-5: MATLAB Read-Speech Corpus Collection Tool
Description
The aim of this software building project is to produce a MATLAB tool for allowing the collection of an audio corpus of ‘Read Speech’, i.e. people are asked to read a text prompt that appears on the screen and their speech signal is recorded. Although this may sound rather undemanding, the requirements place a very high premium on robustness and usability. Further, usability needs to be considered from the point of view of the Experimenter (i.e. the person responsible for collecting the data and configuring the tool) and the Subject (i.e. the many people whose voices will be recorded by the tool). Many issues need to be considered including how to allow the Subject to fix speaking errors; how the system can automatically detect poor recordings; how to minimise delays during the recording sessions; how to make the system as flexible and easy to use as possible (remembering that neither the Experimenter nor the Subject will be a computer scientist!).
Requirements
Some experience of MATLAB would be very useful.
Initial reading
- MATLAB GUI programming resources </li>
JPB-MSc-6: Estimating Head Motion from In-Ear Microphone Signals
Description
This research project investigates the extent to which it is possible to estimate head motion using the acoustic signals arriving at the ears alone. The question is interesting from a biological perspective, but it also has engineering implications for mobile `machine listening’ technology. For example, imagine a portable listening device that is trying to extract information about the surroundings from one or more microphone signals: could such a device distinguish between motion of sound sources in the environment, and movement made by the person carrying the device?
The project will make use of existing techniques for sound source localisation but will be applying them in a novel context. Data that has been recorded using ‘in-ear’ microphones under various conditions of head-motion will be provided.
Requirements
MATLAB programming experience.
Initial reading
- Blauert, J., (1997) Spatial Hearing: The Psychophysics of Human Sound Localization (Revised Edition) The MIT Press </li>
- Wang D.-L. and Brown, G.J. (2006) Computational Auditory Scene Analysis: Principles, Algorithms and Applications Wiley Interscience</li>