4 ms·

Tech starts 1/3 the way down the article (ctrl+f "clean speech") > My lab was the first, in 2001, to design such a filter, which labels sound streams as domina

by csours 10y ago

Tech starts 1/3 the way down the article (ctrl+f "clean speech") > My lab was the first, in 2001, to design such a filter, which labels sound streams as dominated by either speech or noise. With this filter, we would later develop a machine-learning program that separates speech from other sounds based on a few distinguishing features, such as amplitude (loudness), harmonic structure (the particular arrangement of tones), and onset (when a particular sound begins relative to others). > Next, we trained the deep neural network to use these 85 attributes to distinguish speech from noise. > One important refinement along the way was to build a second deep neural network that would be fed by the first one and fine-tune its results. While that first network had focused on labeling attributes within each individual time-frequency unit, the second network would examine the attributes of several units near a particular one > Even people with normal hearing were able to better understand noisy sentences, which means our program could someday help far more people than we originally anticipated > There are, of course, limits to the program’s abilities. For example, in our samples, the type of noise that obscured speech was still quite similar to the type of noise the program had been trained to classify. To function in real life, a program will need to quickly learn to filter out many types of noise, including types different from the ones it has already encountered oh

jannotti 10y ago
That last part seems to really put a damper on things, since the problem the author describes is that a person with a hearing aid requires speakers to take turns. Apparently, when people speak together, the multiple voices clash. Even if the hearing aid amplifies voices only, that problem remains. Still, cooler than a lot of things Deep Learning is being applied to these days.
sdrothrock 10y ago
As someone with a cochlear implant who lives with the consequences of overly clever programmers who thought they'd "help" by filtering out noise and volume and whatever else... I really wish they wouldn't. This is a technology that makes me so angry some days that I sometimes wonder if it was worth getting implanted, even though I know it was.
- Kluny 10y ago
  Which one have you got? I know what you mean with the "helpful" bullshit. My conventional hearing aid, on my left ear, has this "smart" mode where it tries to detect speech vs noise, and change the volume or the directionality of the microphone to compensate. You end up with this wildly fluctuating volume all the time where it feels like stationary objects are coming at you. I had them turn that feature off asap. On the other hand, my cochlear implant (right side), has a directional microphone that's actually incredibly useful in noisy situations. Combined with the directional mic on the hearing aid, I can actually hear almost as well as a normal person in a crowded bar, after 20+ years of avoiding them because of how impossible they were to cope with. I strongly recommend it if you can get it - the Nucleus Freedom 6. I'm saving my pennies up to get a second one.
  - sdrothrock 10y ago
    I have the Advanced Bionics Harmony BTE. Since my implant is AB, I wouldn't be able to get the Nucleus Freedom 6. I have an in-ear mic, which does wonders for reducing surrounding noises and also for letting me use a phone normally, but my main issue is with the software itself; I've had issues with it since implantation and they've always been pooh-poohed by audiologists at Hopkins, Tokyo University, and Toranomon. The biggest problem is that it seems to operate on some kind of averaging system -- when there's a noise that's louder than the recent average, everything just cuts out for a few seconds. This is especially noticeable in the morning, where I've just woken up and am trying to get to work, but there are cars and trains etc. making noise and making my hearing cut in and out constantly, which not only drives me up the wall but gives me a terrible headache.
    - Kluny 10y ago
      Yep, that's exactly the thing I'm talking about. You'd think they could hire one deaf person at their labs to road test the things, but... On my hearing aid it's a "feature" that can be turned off. Too bad you're stuck with it.
      - 10y ago

by csours 10y ago

jannotti 10y ago

That last part seems to really put a damper on things, since the problem the author describes is that a person with a hearing aid requires speakers to take turns. Apparently, when people speak together, the multiple voices clash. Even if the hearing aid amplifies voices only, that problem remains. Still, cooler than a lot of things Deep Learning is being applied to these days.

sdrothrock 10y ago

As someone with a cochlear implant who lives with the consequences of overly clever programmers who thought they'd "help" by filtering out noise and volume and whatever else... I really wish they wouldn't. This is a technology that makes me so angry some days that I sometimes wonder if it was worth getting implanted, even though I know it was.

Kluny 10y ago
Which one have you got? I know what you mean with the "helpful" bullshit. My conventional hearing aid, on my left ear, has this "smart" mode where it tries to detect speech vs noise, and change the volume or the directionality of the microphone to compensate. You end up with this wildly fluctuating volume all the time where it feels like stationary objects are coming at you. I had them turn that feature off asap. On the other hand, my cochlear implant (right side), has a directional microphone that's actually incredibly useful in noisy situations. Combined with the directional mic on the hearing aid, I can actually hear almost as well as a normal person in a crowded bar, after 20+ years of avoiding them because of how impossible they were to cope with. I strongly recommend it if you can get it - the Nucleus Freedom 6. I'm saving my pennies up to get a second one.
- sdrothrock 10y ago
  I have the Advanced Bionics Harmony BTE. Since my implant is AB, I wouldn't be able to get the Nucleus Freedom 6. I have an in-ear mic, which does wonders for reducing surrounding noises and also for letting me use a phone normally, but my main issue is with the software itself; I've had issues with it since implantation and they've always been pooh-poohed by audiologists at Hopkins, Tokyo University, and Toranomon. The biggest problem is that it seems to operate on some kind of averaging system -- when there's a noise that's louder than the recent average, everything just cuts out for a few seconds. This is especially noticeable in the morning, where I've just woken up and am trying to get to work, but there are cars and trains etc. making noise and making my hearing cut in and out constantly, which not only drives me up the wall but gives me a terrible headache.
  - Kluny 10y ago
    Yep, that's exactly the thing I'm talking about. You'd think they could hire one deaf person at their labs to road test the things, but... On my hearing aid it's a "feature" that can be turned off. Too bad you're stuck with it.
    - 10y ago