Multi-Microphone Speech Enhancement

Sharon Gannot
Bar-Ilan University, Israel

1:30pm Wednesday, 14 October 2015, ITE 325B, UMBC

Microphone array algorithms emerged in the early 1990s as viable solutions to speech processing problems. However, the adaptation of beamforming methods to speech processing is still an open issue. There are many difficulties which arise from the characteristics of the speech signal and the acoustic environment. The speech signal is a wide-band and non-stationary signal. Very long room impulse responses (RIRs), which are several thousands of taps long, may be attributed to multiple reflections of the sound source on objects in the enclosure. Moreover, due to the inevitable movements of both sources (speakers) and receivers (microphones), the room impulse responses become time-varying.

In this talk, we will focus on spatial processors, a.k.a, beamformers, based on the linearly constrained minimum variance (LCMV) criterion, and its special case, the minimum variance distortionless (MVDR) beamformer. We show that classical beamformers that merely take into account angular information (as reflected by the so-called beam-pattern), are too simplistic to fully address the intricate propagation regime of the sound source in reverberant environment. We will therefore reformulate the LCMV beamformer in the shorttime Fourier transform (STFT) domain and substitute the free-field steering vector by the entire acoustic transfer function (ATF). The corresponding relative transfer function (RTF) will be then introduced, and its applicability to the design of beamformers in reverberant environments will be discussed. We will then elaborate on several blind RTF estimation techniques, e.g. based on subspace analysis, that enable the implementation of all necessary beamformer’s blocks. Several applications of the powerful LCMV beamformer, e.g. speech enhancement, extraction of desired speakers in multiple competing speaker environment, and binaural processing, will then be presented.

We will conclude the talk with an overview of the emerging field of distributed algorithms for ad hoc microphone arrays, and discuss the advantages and challenges they raise. The presentation will be accompanied by audio clips demonstrating the capabilities of the introduced schemes.

Sharon Gannot received his B.Sc. degree (summa cum laude) from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel in 1986 and the M.Sc. (cum laude) and Ph.D. degrees from Tel-Aviv University, Israel in 1995 and 2000 respectively, all in Electrical Engineering. In 2001 he held a post-doctoral position at the department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT-SISTA) at K.U.Leuven, Belgium. In 2002-2003 he held a research and teaching position at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. Currently, he is a Full Professor at the Faculty of Engineering, Bar-Ilan University, Israel, where he is heading the Speech and Signal Processing laboratory and the Signal Processing Track. Prof. Gannot is the recipient of Bar-Ilan University outstanding lecturer award for 2010 and 2014. Prof. Gannot has served as an Associate Editor of the EURASIP Journal of Advances in Signal Processing in 2003-2012, and as an Editor of several special issues on Multi-microphone Speech Processing of the same journal. He has also served as a Guest Editor of ELSEVIER Speech Communication and Signal Processing journals. Prof. Gannot has served as an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Speech, Audio and Language Processing in 2009-2013. Currently, he is a Senior Area Chair of the same journal. He also serves as a reviewer of many IEEE journals and conferences. Prof. Gannot is a member of the Audio and Acoustic Signal Processing (AASP) technical committee of the IEEE since Jan., 2010. He is also a member of the Technical and Steering committee of the International Workshop on Acoustic Signal Enhancement (IWAENC) since 2005. He was the general co-chair of IWAENC held at Tel-Aviv, Israel in August 2010. Prof. Gannot has served as the general co-chair of the IEEE Workshop on Applications of Signal Processing to Audio and Acoustics (WASPAA), New-Paltz, NY, USA in October 2013. Prof. Gannot was selected (with colleagues) to present a tutorial sessions in ICASSP 2012, EUSIPCO 2012, ICASSP 2013 and EUSIPCO 2013. His research interests include multi-microphone speech processing and specifically distributed algorithms for ad hoc microphone arrays for noise reduction and speaker separation; machine learning methods in speech processing; dereverberation; single microphone speech enhancement and speaker localization and tracking.

Student Registration for the 2016  year of the Workforce Recruitment Program is now open!

Students with disabilities may visit the website www.wrp.gov and take their first step toward an opportunity for Federal Employment. To register, students should visit www.wrp.gov and click on the purple student registration button.

The Workforce Recruitment Program (WRP) is a referral and recruitment program that identifies students with disabilities who are interested in employment with the federal government. The WRP is one of the main paths to:

·         Find an internship or permanent position at federal agencies

·         Explore careers in the federal service

·         Gain interviewing experience

 A recruiter will be assigned to UMBC to conduct phone interviews with interested candidates. Candidates that are accepted into the program will have the opportunity to be interviewed for federal and private sector positions. Participation is open to any students with disabilities at all levels and majors, and degree programs. Veterans with disabilities are especially urged to apply.

 To qualify, an eligible candidate:

·         Must have an intellectual disability, severe physical disability, or psychiatric disability which makes the candidate eligible to use the Schedule A hiring authority

·         Must be a United States Citizen

·         Must be a current, full-time, degree-seeking, post-secondary student, unless you are taking a reduced course load due to a disability OR are in the final semester. Alumni who graduated in May 2014 or later are also eligible.

 
Applying for the WRP is a two part process. The link above will take you to the first part of the process where you will register for the program by filling out your basic contact information, acknowledging that this is a program for students with disabilities and that you are eligible for hiring under the Schedule A Hiring Authority, and identifying the college or university that you are attending. 

Once your registration is approved you will be prompted via e-mail to log into the WRP site at www.wrp.gov and complete your application by answering all of the questions about your academic and career preparation and uploading your resume and transcripts. Students have until October 16 to complete their registration. 

View  the WRP Student Video Guide at https://youtu.be/BErlCIzhk2U for additional information on the process.   
 

Target price is $100-170/person, versus air tickets at over $300 each! And SWE can get a matching donor if enough people sign up! 

It is approximately 11 hours to Nashville from the Baltimore/Washington area.  Suggested the following itinerary:

• 5:00 AM Thursday Oct. 22 Depart the Snowden River Park and Ride (free parking)

• 30 min. Stop near Roanoke, VA; This is approx. 3.5 -4 hrs. Into our trip

• 40 min. Stop near Knoxville, TN; This is 3.5-4 hrs. away from Roanoke, VA

• Arrive at Music City Center in Nashville between 6-7 PM 

Baltimore Marathi Mandal presents: Rahul Deshpande

Saturday, October 17, 2015 from 5:30 PM 
1550 Scaggsville Rd, Fulton, MD 20759 

Rahul Deshpande: Grandson of Pt. Vasantrao Deshpande, and disciple of Pt. Kumar Gandharv. Rahul got his early training from Pt. Gangadharbuva Pimpalkhare. Rahul has performed all over India and internationally. Along with singing, Rahul recreated treasure of Marathi Plays like Manapman, Katyar Kaljat Ghusali, and sang in movie Balgandharv. Rahul has performed in prestigious Savai Gandhar festival and with Shankar Mahadevan on Zee TV.

Nikhil Phatak: Tabla. Received his training from Pt. Suresh Sawant., Pt. Yogesh Samsi. He has accompanied Pt. Birju Maharaj, Rohini Bhate, Kishori Amonkar, Malini Rajurkar, Ajay Pohankar, Shaunak Abhisheki, Jayatirth Mehundi, Raghunandan Panshikar and Rahul Deshpande. He has performed in many cities in India and internationally in US, Canada, Singapore, UK, Japan, Shrilanka, and various concerts like Savai Gandharv.

Chaitanya Kunte: Harmonium. He received his training from Dr. Arawind Thatte, Pt. Mohanrao Karve, and Ashok Ranade. He has accompanied Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, Kishori Amonkar, Prabha Atre, Birju Maharaj, Pt. Rajan Sajan Mishra, Ustad Rashid Khan. He is a composer with more than 400 scores in classical Raga and dance background, title songs, documentaries, and TV serials

For more information and tickets email : info@baltimoremarathimandal.org

Call:

Sameer Ahirrao: 240 466 1726

Vivek Patil: 410 746 8659

Below are featured events and internship/employment opportunities that have recently been posted or have application deadline dates that are quickly approaching!  To see all that the UMBC Career Center has to offer YOU, please visit our myUMBC group page or log into your UMBCworks account!

FEATURED EVENTS….

Upcoming on the Roads….check them out and RSVP via UMBCworks!

On the Road:  Idealist Grad School Fair, Thursday, October 1, 2015 3:30 – 8:00 pm.  Thinking about graduate school?  This one is for you!

NEW!  GRADUATE and UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS!  On the Road:  The Nielsen Company, Friday, October 2, 2015, 9 am – 1 pm – Waiting list only

UMBC Connects: GENERAL ELECTRIC (GE) – Wednesday, September 23, 11 am – 2 pm  STOP IN WHEN YOU ARE ABLE! No need to stay for the entire event!

The Fall Recruiting Season is HERE!  Prepare yourself by attending one (or more) of these workshops!

NEW! Keys to Success: Get Ready...Here They Come! - Resumes– September 28, Noon – 1pm, The Commons 331 – Facilitated by Susan Krause, Lockheed Martin

NEW! Keys to Success: Get Ready...Here They Come! - Resumes– September 29, 5:00 – 6:00pm, The Commons 331 – Facilitated by Victoria Kirkpartick, Kohls

NEW! Keys to Success: Get Ready... Here They Come! Interviewing– September 30, 5:00 – 6:00 pm – Facilitated by Jennifer Lantini, Wells Fargo

NEW! Get Ready...Here They Come! - Job Fair/Networking – October 1, 5:00 – 6:00 pm, Commons 331 – Facilitated by Joe Poplawski, Next Century Corporation

NEW! Get Ready...Here They Come! - Interviewing – October 2, Noon – 1:00 pm, The Commons 329 – Facilitated by Kristen Cook, Maryland Public Television

***********************************************************************

NEW!  On-Campus Interview Deadlines

General Electric
Information Technology Leadership Program
Deadline to Apply:  September 23
Interview Date:  October 6

General Electric
Aviation Engineering Co-Op/Internships (Spring 2016, Summer 2016 and Fall 2016)
Deadline to Apply:  September 23
Interview Date:  October 7

Rockwell Collins/ARINC
Junior Network, Software, and Integration Engineers and Communication Analyst
Deadline to Apply:  September 23
Interview Date:  October 7

The Hershey Company
Internal Audit Intern and Information Services Intern
Deadline to Apply:  September 29
Interview Date:  October 13

The Nielsen Company
MANY OPPORTUNITIES POSTED IN UMBCworks FOR MANY MAJORS!!
Deadline to Apply:  October 5
Interview Date:  October 16

FEATURED FULL-TIME & PART-TIME JOBS, INTERNSHIPS, AND RESEARCH POSITIONS

NEW!  GE Information Technology Leadership Program- Summer 2016

NEW!  Data Analysis Internship with Humanim

NEW!  PAID 10-week Internship for Spring 16 with NASA DEVELOP!

Keep an eye on the Career Center website (careers.umbc.edu/) for all upcoming events and programs!  Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors….this is an excellent opportunity for you to learn more about career paths…whether you are exploring possibilities or searching for an internship or full-time opportunity!

Meet Maggie,

She is an Environmental Science major currently working in the Molecular Characterization and Analysis Complex (MCAC) laboratory. She is also a current Undergraduate Research Award (URA) Scholar.

Maggie’s research passion is chromatography (a collective term referring to the laboratory techniques involving the separation of mixtures). She has utilized chromatography to analyze samples from the National Aquarium in Baltimore.

·         What:      GE Aviation Deep Dive with Engineering Student Groups

·         When:     Wednesday, September 23rd, 2015

          Time:       3PM

·         Where:     UMBC Commons Flat Tuesdays lower level

·         Who:        Engineering Student Organization Members

GE is mainly looking for Freshmen and Sophomore Mechanical Engineering students this year. We will also be talking in detail about our GE Aviation/UMBC co-op program.

Are you participating in a Fall 2015 internship, co-op, or research experience? Get it recognized on your academic transcript by registering for the Career Center Intern/Co-op/Research Practicum (PRAC). Registering for PRAC provides an official record of your experience, letting future employers and graduate schools know about your hard work. 

WHAT IS PRAC?

PRAC is a zero-credit, pass/fail course that requires a few small assignments and attendance at two professional development workshops. It is designed to help you grow as a professional and support you throughout your experience. You can preview the assignments on page 2 of the syllabus. We also recommend viewing the PRAC orientation video.

HOW TO REGISTER:

Log in to UMBCworks and follow these easy steps. You will be asked to attach a letter or email from your employer verifying that you will be/are working there this fall. This can be a Word document, PDF, or screenshot. Please register online by Monday, September 28. Retroactive enrollments for past experiences are not permitted.

Note: We are also holding a PRAC enrollment drop-in day from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. on Monday, September 28 in the Career Center.  Simply stop in and a coordinator will assist you with your registration.

EARNING CREDIT FOR YOUR EXPERIENCE:

Although PRAC is zero-credit, you may be able to couple it with an academic internship or research course, allowing you to earn credits for your experience. On the registration form, you can indicate whether you're interested in this option. Some courses require PRAC enrollment. Check out your options for earning credit.

Questions? Email us at internships@umbc.edu.