Tutorial - Neural Networks, Speech Technology, and Other Applications

[Raymond Lister]

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       NEURAL NETWORKS, SPEECH TECHNOLOGY, AND OTHER APPLICATIONS

                           -- A TUTORIAL --

                
		Thursday April 28 and Friday April 29 1994
        Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, AUSTRALIA



Featured Speaker:  PROF. NELSON MORGAN, International Computer Science Institute
                   Berkeley, California, USA.

		   PROF. MORGAN is co-author, with Herve Bourlard, of the
		   recent Kluwer Academic Press book ``Connectionist Speech
		   Recognition, A Hybrid Approach''

		   PROF. MORGAN will be giving a tutorial similar to the one he
		   gave at the NIPS-6 conference at Denver, Colorado in
		   December 1993. NIPS is the premier international conference
		   for research in artificial neural networks.


Other speakers:    PROF. TOM DOWNS/AH CHUNG TSOI and co-workers from the
                   Speaker Verification Project,
		   Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
		   University of Queensland, Australia

                   PROF. JOACHIM DIEDERICH, Professor of Neurocomputing, and
		   other members of the Queensland University of Technology
		   Neurocomputing Research Centre.


Venue:	12th Floor,
	Building ITE ("Information Technology and Engineering"),
	Gardens Point Campus,
        Queensland University of Technology,
	2 George Street,
	Brisbane, AUSTRALIA

	(The venue is a short walk from the Brisbane Central Business District.)



Day 1 (2-6PM)

        1. An Introduction to Neural Networks.  This session will serve as
           a primer for those attendees with no prior background in artificial
           neural networks.
        
        2. Demonstrations of Applications of Neural Networks at QUT.  The
           Neurocomputing Research Centre at QUT is developing a number of
           applications, including systems for: predicting blue-green algae
           blooms; advising in dairy breeding programs; predicting the bleeding
	   rate of patients undergoing heart bypass surgery; and a computer
	   assistant for the handling of electronic mail.


Day 2 (full day):

        1. Connectionist Continuous Speech Recognition, by Nelson Morgan.
           This will consist of three 90 minute sessions.

        2. Speaker Verification Research at the University of Queensland,
           by Professors Tom Downs/Ah Chung Tsoi and co-workers.

		1. Overview
		2. Neural Networks applied to speaker verification
		3. Dynamic time warping applied to speaker verification
		4. Vector quantization applied to speaker verification
		5. Demonstration of a speaker verification system



Cost:	Registration $A200,
        Pre-Registration $150 (for payment received 1 week prior to tutorial)
        
	Full time postgraduate students are eligible for a 50% discount on the
	full fee. Proof of enrollment is required: either a photocopy of a
	current student card, or a letter from the Head of Department.

        Lunch $A30  Optional, and second day only.  Must be accompanied by
	            early registration fee, up to one week prior to tutorial.

	It will be possible to register on the day, but only cash and cheques
	will be acceptable.  Credit cards cannot be accepted.


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                          REGISTRATION FORM 
       
       NEURAL NETWORKS, SPEECH TECHNOLOGY, AND OTHER APPLICATIONS

		Thursday April 28 and Friday April 29 1994



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	REGISTRATION (tick as appropriate)
		
		Full Fee:   $200
		Early Fee:  $150
		Student:    $100
		Lunch:	    $ 30
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		I expect to attend but will pay on the day (tick)

		(Notification of an expectation to attend would be appreciated,
		 as it will aid in making tutorial arrangements.  Such
		 notification may be made by electronic mail, along with
		 above particulars.)

	
Make cheques payable to "Faculty Research - Neurocomputing".  Credit cards
cannot be accepted.

Send the registration form and remittance to:

	Neural Network Tutorial
	Neurocomputing Research Centre
	School of Computing Science
	Queensland University of Technology
	GPO Box 2434 
	Brisbane
	Australia 4001


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	Connectionist Continuous Speech Recognition: A Tutorial

		    by Professor Nelson Morgan

Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) has been a major topic of research
for over 40 years. While there has been much progress in this time, it
is still a difficult task, and the best systems are still quite
limited. Since computers have rapidly grown much more powerful,
statistically-oriented data-driven approaches have received much more
attention over the last 10 years. These approaches automatically learn
speech model parameters from the data, and have proven to be very successful.

The dominant approach for such systems uses Hidden Markov Models
(commonly based on an assumption of Gaussian or mixture Gaussian
probability densities for the data in each sound class) to represent
speech. However, over the last 5 years, a set of techniques have been
developed at Berkeley and elsewhere using a hybrid of connectionist
probability estimators and Hidden Markov Models. In this tutorial, the
basics of automatic speech recognition, Hidden Markov Models, and
probability estimation with layered connectionist networks will be
reviewed, followed by a more detailed explanation of the current state
of development for this class of approaches. The goal of the tutorial
will be to acquaint the participants with the major issues of
connectionist speech recognition, rather than to exhaustively review
the range of approaches under investigation worldwide.

Brief Notes about the Instructor:

	Nelson Morgan is the leader of a research group at the
International Computer Science Institute whose charter is a mixture of
connectionist computational engine design and the incorporation of such
engines into research into speech and hearing in order to improve
auditory machine perception. Together with Herve Bourlard, he is the
author of the recent Kluwer Academic Press book ``Connectionist Speech
Recognition, A Hybrid Approach'', and was the co-developer (with
Bourlard) of many of these techniques.  He is also on the faculty at
the University of California at Berkeley.


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For further information please contact:

	Dr Raymond Lister
	email:  raymond at fitmail.fit.qut.edu.au

	- or -

	Prof. Joachim Diederich
	Tel: +617 864 2143
	email: joachim at fitmail.fit.qut.edu.au

	- or -

	either, by Fax: +617 864 1801