Robust Automatic Speech Recognition

Chapter 1

Introduction

Abstract

Automatic speech recognition (ASR) by machine has been a field of research for more than 60 years. The industry has developed a broad range of commercial products where ASR as user interface has become ever more useful and pervasive. Consumer-centric applications increasingly require ASR to be robust to the full range of real-world noise and other acoustic distorting conditions. However, reliably recognizing spoken words in realistic acoustic environments is still a challenge.

We introduce distortion factors that operate in various stages of speech production, from thought to speech signals, leading to the issues of ASR robustness as the focus of this book. We provide an introductory summary of this book in ...