Speech and Human Language Technology at the Naval Research Laboratory

SPEECH AND HUMAN LANGUAGE TECHNOLOGY THE NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY AT Helen M. Gigley, Ph.D. Head, Human Computer Interaction Laboratory Naval Research Laboratory CODE 5530 Washington, D.C. 20375-5337 ABSTRACT Following a brief introduction to the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), specific on-going research in speech and human language technology will be presented. Areas of research fall across two laboratories in the Information Technology Division, the Human Computer Interaction Laboratory (HCI) and the Navy Center for Applied Research in Artificial Intelligence (NCARAI). Speech research focuses on narrowband algorithm development and uses human based intelligibility to evaluate success. Demonstrations of results will be played. Navy has been a prominent participant in evaluation of narrowband speech. Current efforts on human-human communication evaluation will provide a basis for new approaches to multi-mode interactions which include speech interfaces. Finally, a video of on-going efforts at NCARAI on the EUCALYPTUS system which include graphics and spoken language interaction will be shown. 1. WHAT IS NRL? NRL is the Departmefit of the Navy's corporate research laboratory. It's mission is to " conduct a broadly based multidisciplinary program of scientific research and adv~inced technological development directed toward maritime applications of new and improved materials, techniques, equipment, systems, and ocean, atmospheric, and space sciences and related technologies." NRL reports to the Chief of Naval Research at the Office of Naval Research. The Laboratory began in 1923 based on a vision of Thomas Edison. It presently has both a military and civilian director. There are 4 Laboratories and 17 Divisions and 14 research sites outside the Washington D.C. area. The staff is comprised of approximately 900 Ph.D.s, 500 Master's degree holders and 700 bachelor's degree holders. Each year the Lab produces a significant number of refereed journal conference publications. The Information Technology Division houses the two laboratories whose work will be reported in the remainder of this paper, the HCI Laboratory and the NCARAI Laboratory. The work in the HCI Lab includes: speech processing within narrowband capabilities and evaluation methods for speech and other interactive systems. The effort at NCARAI in human language technology focuses on integrating speech with graphical or other modality interfaces. A current effort is underway to transition one of the ARPA speech technology systems to the on-going work in EUCALYPTUS. 1.1 Speech Technology in HCI The speech technology group in the HCI Lab focuses on algorithmic development which is reaching toward communication of humanly intelligible speech at 600 bps Current algorithms at 1200 bps are quite successful. The method relies on linear predictive coding (LPC) of the speech signal to LPC coefficients which can be independently manipulated to enhance aspects of the" signal under differing conditions. Changes in piwh with all else constant and in rate of speech by slowing or speeding the presentation of the entire set of coefficients are found to be equally intelligible and without distortions that interfere with intelligibility. A sample of a conversation at different communication bandwidths further demonstrates the role of the technology. This group has recently developed, using an off-the-shelf Macintosh, …

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