Subject: call for participation in ASRS'93 session on aud. reps. From: Martin Cooke <M.Cooke(at)DCS.SHEFFIELD.AC.UK> Date: Tue, 9 Mar 1993 10:43:51 GMTColleagues, Appended to this email is an announcement for a conference on "ANTHROPOMORPHIC SYSTEMS OF AUTOMATIC SPEECH RECOGNITION AND SYNTHESIS (ASRS' 93)" due to take place in St Petersburg at the end of June. I have been asked to chair a session on auditory representations (which will include auditory scene analysis etc), and would like to hear from members of the list who might wish to participate in this session. Please get in touch with me directly at m.cooke(at)dcs.shef.ac.uk as soon as possible [although I'll be away from 10/3 to 14/3]. Please note the deadlines at the end of the message, and in particular the last date for visa application (April 10th). best wishes Martin Cooke Computer Science Sheffield University ------------------- [copied from ECTL 3.3.1 announcement] [Copied and edited from: neva(at)coninfo.spb.su] **Conference Announcement** ANTHROPOMORPHIC SYSTEMS OF AUTOMATIC SPEECH RECOGNITION AND SYNTHESIS (ASRS' 93) St. Petersburg, Russia June 30-July 2 At present a lot of organizations invest considerable amounts of money, know-how and effort to solve problems of speech recognition and synthesis by machine. It is stimulated by practical requirements, and scientific research has been concentrated on the optimal solutions in the domain of speech technology systems. The peculiarity of the present situation is that most systems of speech recognition and synthesis are being built around mathematical theories of signal processing and do not involve our knowledge of actual processes taking place in the acts of speech production and perception. Speech technology has reached its major breakthrough in speech recognition systems via application of dynamic programming and hidden Markov models, and in speech synthesis - using large basic units such as diphones and allophones. Further success has been stimulated by an increasing computing power of the hardware being used. Most existing applied systems are, generally speaking, far from real biological, neural and psychophysiological systems. The designers of applied systems are not inclined to reach resemblance between the functioning of their systems and that of human beings. We believe that the knowledge about a human being might be helpful for the improvement of the automatic understanding of human speech and enhancement of synthesis-by-rule systems, taking into account the following arguments: - At present basic knowledge and the results of research of human speaking behaviour are considered as an important resource for the progress of automatic speech recognition, understanding of spoken language and synthesis-by-rule; - The users who order a speech technology system usually formulate their requirements only in terms of speech communicative behaviour; - It is necessary to take into account the fact, that the result of a project in speech technology is oriented towards involvement of a human user in any case; thus the knowledge of his communicative behaviour should be incorporated in an automatic device. The Organizers of the proposed symposium invite scientists in all fields of research to participate in discussions and to work out solutions to the problems that are facing them in the domain of anthropomorphic models and systems. We propose the following topics of our meeting: 1. Speech processing in biological systems. 2. Perspectives for the development of anthropomorphic systems. 3. Role of research in speech science for the development of speech technologies. 4. Types of knowledge that can be implemented in speech processing systems. 5. Methodological problems of experimental research of speech communicative process (using natural vs. laboratory - simulated speaking behaviour and signals). 6. Important features of human user behaviour that are being developed in the process of speech communication between a person and a speech processing system. 7. Role of symbol (phoneme, allophone) units in the processes of perception and speech generation and their relation to the problems of automatic speech synthesis and recognition. 8. Organization of a lexicon and its role in a speech process. 9. Organization of a word processor and a linguistic knowledge base of various levels. 10. User requirements to psychologically comfortable conditions of operations with a speech interface. Precise dates of ASRS'93: - for scientific sessions: June 30-July 2 - for social and cultural programme: June 28-29 and July 3-4. Important Dates: - April 10, 1993 - last date for visas submission - April 10, 1993 - last date for abstracts submission (about 2000 words, by E-mail to neva(at)coninfo.spb.su) - May 15, 1993 - last date for registration fee - June 27, 1993 - first date arrival to St. Petersburg Registration fees: - 300 USD for participants, - 100 USD for students, - 50 USD for accompanying persons. Accommodation: The Organising Committee proposes the Educational Center hotel (very cosy and comfortable) to be the most suitable for participants because our symposium will be held there. It is also possible to book three-, four- or five-stars hotels. Prices range from 60 USD for single room in the hotel of the Educational Center to 240-285 USD in a five-star hotel. ASRS '93 Organixing Committee Valery Galloonov Valentina Lublinskaja ----------------------------------------------------------------------