Subject: [AUDITORY] Announcing the first COG-MHEAR Audio-visual Speech Enhancement Challenge (AVSEC) - as part of IEEE SLT 2022 From: "Hussain, Amir" <0000016168b2549a-dmarc-request@xxxxxxxx> Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2022 18:43:55 +0000--_000_LO6P265MB5919C4C40C355A407933290ED3AB9LO6P265MB5919GBRP_ Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Dear all (please help share with colleagues) We are pleased to announce the launch of the first COG-MHEAR Audio-visual S= peech Enhancement Challenge (AVSEC) - http://challenge.cogmhear.org Participants will work on a large dataset derived from TED talks to enhance= speech in extremely challenging noisy environments and with competing spea= kers. The performance will be evaluated using human listening tests as well= as with objective measures. We hope that the Challenge will create a bench= mark for AVSEC research that will be useful for years to come. The challeng= e data and development tools are now available - for details see the challe= nge website: https://challenge.cogmhear.org/#/ and our github repository: = https://github.com/cogmhear/avse_challenge AVSEC has been accepted as an official challenge at the IEEE Spoken Languag= e Technology (SLT) Workshop (https://slt2022.org/) to be held in Doha, Qata= r, 9-12 Jan 2023, where a special session will be run. Important Dates 1st May 2022: Challenge website launch 31st May 2022: Release of the full toolset, training/development data and b= aseline system 1 June 2022: Registration for challenge entrants opens 25th July 2022: Evaluation data released 1st Sept 2022: Submission deadline for evaluation (by objective and subject= ive measures) 9th Jan 2023: Results announced at IEEE SLT 2022 Background: Human performance in everyday noisy situations is known to be dependent upo= n both aural and visual senses that are contextually combined by the brain= =92s multi-level integration strategies. The multimodal nature of speech is= well established, with listeners known to unconsciously lip-read to improv= e the intelligibility of speech in a real noisy environment. It has been sh= own that the visual aspect of speech has a potentially strong impact on the= ability of humans to focus their auditory attention on a particular stimul= us. The aim of the first AVSEC is to bring together the wider computer vision, = hearing and speech research communities to explore novel approaches to mult= imodal speech-in-noise processing. Both raw and pre-processed AV datasets = =96 derived from TED talk videos =96 will be made available to participants= for training and development of audio-visual models to perform speech enha= ncement and speaker separation at SNR levels that will be significantly mor= e challenging than those typically used in audio-only scenarios. Baseline n= eural network models and a training recipe will be provided. In addition to participation at IEEE SLT, Challenge participants will be in= vited to contribute to a Journal Special Issue on the topic of Audio-Visual= Speech Enhancement that will be announced early next year. Further information: If you are interested in participating and wish to receive further informat= ion, please sign up here: https://challenge.cogmhear.org/#/getting-started/= register If you have questions, contact us directly at: cogmhear@xxxxxxxx Organising Team: Amir Hussain, Edinburgh Napier University, UK (co-Chair) Peter Bell, University of Edinburgh, UK (co-Chair) Mandar Gogate, Edinburgh Napier University, UK Cassia Valentini Botinhao, University of Edinburgh, UK Kia Dashtipour, Edinburgh Napier University, UK Lorena Aldana, University of Edinburgh, UK Evaluation Panel Chair: John Hansen, University of Texas in Dallas, USA Scientific Committee Chair: Michael Akeroyd, University of Nottingham, UK Industry co-ordinator: Peter Derleth, Sonova AG Funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)= programme grant: COG-MHEAR (http://cogmhear.org ) Supported by RNID (formerly Action on Hearing Loss), Deaf Scotland, Sonova = AG -- Professor Amir Hussain School of Computing, Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland, UK E-mail: A.Hussain@xxxxxxxx This message and its attachment(s) are intended for the addressee(s) only a= nd should not be read, copied, disclosed, forwarded or relied upon by any p= erson other than the intended addressee(s) without the permission of the se= nder. If you are not the intended addressee you must not take any action ba= sed on this message and its attachment(s) nor must you copy or show them to= anyone. Please respond to the sender and ensure that this message and its = attachment(s) are deleted. It is your responsibility to ensure that this message and its attachment(s)= are scanned for viruses or other defects. Edinburgh Napier University does= not accept liability for any loss or damage which may result from this mes= sage or its attachment(s), or for errors or omissions arising after it was = sent. Email is not a secure medium. Emails entering Edinburgh Napier Univer= sity's system are subject to routine monitoring and filtering by Edinburgh = Napier University. Edinburgh Napier University is a registered Scottish charity. Registration = number SC018373 BSL users can contact us via contactSCOTLAND-BSL, the on-line British Sign = Language interpreting service. Find out more on the contactSCOTLAND website= . --_000_LO6P265MB5919C4C40C355A407933290ED3AB9LO6P265MB5919GBRP_ Content-Type: text/html; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <html> <head> <meta http-equiv=3D"Content-Type" content=3D"text/html; charset=3DWindows-1= 252"> <style type=3D"text/css" style=3D"display:none;"> P {margin-top:0;margin-bo= ttom:0;} </style> </head> <body dir=3D"ltr"> <div dir=3D"auto" style=3D"font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-ser= if; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=3D"elementToProof"> Dear all (please help share with colleagues)<br> </div> <div dir=3D"auto"><br> </div> <div dir=3D"auto" class=3D"elementToProof">We are pleased to announce the l= aunch of <b> the</b> <b>first COG-MHEAR Audio-visual Speech Enhancement Challenge (AVSEC= )</b> - <a href=3D"http://challenge.cogmhear.org" id=3D"LPNoLPOWALinkP= review_2">http://challenge.cogmhear.org</a></div> <div class=3D"_Entity _EType_OWALinkPreview _EId_OWALinkPreview_2 _EReadonl= y_1"></div> <div dir=3D"auto" class=3D"elementToProof"><br> </div> <div dir=3D"auto" class=3D"elementToProof">Participants will work on a larg= e dataset derived from TED talks to enhance speech in extremely challenging= noisy environments and with competing speakers. The performance will be ev= aluated using human listening tests as well as with objective measures. We hope that the Challenge will create= a benchmark for AVSEC research that will be useful for years to come. The = challenge data and development tools are now available - for details see th= e challenge website: <a href=3D"https://challenge.cogmhear.org/#/" id=3D"LPNoLPOWALinkPreview_1"= >https://challenge.cogmhear.org/#/</a> and our github repository: <a href=3D"https://github.com/cogmhear/avse_challenge" id=3D"LPNoLPOWALinkP= review">https://github.com/cogmhear/avse_challenge</a> </div> <div class=3D"_Entity _EType_OWALinkPreview _EId_OWALinkPreview_1 _EReadonl= y_1"></div> <br> <div class=3D"_Entity _EType_OWALinkPreview _EId_OWALinkPreview _EReadonly_= 1"></div> <div dir=3D"auto" class=3D"elementToProof">AVSEC has been accepted as an of= ficial challenge at the <b>IEEE Spoken Language Technology (SLT) Workshop</b> (https://slt2022.org/= ) to be held in Doha, Qatar, 9-12 Jan 2023, where a special session will be= run.</div> <div dir=3D"auto"><br> </div> <div dir=3D"auto"><b>Important Dates</b></div> <div dir=3D"auto"><br> </div> <div dir=3D"auto" class=3D"elementToProof">1st May 2022: Challenge website = launch</div> <div dir=3D"auto">31st May 2022: Release of the full toolset, training/deve= lopment data and baseline system</div> <div dir=3D"auto">1 June 2022: Registration for challenge entrants opens</d= iv> <div dir=3D"auto">25th July 2022: Evaluation data released</div> <div dir=3D"auto">1st Sept 2022: Submission deadline for evaluation (by obj= ective and subjective measures)</div> <div dir=3D"auto">9th Jan 2023: Results announced at IEEE SLT 2022</div> <div dir=3D"auto"><br> </div> <div dir=3D"auto"><b>Background:</b></div> <div dir=3D"auto"><br> </div> <div dir=3D"auto">Human performance in everyday noisy situations is known t= o be dependent upon both aural and visual senses that are contextually comb= ined by the brain=92s multi-level integration strategies. The multimodal na= ture of speech is well established, with listeners known to unconsciously lip-read to improve the intelligibil= ity of speech in a real noisy environment. It has been shown that the visua= l aspect of speech has a potentially strong impact on the ability of humans= to focus their auditory attention on a particular stimulus. </div> <div dir=3D"auto"><br> </div> <div dir=3D"auto">The aim of the first AVSEC is to bring together the wider= computer vision, hearing and speech research communities to explore novel = approaches to multimodal speech-in-noise processing. Both raw and pre-proce= ssed AV datasets =96 derived from TED talk videos =96 will be made available to participants for training and de= velopment of audio-visual models to perform speech enhancement and speaker = separation at SNR levels that will be significantly more challenging than t= hose typically used in audio-only scenarios. Baseline neural network models and a training recipe will be pr= ovided.</div> <div dir=3D"auto"><br> </div> <div dir=3D"auto">In addition to participation at IEEE SLT, Challenge parti= cipants will be invited to contribute to a Journal Special Issue on the top= ic of Audio-Visual Speech Enhancement that will be announced early next yea= r.</div> <div dir=3D"auto"><br> </div> <div dir=3D"auto"><b>Further information</b>:</div> <div dir=3D"auto"><br> </div> <div dir=3D"auto">If you are interested in participating and wish to receiv= e further information, please sign up here: https://challenge.cogmhear.org/= #/getting-started/register</div> <div dir=3D"auto"><br> </div> <div dir=3D"auto">If you have questions, contact us directly at: cogmhear@xxxxxxxx= apier.ac.uk</div> <div dir=3D"auto"><br> </div> <div dir=3D"auto"><b>Organising Team</b>: </div> <div dir=3D"auto"><br> </div> <div dir=3D"auto">Amir Hussain, Edinburgh Napier University, UK (co-Chair)<= /div> <div dir=3D"auto">Peter Bell, University of Edinburgh, UK (co-Chair)</div> <div dir=3D"auto">Mandar Gogate, Edinburgh Napier University, UK</div> <div dir=3D"auto">Cassia Valentini Botinhao, University of Edinburgh, UK</d= iv> <div dir=3D"auto" class=3D"elementToProof">Kia Dashtipour, Edinburgh Napier= University, UK</div> <div dir=3D"auto">Lorena Aldana, University of Edinburgh, UK</div> <div dir=3D"auto"><br> </div> <div dir=3D"auto">Evaluation Panel Chair: John Hansen, University of Texas = in Dallas, USA</div> <div dir=3D"auto" class=3D"elementToProof">Scientific Committee Chair: Mich= ael Akeroyd, University of Nottingham, UK</div> <div dir=3D"auto">Industry co-ordinator: Peter Derleth, Sonova AG</div> <div dir=3D"auto"><br> </div> <div dir=3D"auto">Funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Resear= ch Council (EPSRC) programme grant: COG-MHEAR (http://cogmhear.org )</div> <div dir=3D"auto"><br> </div> <div dir=3D"auto">Supported by RNID (formerly Action on Hearing Loss), Deaf= Scotland, Sonova AG</div> <div dir=3D"auto"><br> </div> <div dir=3D"auto">--</div> <div dir=3D"auto" class=3D"elementToProof">Professor Amir Hussain</div> <div dir=3D"auto" class=3D"elementToProof">School of Computing, </div> <div dir=3D"auto" class=3D"elementToProof">Edinburgh Napier University, Sco= tland, UK</div> <div dir=3D"auto">E-mail: A.Hussain@xxxxxxxx </div> <div dir=3D"auto"><br> </div> <div dir=3D"auto"><br> </div> <table width=3D"100%" cellspacing=3D"0" cellpadding=3D"=3D"0"" bo= rder=3D"0" align=3D"left" style=3D"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, san-serif= ; font-size:10pt;"> <tbody> <tr> <td style=3D"padding: 5px;"> <p>This message and its attachment(s) are intended for the addressee(s) onl= y and should not be read, copied, disclosed, forwarded or relied upon by an= y person other than the intended addressee(s) without the permission of the= sender. If you are not the intended addressee you must not take any action based on this message and its attac= hment(s) nor must you copy or show them to anyone. Please respond to the se= nder and ensure that this message and its attachment(s) are deleted.</p> <p>It is your responsibility to ensure that this message and its attachment= (s) are scanned for viruses or other defects. Edinburgh Napier University d= oes not accept liability for any loss or damage which may result from this = message or its attachment(s), or for errors or omissions arising after it was sent. Email is not a secure m= edium. Emails entering Edinburgh Napier University's system are subject to = routine monitoring and filtering by Edinburgh Napier University.</p> <p>Edinburgh Napier University is a registered Scottish charity. Registrati= on number SC018373</p> <p>BSL users can contact us via contactSCOTLAND-BSL, the on-line British Si= gn Language interpreting service. Find out more on the contactSCOTLAND webs= ite.</p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </body> </html> --_000_LO6P265MB5919C4C40C355A407933290ED3AB9LO6P265MB5919GBRP_--