Publications by Alfred Dielmann

This paper is concerned with the automatic recognition of dialogue acts (DAs) in multiparty conversational speech. We present a joint generative model for DA recognition in which segmentation and classification of DAs are carried out in parallel. Our approach to DA recognition is based on a switching dynamic Bayesian network (DBN) architecture. This generative approach models a set of features, related to lexical content and prosody, and incorporates a weighted interpolated factored language model. The switching DBN coordinates the recognition process by integrating the component models. The factored language model, which is estimated from multiple conversational data corpora, is used in conjunction with additional task-specific language models. In conjunction with this joint generative model, we have also investigated the use of a discriminative approach, based on conditional random fields, to perform a reclassification of the segmented DAs. We have carried out experiments on the AMI corpus of multimodal meeting recordings, using both manually transcribed speech, and the output of an automatic speech recognizer, and using different configurations of the generative model. Our results indicate that the system performs well both on reference and fully automatic transcriptions. A further significant improvement in recognition accuracy is obtained by the application of the discriminative reranking approach based on conditional random fields.

Joint Dialogue Act segmentation and classification of the new AMI meeting corpus has been performed through an integrated framework based on a switching dynamic Bayesian network and a set of continuous features and language models. The recognition process is based on a dictionary of 15 DA classes tailored for group decision-making. Experimental results show that a novel interpolated Factored Language Model results in a low error rate on the automatic segmentation task, and thus good recognition results can be achieved on AMI multiparty conversational speech.

We propose a joint segmentation and classification approach for the dialogue act recognition task on natural multi-party meetings (ICSI Meeting Corpus). Five broad DA categories are automatically recognised using a generative Dynamic Bayesian Network based infrastructure. Prosodic features and a switching graphical model are used to estimate DA boundaries, in conjunction with a factored language model which is used to relate words and DA categories. This easily generalizable and extensible system promotes a rational approach to the joint DA segmentation and recognition task, and is capable of good recognition performance.

Multiparty meetings are a ubiquitous feature of organizations, and there are considerable economic benefits that would arise from their automatic analysis and structuring. In this paper, we are concerned with the segmentation and structuring of meetings (recorded using multiple cameras and microphones) into sequences of group meeting actions such as monologue, discussion and presentation. We outline four families of multimodal features based on speaker turns, lexical transcription, prosody, and visual motion that are extracted from the raw audio and video recordings. We relate these low-level features to more complex group behaviors using a multistream modelling framework based on multistream dynamic Bayesian networks (DBNs). This results in an effective approach to the segmentation problem, resulting in an action error rate of 12.2%, compared with 43% using an approach based on hidden Markov models. Moreover, the multistream DBN developed here leaves scope for many further improvements and extensions.

We address the problem of segmentation and recognition of sequences of multimodal human interactions in meetings. These interactions can be seen as a rough structure of a meeting, and can be used either as input for a meeting browser or as a first step towards a higher semantic analysis of the meeting. A common lexicon of multimodal group meeting actions, a shared meeting data set, and a common evaluation procedure enable us to compare the different approaches. We compare three different multimodal feature sets and our modelling infrastructures: a higher semantic feature approach, multi-layer HMMs, a multistream DBN, as well as a multi-stream mixed-state DBN for disturbed data.

This paper investigates the automatic analysis and segmentation of meetings. A meeting is analysed in terms of individual behaviours and group interactions, in order to decompose each meeting in a sequence of relevant phases, named meeting actions. Three feature families are extracted from multimodal recordings: prosody from individual lapel microphone signals, speaker activity from microphone array data and lexical features from textual transcripts. A statistical approach is then used to relate low-level features with a set of abstract categories. In order to provide a flexible and powerful framework, we have employed a dynamic Bayesian network based model, characterized by multiple stream processing and flexible state duration modelling. Experimental results demonstrate the strength of this system, providing a meeting action error rate of 9%.

This paper is about the automatic structuring of multiparty meetings using audio information. We have used a corpus of 53 meetings, recorded using a microphone array and lapel microphones for each participant. The task was to segment meetings into a sequence of meeting actions, or phases. We have adopted a statistical approach using dynamic Bayesian networks (DBNs). Two DBN architectures were investigated: a two-level hidden Markov model (HMM) in which the acoustic observations were concatenated; and a multistream DBN in which two separate observation sequences were modelled. Additionally we have also explored the use of counter variables to constrain the number of action transitions. Experimental results indicate that the DBN architectures are an improvement over a simple baseline HMM, with the multistream DBN with counter constraints producing an action error rate of 6%.

This paper investigates the automatic segmentation of meetings into a sequence of group actions or phases. Our work is based on a corpus of multiparty meetings collected in a meeting room instrumented with video cameras, lapel microphones and a microphone array. We have extracted a set of feature streams, in this case extracted from the audio data, based on speaker turns, prosody and a transcript of what was spoken. We have related these signals to the higher level semantic categories via a multistream statistical model based on dynamic Bayesian networks (DBNs). We report on a set of experiments in which different DBN architectures are compared, together with the different feature streams. The resultant system has an action error rate of 9%.