Brian Strope

bps@ucla.edu

Background

I graduated from Brown University with an Sc.B. in EE in 1989. As an undergrad I implemented a speech recognition system on a network of loosely-coupled parallel processors.

After Brown I worked for Hewlett-Packard in Ft. Collins, Colorado designing workstation hardware. Over four years, my design projects included an external cache, two I/O ASICs, and two CPU boards.

I started graduate studies in signal processing at UCLA EE in 1993. I completed the M.S. in 1995, the Ph.D. in 1998 At UCLA, my research has been focused on modeling auditory perception with applications to robust speech recognition and hearing aid design.

By the fall of 1998, I will have started work with the algorithms group at Nuance Communications.

Research

  • Pitch-Rate Amplitude Modulation: Temporal amplitude modulation cues are a robust indication of voicing.

  • Threading Spectral Peaks: Temporal correlation of dominant spectral peaks provide an anchor for robust speech recognition.

  • A Model of Dynamic Auditory Perception: Multi-band adaptation model from perceptual forward masking data, together with peak isolation from cepstral bandpass liftering. Spectrograms and recognition evaluations are available.

  • A Novel Hearing Aid: Mix the impulse responses of two filters as a function of the input level to compensate for reduced (frequency-dependent) dynamic range.

    • Documentation

  • Ph.D. Dissertation: B. Strope, "A model of dynamic auditory perception and its application to robust speech recognition," Ph.D. Dissertation, Dept. of Elec. Engr., UCLA, 1998.

  • JASA in press: J. Hant, B. Strope, and A. Alwan, "Variable-duration notched-noise experiments in a broadband noise context," J. of the Acous. Soc. of Amer., in press.

  • CompHear 98: B. Strope and A. Alwan, "Modeling the perception of pitch-rate amplitude modulation in noise," Proc. of the NATO ASI on Computational Hearing, 117-122, July 1998.

  • ASA 98: B. Strope and A. Alwan, "Amplitude Modulation Cues for Perceptual Voicing Distinctions in Noise," to appear in Proc. of ASA, June 1998.

  • ICASSP 98: B. Strope and A. Alwan, "Robust Word Recognition Using Threaded Spectral Peaks," Proc. of the IEEE Int. Conf. Acoust. Speech Sig. Proc., Vol. 2, 625-628, May 1998.

  • Asilomar 97: B. Strope and A. Alwan, "Modeling auditory perception to improve robust speech recognition," Proc. of the 31st Asilomar Conf. on Sig. Sys. and Comp., Nov. 1997

  • IEEE SAP 97: B. Strope and A. Alwan, "A model of dynamic auditory perception and its application to robust word recognition," IEEE Trans. on Speech and Audio Proc., Vol 5. No. 5, pp. 451-464, Sept. 1997

  • JASA 97: J. Hant, B. Strope, and A. Alwan, "A psychoacoustic model for the noise masking of plosive bursts," J. of the Acous. Soc. of Amer., Vol. 101, No. 5, 2789-2802, May 1997.

  • ASA/ASJ 96: B. Strope and A. Alwan, "Dynamic auditory representations and statistical speech recognition: Threading spectral peaks for robust recognition," Proc. of the Acous. Soc. of Amer. Vol. 100, No. 4, 2788, Oct. 1996. (best student paper award)

  • ICASSP 96: B. Strope and A. Alwan, "A model of dynamic auditory perception and its application to robust speech recognition," Proceedings IEEE ICASSP, Atlanta, Vol. I 37-40, 1996.

  • Master's Thesis: B. Strope, "A model of dynamic auditory perception and its application to robust speech recognition," Master's Thesis, Dept. of Elec. Engr., UCLA, 1995.

  • ICASSP 95: B. Strope and A. Alwan, "A novel structure to compensate for frequency-dependent loudness recruitment of sensorineural hearing loss," Proceedings IEEE ICASSP, Detroit, 3539-3542, 1995.

  • NIH 95: B. Strope and A. Alwan, "A First-Order Model of Dynamic Auditory Perception," Proc. NIH Hearing Aid Research and Development Workshop, 1995.

  • ISSSE 95: A. Alwan, S. Narayanan, B. Strope, and A. Shen, "Speech Production and Perception Models and their Applications to Synthesis, Recognition, and Coding," Proc. of the Int. Symp. Sig. Sys. and Elec., 1995.

  • ASA 95: J. Hant, B. Strope, and A. Alwan, "Durational Effects on Masked Thresholds in Noise as a Function of Signal Frequency, Bandwidth, and Type" Proc. of the Acous. Soc. of Amer. Vol. 98, No. 5, 2908, Nov. 1995.

  • Lake Arrowhead 94: B. Strope and A. Alwan, "Mapping of Constant Loudness Contours with Filter Mixtures in Digital Hearing Aids," Lake Arrowhead Conference on Hearing Aid Research, June, 1994.
    • [UCLA] [EE] [SPAPL] [bps] [research]
    bps@ucla.edu