Author:
ContributorPublish date:
Aug 3, 2017Social count:
0
0
SHARES
You may have heard the headlines - We've reached human parity (Microsoft, 16th October) as they reach an accuracy of over 94 per cent; Google openly planning to compete with Dragon developers Nuance; Amazon attempting to revolutionise access to the internet via Echo and Alexa. It seems like everyone's at the Speech Recognition game surely the end is nigh for traditional methods of creating captions?
I think captioners can rest easy for a good while yet - for a few simple reasons. The first is simply the scale of the task that regulators and audiences set the captioner; typically a pre-recorded programme must be captioned 100 per cent accurately, and a live show should hit at least 98 per cent. Taking the pre-recorded example, how hard can that be for a machine? Surely there's all the time in the world to get it right?
Consider what 100 per cent actually means; not only does every word have to be identified and spelled correctly (no mean feat on a show such as Mastermind, where deliberately obscure questions can trigger equally obscure and possibly wrong answers). Imagine writing down every word you utter during any given day; would you go for something akin to the dialogue in a play accurate with all its disfluencies' (those crutch-like Ums' and Errs' that let your brain change gear whilst letting your mouth free-wheel). Do you talk in nice, tidy grammatical sentences? Do you pause neatly for mental punctuation? I guessed as much. If you simply transcribe such speech verbatim you'll get a very accurate representation of the words uttered, but that won't make for comprehensible captions and it could well be illegibly fast.
Speech recognition also thrives on good quality audio; not just a clear voice, but an absence of echo, background noise, music and so forth. It is possible with care and a complex workflow to ensure that the music and the speech remain separate in a recording but that doesn't help with poor acoustics or a duff recording. Much more research is needed to assist with improving ASR in complex audio environments and we're helping a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh to research precisely this.
The automatic insertion of punctuation is in its infancy; some inroads have been made by our research partners at Edinburgh, using techniques more commonly found in Machine Translation. Whilst ASR uses a largely probability-based approach to working out what's been said, punctuation needs something more rule-based. Questions are another matter entirely; cadence can be a good indicator for some speakers (as most languages will let you ignore the formalities of question words) but that's not a universal rule.
Identifying speaker changes is another area that needs more research; for many of our clients we need to be able to accurately identify either a change of speaker (denoted by chevrons or a change in text colour) or by identifying the speaker themselves. Whilst automated diarisation' reaches good levels of accuracy, it doesn't yet reach the level of accuracy required for broadcast.
Does this mean we can't use ASR at all? I think not. Not all content is the same; it's not all shouty gameshows, talkshows where each guest cuts across everyone else and sports output captured in the open, with the roar of the crowd and the rumble of the music bed. Some material is recorded cleanly, with professional speakers speaking at a moderate pace on a subject matter with plenty of background data to assist with the more tricky terms. If we have enough of this kind of data we can train ASR engines to make a pretty good job of transcription. We can utilise the vast archives of media with matching captions to create speech recognition engines, punctuation models and caption translation' systems to replicate the kind of output that a human could produce. We can then use audio alignment' tools to break this transcription up into readable blocks and time-align them to the original speaker's voice, leading to fully automated captions.
No doubt if I review this article in ten years' time I'll cringe at the bold assertions made about the progress of automated captioning, but I feel confident that genres such as comedy will remain a bastion of human-generated captioning even in 2027. Comedy is typically based around word play, incongruity and surprise. Speech engines are most comfortable with the opposite of this they know what they've been trained on, and a new comic turn of phrase will almost certainly bring about an unintentionally comic transcription. I'm pretty sure that a human captioner will be wrestling with the likes of Have I Got News For You for many years to come.
By Matt Simpson, head of product management, access services, Broadcast and Media Services, Ericsson
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
04/05/2024
NEW YORK As the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month kicks off in May, Nielsen has released an extensive new report diving into their media habits with data sh...
04/05/2024
PHILADELPHIA As National Military Appreciation Month gets underway, Comcast has announced several new initiatives to help veterans, service members, and their f...
04/05/2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. Federal Communications Commission chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has announced a tentative agenda for the May Open Commission Meeting scheduled...
04/05/2024
The Broadband Forum has announced major enhancements to key 5G convergence standards that the group said will help advance next-generation applications, improve...
04/05/2024
Spotify Wrapped Campaign Spot Graded With DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton May 3, 2024
0 Comments
Blackmagic Design today announced that Colorist M...
04/05/2024
Three Boston Conservatory at Berklee Alums Nominated for Tony Awards An additional eight alums and two current students performed in nominated productions.
...
03/05/2024
An innovative learning tool to help media and civil society better understand ho...
03/05/2024
PARK CITY, UTAH - JANUARY 21: (L-R) Actors K stutis Cic nas and Greta Grinevi i t , Director Marija Kavtaradze and Producer Marija Razgute attend the 2023 Sunda...
03/05/2024
If you aren't familiar with Danny Ocean's music, it's only a matter ...
03/05/2024
Spotify has an unwavering commitment to supporting emerging artists across all genres, to helping them launch and thrive in their careers, and to connecting the...
03/05/2024
Como uno de los sonidos de mayor expansi n en el mundo, la M sica Mexicana va m ...
03/05/2024
As one of the fastest-growing sounds worldwide, M sica Mexicana is more than jus...
03/05/2024
NEW YORK FuboTV reported that it lost 110,000 subs in Q1 2024 but it exceeded its guidance for the quarter with double digit year-over-year increases across key...
03/05/2024
Only 3 Weeks Left To Enter The Creative Industries Most Award
Brie Clayton May 3, 2024
0 Comments
Creativepool is giving a last call to the creative i...
03/05/2024
WePlay Studios Transforms the Future of Live Event Storytelling with AJA Gear
Brie Clayton May 3, 2024
0 Comments
By 2032, the esports market is expec...
03/05/2024
WASHINGTON Shannon Bream, Fox News Sunday anchor and chief legal correspondent, sat for a keynote chat at The Business of TV News, with Tom Umstead, senior co...
03/05/2024
WASHINGTON Asked how important is local news, Martha Raddatz, who has covered foreign conflicts for decades and moderated presidential debates for ABC News, s...
03/05/2024
Sony Pictures and Apollo Global Management have made a $26 billion cash offer fo...
03/05/2024
CBS announced its 2024-2025 primetime schedule, which features the new dramas NCIS: Origins, Matlock and Watson, and new comedies Poppa's House and Georgie ...
03/05/2024
Sports-focused streaming service Fubo said it reduced its red ink in the first quarter, despite losing 110,000 subscribers since the end of the year....
03/05/2024
Walmart is reportedly about to release a new 4K streaming box/smart speaker hybrid device for Google TV that could retail for as low as $50, according to a repo...
03/05/2024
Enhancements to its Delivery Workspace solution provide increased content delivery robustness and security
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: May 3, 2024
Enha...
03/05/2024
According to reports, if the bid is successful, Sony would be the significant majority shareholder of the new private company
By Jenny Priestley
Published: M...
03/05/2024
Located in Manchesters Spinningfields district, the course aims to equip students with the skills, knowledge and industry insight for a career in the creative s...
03/05/2024
Lightbridge has created a new Cine Reflect Lighting System kit, dedicated to enabling artistic lighting with consideration of today's productivity practical...
03/05/2024
Broadcast media systems integrator BeckTV and Lawo worked together on a large-scale AES67 build of radio control rooms at KPBS, San Diego's NPR and PBS memb...
03/05/2024
Raleigh, NC, April 12, 2024 SmallHD announces PageOS 6, a powerful software update free for owners of SmallHD monitors, featuring increased functionality, exp...
03/05/2024
SmallHD announces the Quantum 32 a new 31.5 OLED monitor designed to provide reference HDR/SDR images for post-production final color grading, as well as cri...
03/05/2024
By 2032, the esports market is expected to grow to $9.29 billion, bolstered by a global player count and fan following that both continue to climb. The 2023 Lea...
03/05/2024
Amagi, the global leader in cloud-based SaaS technology for broadcast and connected TV (CTV), today announced that the 11th edition of the Amagi Global FAST Rep...
03/05/2024
Riedel Communications today announced that Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) is relying on a media and intercom network based on Riedel technology for the renewal of...
03/05/2024
Broadpeak , a leading provider of content delivery network (CDN) and video streaming solutions for content providers and pay-TV operators worldwide, announced t...
03/05/2024
Media technology innovator Limecraft will exhibit the latest updates to its online platform on stand G79 at the 15-16 May 2024 Media Production & Technology Sho...
03/05/2024
Audio interface specialist Prism Sound is partnering with console manufacturer Solid State Logic, professional monitor manufacturer PMC and acoustic panel and d...
03/05/2024
Intinor, Sweden's leading developer of products and solutions for high-quality video over the internet, is set to join forces with its UK partner Zest Techn...
03/05/2024
NAKIVO Inc., a fast-growing software company dedicated to protecting physical, virtual, cloud, and SaaS environments, announced its Q1 2024 financial results to...
03/05/2024
Hiltron Communications announces an addition to its range of satellite communication products and systems: a field-upgradable motorisation kit specifically desi...
03/05/2024
Visit LiveU at Stand D30
With this year an exceptional one for major sporting events alongside multiple, key elections, the power and flexibility of LiveU'...
03/05/2024
Agile Content, the leader in the development of technology and solutions for the provision of television services over the Internet, announces Koldo Unanue as i...
03/05/2024
Eight co-signers representing streaming services, pay TV operators and public interest groups have sent a letter to Congressional leaders urging their Committee...
03/05/2024
BOSTON Brightcove has announced that it has implemented Amazon Q Business, a new generative AI assistant on Amazon Web Services (AWS)....
03/05/2024
NEW YORK CBS has declared that it will finish the 2023-24 season as Americas Most-Watched Network in primetime for the 16th consecutive season....
03/05/2024
A new survey indicates that U.S. businesses and consumers had an overall positive attitude towards their technology spending plans in the first quarter of 2024,...
03/05/2024
Sony and Apollo Global Management have sent an offer letter to Paramount Global's board of directors making an $26 billion all cash offer for Paramount Glob...
03/05/2024
EMG / Gravity Media has appointed Charlie Cubbon chief operating officer (COO) and Jamie Hindhaugh regional CEO for the U.K., U.S., Australia and the Middle Eas...
03/05/2024
Final 2024 Season Games to Air Saturdays on WRAL at 10:30am in May, Championship on June 1
Taping for the final episodes of the 2024 season of WRAL-TV's Br...
03/05/2024
Estrella MediaCo said it is expanding its connected TV portfolio by launching three new channels with Curiosity that will first appear on Samsung TV Plus....
Author:
