Continuous Audio Embeddings for Low-Latency Speech Recognition
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing speech recognition systems experience latency due to processing delays in detecting device-directed speech, leading to inefficiencies in downstream tasks.
Innovation Solution
Implementing an audio embedding generator that continuously processes input audio data and generates embedding data, which is sent to an ASR component upon detection of device-directed speech, reducing the need to retrieve and process audio data from a buffer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the system waits to detect device-directed speech before processing audio data, then speech recognition accuracy is improved, but processing latency increases
Solution Approach 1:
The audio embedding generator continuously processes audio data and generates embedding data in advance, before device-directed speech is detected. This preliminary action ensures that when speech detection occurs, the embedding data is already ready for immediate processing, eliminating latency while maintaining accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The audio embedding generator acts as an intermediary component that continuously transforms audio data into embedding data. This intermediary process runs independently of the speech detection timing, providing a bridge that decouples the speech recognition accuracy requirement from the processing latency constraint.
2Productivity
If the system retrieves audio data from buffer for processing, then complete speech transcription is achieved, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The audio embedding generator continuously generates embedding data for audio data as it is received, storing it in a buffer. When device-directed speech is detected, the embedding data is already prepared and can be immediately processed without needing to retrieve and reprocess the audio data from the buffer, significantly reducing processing time while maintaining completeness.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of processing the original audio data from the buffer, the system uses embedding data as a compressed representation or copy of the audio information. This copying approach maintains the essential speech transcription information while dramatically reducing the processing time required to analyze the data.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques for reducing latency in processing of audio data, where the latency may be caused in detecting audio of interest in the audio data, are described. A device that captures audio data may include a detection component to determine when the audio data includes audio of interest (e.g., device-directed speech), and an audio embedding generator to generate embedding vectors for the captured audio data while the detection component processes the audio data. The device may generate an embedding vector for audio data captured at the device for a duration of time; determine, at the end of the duration of time, that the audio data represents audio of interest; and send the embedding vector to an audio processing component (e.g., an automatic speech recognition component) for processing.