Interspeech 2017 -- Robots, Deep Neural Networks and the Future of Speech

Written by: Dr. John Kane, VP of Signal Processing & Data Science at Cogito There was something special about the prospect of having Interspeech 2017, the most prominent speech science and technology conference of the year, in Stockholm. Perhaps because of its rich history of speech science, including being home to great researchers like the late Gunnar Fant, who was responsible for pioneering work on the acoustics of speech production and speech synthesis. On arrival to the conference at Stockholm University, the specialness was evident as the opening ceremony was held in the architecturally impressive Aula Magna building where the FurHat robot delivered conference logistical information to the audience. There ensued a compelling four days of speech and language processing paper presentations that provided a window into the newest innovations in voice, emotion and speech technology. Check out the top themes from this year's interspeech conference below.