title: A constraint-based evolutionary learning approach to the expectation maximization for optimal estimation of the hidden Markov model for speech signal modeling.
abstract: This paper attempts to overcome the tendency of the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm to locate a local rather than global maximum when applied to estimate the hidden Markov model (HMM) parameters in speech signal modeling. We propose a hybrid algorithm for estimation of the HMM in automatic speech recognition (ASR) using a constraint-based evolutionary algorithm (EA) and EM, the CEL-EM. The novelty of our hybrid algorithm (CEL-EM) is that it is applicable for estimation of the constraint-based models with many constraints and large numbers of parameters (which use EM) like HMM. Two constraint-based versions of the CEL-EM with different fusion strategies have been proposed using a constraint-based EA and the EM for better estimation of HMM in ASR. The first one uses a traditional constraint-handling mechanism of EA. The other version transforms a constrained optimization problem into an unconstrained problem using Lagrange multipliers. Fusion strategies for the CEL-EM use a staged-fusion approach where EM has been plugged with the EA periodically after the execution of EA for a specific period of time to maintain the global sampling capabilities of EA in the hybrid algorithm. A variable initialization approach (VIA) has been proposed using a variable segmentation to provide a better initialization for EA in the CEL-EM. Experimental results on the TIMIT speech corpus show that CEL-EM obtains higher recognition accuracies than the traditional EM algorithm as well as a top-standard EM (VIA-EM, constructed by applying the VIA to EM).
authors.affiliation: Center for Informatics and Applied Optimization, University of Ballarat, Ballarat, Vic. 3350, Australia. shuda@ballarat.edu.au
authors.forename: Shamsul
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huda
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yearwood
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Togneri
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D006801:Humans; D008390:Markov Chains; D015233:Models, Statistical; D016011:Normal Distribution; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D049250:Speech Recognition Software