Finding Consensus Among Words: Lattice-based Word Error Minimization

Citation

Mangu, L., Brill, E., & Stolcke, A. (1999, September). Finding consensus among words: lattice-based word error minimization. In Eurospeech.

Abstract

We describe a new algorithm for finding the hypothesis in a recognition lattice that is expected to minimize the word error rate (WER). Our approach thus overcomes the mismatch between the word-based performance metric and the standard MAP scoring paradigm that is sentence-based, and that can lead to sub-optimal recognition results. To this end we first find a complete alignment of all words in the recognition lattice, identifying mutually supporting and competing word hypotheses. Finally, a new sentence hypothesis is formed by concatenating the words with maximal posterior probabilities. Experimentally, this approach leads to a significant WER reduction in a large vocabulary recognition task.

↓ Download

Read more from SRI

  • surgeons around a surgical robot

    The SRI research behind today’s surgical robotics

    Intuitive’s da Vinci 5 system represents a major leap in robotic-assisted medicine. It all started at SRI, which continues to advance teleoperation technologies.

  • a collage of digital graphs

    A banner year for quantum

    SRI-managed QED-C’s annual report on quantum trends captures an industry accelerating rapidly from technical promise toward major global impact.

  • ICE Cube containing SRI’s aerogel experiment, photographed prior to launch. Source: Aerospace Applications North America

    An SRI carbon capture experiment launches into space

    By synthesizing carbon-absorbing aerogels in microgravity, SRI research will give us a rare glimpse into how these materials could be radically improved.