PhD Student 'Increasing Robustness of Speech Recognition' (1,0 fte)

Renewed Job opening !

Faculty of Arts Vacancy number: 23.02.12 Closing date: 7 July 2012

Responsibilities

As a PhD student you will participate in the FP7 Marie Curie Initial Training Network Investigating Speech Processing In Realistic Environments (INSPIRE). This network provides research opportunities for 13 PhD students and 3 postdocs. You will become a member of an international team of researchers whose aim is to gain a better understanding of how listeners recognize speech, even under non-ideal circumstances. You will contribute to urgently needed solutions that help alleviate the serious communication problems that arise, especially for older and hearing-impaired persons, when different combinations of 'adverse' conditions affect the speech processing system. You will conduct your research in the framework of of a project called ’Increasing robustness of speech recognition by using multiple signal representations’. Speech processing in the human brain presumably involves competition between multiple, intermediate signal representations. The redundancy of these different representations are assumed to help improve the robustness of recognition. In some cases, however, they may lead to conflicting interpretations resulting in intelligibility problems. The goal of this PhD project is to investigate to what extent human recognition errors with regard to speech in ’adverse’ conditions can be replicated by machines that were trained on multiple input representations which are partially redundant.

Work environment

The project will be carried out at the Centre for Language and Speech Technology (CLST). CLST is a research unit within the Faculty of Arts of Radboud University Nijmegen and hosts a large international group of senior researchers and PhD students who conduct research at the frontier of science and develop innovative applications.

What we expect from you

You should: - hold a Master's degree in engineering or science; - have a strong background in machine learning (experience with dynamic Bayesian networks would be an advantage), mathematical and/or statistical modelling, and signal processing; - have excellent programming skills; - be willing to spend several months at the Technical University of Denmark. Prior exposure to courses in linguistics or speech- or hearing-related fields would be an advantage. Furthermore, you should comply with the rules set forward by the FP7 Marie Curie ITNs, i.e. you should: - not have resided of performed your main research activity in the Netherlands for more than 12 months in the last three years; - be willing to work in at least one other country in the INSPIRE network; - have less than 4 years of research experience since you obtained your Master’s degree, and not hold a PhD.

What we have to offer

We offer you: - employment: 1,0 fte; - in addition to the salary: an 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus; - the starting salary is €2,042 per month on a full-time basis; the salary will increase to €2,492 per month in the third year; - in addition to the salary, you will receive travel and training allowances on the basis of generous Marie Curie ITN provisions; - duration of the contract: 18 months with the possibility of extension by another 18 months.

Are you interested in our excellent employment conditions

(http://www.ru.nl/newstaff/working_at_radboud/conditions_of/)?

The Radboud University is an equal opportunity employer. Female researchers are strongly encouraged to apply for this vacancy.

Would you like to know more?

Further information on: Investigating Speech Processing In Realistic Environments (http://www.inspire-itn.eu/) Dr. Bert Cranen, assistant professor Speech science Telephone: +31 24 3612904 E-mail: B.Cranen@let.ru.nl

Applications

Are you interested? Please include with your application: - a CV; - a 2-page description of your research interests explaining why the INSPIRE goals appeal to you, how the INSPIRE team may benefit from your participation, and your career perspectives as expected from INSPIRE; - university transcripts; - names and email addresses of two potential referees (or alternatively letters of recommendation). It is Radboud University Nijmegen's policy to only accept applications by e-mail. Please send your application, stating vacancy number 23.02.12, to vacatures@let.ru.nl, for the attention of drs. M.J.M. van Nijnatten, before 7 July 2012. No commercial propositions ple