Postdoc proposal

Lexicon Free Spontaneous Speech Recognition

using Sequence-to-Sequence Models.

December 20, 2019

1 Postdoc Subject

The goal of the project is to advance the state-of-the-art in spontaneous auto-

matic speech recognition (ASR). Recent advances in ASR show excellent per-

formances on tasks such as read speech ASR (Librispeech), TV shows (MGB

challenge), but what about spontaneous communicative speech ?

This postdoc project would leverage existing transcribed corpora (more than

300 hours) recorded in everyday communication (speech recordings inside a

family, in a shop, during an interview, etc.).

We will investigate lexicon free methods based on sequence-to-sequence ar-

chitectures and analyze the representations learnt by the models.

Research topics:

 End-to-end ASR models

 Spontaneous speech ASR

 Data augmentation for spontaneous language modelling

 Use of contextualized language models (such as BERT) for ASR re-scoring

 Analyzing representations learnt by ASR systems

2 Requirements

We are looking for an outstanding and highly motivated postdoc candidate to

work on this subject. Following requirements are mandatory:

 PhD degree in natural language processing or speech processing.

 Excellent programming skills (mostly in Python and deep learning frame-

works).

1

 Interest in speech technology and speech science

 Good oral and written communication in English (French is a plus while

not mandatory)

 Ability to work autonomously and in collaboration with other team mem-

bers and other disciplines

3 Work context

Grenoble Alpes Univ. o
ers an excellent research environment with ample com-

puting facilities, as well as remarkable surroundings to explore over the week-

ends. The postdoc project will be funded by the Grenoble Articial Intelligence

Institute (MIAI). The candidate will work both at LIG-lab (GETALP team)

and LIDILEM-lab. The duration of the postdoc is 18 months.

4 How to apply?

Applications should include a detailed CV; a copy of the last diploma; at least

two references (people likely to be contacted); a cover letter of one page; a

one-page summary of the PhD thesis. Applications should be sent to lau-

rent.besacier@imag.fr, solange.rossato@imag.fr and aurelie.nardy@univ-grenoble-

alpes.fr. Applications will be evaluated as they are received: the position is open

until it is lled.