HMM with Global Path constraint in Viterbi Decoding for Insolated Word Recognition

Hidden Markov Models (HMM's) with explicit state duration density (HMM/SD) can represent the time-varying characteristics of speech signals more accurately. However, such an advantage is reduced in relatively smooth state duration densities or ling bounded duration. To solve this problem, we propose HMM's with global path constraint (HMM/GPC) where the transition between states occur only within prescribed time slots. HMM/GPC explicitly limits state durations and accurately describes the temproal structure of speech simply and efficiently. HMM's formed by combining HMM/GPC with HMM/SD are also presented (HMM/SD+GPC) and performances are compared. HMM/GPC can be implemented with slight modifications to the conventional Viterbi algorithm. HMM/GPC and HMM/SD_GPC not only show superior performance than the conventional HMM and HMM/SD but also require much less computation. In the speaket independent isolated word recognition experiments, the minimum recognition eror rate of HMM/GPC(1.6%) is 1.1% lower than the conventional HMM's and the required computation decreased about 57%.