Some observations on computer lip-reading: moving from the dream to the reality

Helen L. Bear; Gari Owen; Richard Harvey; Barry-John Theobald

doi:10.1117/12.2067464

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7 October 2014 Some observations on computer lip-reading: moving from the dream to the reality

Helen L. Bear, Gari Owen, Richard Harvey, Barry-John Theobald

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Proceedings Volume 9253, Optics and Photonics for Counterterrorism, Crime Fighting, and Defence X; and Optical Materials and Biomaterials in Security and Defence Systems Technology XI; 92530G (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2067464
Event: SPIE Security + Defence, 2014, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Abstract

In the quest for greater computer lip-reading performance there are a number of tacit assumptions which are either present in the datasets (high resolution for example) or in the methods (recognition of spoken visual units called "visemes" for example). Here we review these and other assumptions and show the surprising result that computer lip-reading is not heavily constrained by video resolution, pose, lighting and other practical factors. However, the working assumption that visemes, which are the visual equivalent of phonemes, are the best unit for recognition does need further examination. We conclude that visemes, which were defined over a century ago, are unlikely to be optimal for a modern computer lip-reading system.

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Helen L. Bear, Gari Owen, Richard Harvey, and Barry-John Theobald "Some observations on computer lip-reading: moving from the dream to the reality", Proc. SPIE 9253, Optics and Photonics for Counterterrorism, Crime Fighting, and Defence X; and Optical Materials and Biomaterials in Security and Defence Systems Technology XI, 92530G (7 October 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2067464

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