Von Hussein Hussein

Studientexte zur Sprachkommunikation ; 69

TUDpress 2013. Kartoniert, ca. 24 x 17 cm, XXIII, 177 S., s/w Abb.

This thesis presents algorithms for automatic prosodic annotation and implementation of the analysis-by-synthesis concept of prosodic information. Therefore, a hybrid algorithm for pitch marking was developed by combining the outputs of two different pitch marking algorithms. A heuristic algorithm for pause annotation was designed by the detection of low-energy regions in speech signals. An algorithm for accent and phrase annotation was developed by decomposing pitch contours into accent and phrase commands with the Fujisaki model. The concept of analysis-by-synthesis for prosodic information was implemented by resynthesizing accents and phrases with a cepstral vocoder. Additionally, a computer-based language learning system for German learners of Mandarin was developed. A contrastive analysis of prosodic aspects of Mandarin tones between German learners and native speakers of Mandarin was performed. The effect of tone coarticulation in Mandarin on the amplitude and duration of tone commands of the Fujisaki model was examined. An HMM-based tone recognition system was redesigned by testing different spectral and prosodic features. The real-time evaluation of Mandarin tone recognizers in the language learning system was investigated.

Hussein Hussein acquired the Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from 1992 to 1997 as well as the Diploma of Higher Studies in Computer Technology and Automatic Control from 1999 to 2000 at the Tishreen University in Lattakia, Syria. As of 2004, Mr. Hussein studied at the Dresden University of Technology (TUD) in Germany, and achieved the Master of Science in the field of acoustic and speech communication in 2007. The same year, he started his PhD studies at the TUD and completed them in 2013. In addition to his studies, Mr. Hussein worked as a research assistant since 2008, first at the Laboratory of Acoustics and Speech Communication (TUD) for six months, then at the Beuth University of Applied Sciences (BHT) in Berlin, Germany, from 2008 to 2011. The research conducted at TUD and BHT is presented in this thesis.