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PROGRAM DESCRIPTION AND GOALS
The goal of the Babel Program is to develop methods to build speech recognition technology for a much larger set of languages than has hitherto been addressed. The Program will require innovations in how to rapidly model a novel language with significantly less training data that are also much noisier and more heterogeneous than what has been used in the current state-of-the-art. Babel's technical measures of success are focused on how well the generated model works to support effective word-based search of noisy channel speech in the languages to be investigated. The new methods will be systematized so that they can be applied rapidly to a novel underserved language.
The Babel Program seeks technical innovations in the following areas: (a) multilingual speech processing with robustness to noisy recordings; (b) machine learning methods that optimize their use of limited training data; (c) linguistics to ensure portability across languages; and (d) word search to support the application of the speech models.
Collaborative efforts/teaming among potential performers is strongly encouraged. It is anticipated that teams will be multidisciplinary with expertise in linguistics, computational linguistics, machine learning, speech science, and signal processing. IARPA anticipates that universities and companies from around the world will participate in this research. Researchers will be able to publish their findings in publicly-available, academic journals.
REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Attendees must register no later than 5:00pm EST, January 13th, 2011, at the following website: https://conference.brtrc.com/Babel_pd/Overview.aspx. Directions to the conference facility and other materials are available on the website. No walk-in registrations will be allowed. Due to space limitations, attendance will be limited to the first 120 registrants and to no more than 2 representatives per organization. All attendees will be required to present a government-issued photo identification to enter the conference. Foreign nationals will need to present a passport.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The late morning and afternoon will include Presentation & Poster sessions to provide an opportunity for attendees to present their organizations' capabilities and to explore teaming arrangements. Details on the presentation and poster formats, and the procedure for submitting a request to present, will be provided after approval to register for the conference has been granted. Time available for presentations and posters will be limited. Therefore, presentations will be limited to the first 15 registered respondents who request an oral presentation, and posters will be limited to the first 15 registered respondents who request a poster presentation. These presentations are not intended to solicit feedback from the Government, and Government personnel will not be present during the presentations.
This Proposers' Day is intended for participants who are eligible to compete on the anticipated BAA. Other Government Agencies, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs), and University Affiliated Research Centers (UARCs) will not be eligible to submit proposals to the anticipated BAA or participate as team members under proposals submitted by eligible entities. While such entities are not prohibited from attending the Proposers' Day, due to space limitations, preference will be given first to those organizations that are eligible to compete.
IARPA will not provide reimbursement for costs incurred to participate in this conference.
Questions concerning conference & registration can be sent to [email protected]
Questions regarding the program can be sent to [email protected]