New techniques for improving the practicality of an SVM-based speech/music classifier

Variable bit-rate coding introduced for effective utilization of limited communication bandwidth requires accurate classification of input signals. This paper investigates implementation of a support vector machine (SVM)-based speech/music classifier in the selectable mode vocoder (SMV) framework, which is a standard codec adopted by the Third-Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2). A support vector machine is well known for its superior pattern recognition capability; however, it is accompanied by a high computational cost. In order to achieve a more practical system, three techniques are proposed for the SVM-based speech/music classifier. The first is to prune support vectors that least contribute to the output of the SVM, while the other two are aimed at reducing the number of classification requests to the SVM-based classifier by eliminating or redirecting some of the classification requests to the classifier.