Human Interface Laboratory

Masahide Sugiyama Professor	Jie Huang Associate Professor	Zhuzhong Qian Visiting Researcher

Each member of the Human Interface Laboratory has own interests and does independent research activities: Prof. Masahide Sugiyama: Implementation and evaluation of similar segment search algorithm in an arbitrary number of time series Voice interval detection in noisy environments Participation to Open Campus with lab. demonstrations. Promotion of a series of computer training courses for visual handicapped people in Aizu region. Prof. Jie Huang: Computational Auditory Scene Analysis Sound localization and sound-based position identication Spatial hearing and virtual 3-D sound systems Speaker based 3-D sound systems Analysis of head related transfer functions Reverberation and environmental simulation

Refereed Journal Papers

[sugiyama-01:2008]	M. Sugiyama. On Search Efficiency Comparison of ℓ p Distancebased Time Series Active Search Algorithm. Trans. of IEICE, J91-D(8):2071– 2079, Aug. 2008.
	Active search (TAS) algorithm for query search in time-series data can be formulated using ℓ p distance metrics with an arbitrary real number p  1. This paper derives an estimation formula of number of distance calculations and shows analytically and experimentally that ℓ 1 distance gives the minimum number of distance calculations among ℓ p distance in TAS. TAS algorithm has been proposed in order to find specified queries in time-series data efficiently. TAS algorithm makes use of calculated distance value to skip and reduce distance calculations. The conventional distance-based TAS is carried out using ℓ 1 distance because ℓ 1 distance corresponds to similarity measure between normalized histograms (output probabilities). The result of this paper gives a positive basis that ℓ 1 distance is the best distance among ℓ p distance.

Refereed Proceeding Papers

[j-huang-01:2008]	K. Tanno, A. Saji, S. Ito, J. Huang, and W. Hatano. A precise sound image panning method for side areas using 5.1 channel audio systems. In AES 35th Int. Conf. AES, Feb. 2009.
	5.1 channel home theater systems have been widely used for home audio systems and also for high reality game audio systems. In this research, we have conducted two experiments to improve the precision and clarity of sound image creation and reproduction in the side areas. The experimental setup was to change the intensity ratios between the two left speakers, L and SL, and ask the listeners about the directions and clarity of the sound images. From the results, we found the traditional amplitude panning method in the side areas is not linear and asymmetrical, and the motion is almost obtained on the middle range of intensity ratios. Based on the localization curve obtained in this experiment, we can compensate the non-linearity and asymmetry of sound panning. We also added the frequency characteristics of HRTF to the sound signals assigned to L and SL speakers by amplitude panning method. This changes of frequency characteristics can increase the reality of the sound signals to the near ear, and improve the precision and clarity of sound images in the side areas.
[sugiyama-02:2008]	K. Watanabe and M. Sugiyama. Automatic Correspondence Calculation between Text and Speech for Authoring Digital Talking Book. In Proc. of CBMI2008, pages 55 - 161, June 2008.
	The present paper proposes applying the Voice-Pause (VP) method to authoring DAISY talking books used by visually impaired people. The proposed method enables authors to automatically calculate the time information of sentence-based correspondence between Japanese text and the corresponding audio data, reducing the time required to perform searches. While there have been several related studies that calculate the time information of the correspondence, they require the input audio data to have a specific speech style and to be short in duration. Therefore, in the present paper, the proposed VP method was used to determine the average gap time and the sentence detection rate for databases having different speech styles and for input audio data having long durations. The experimental results show that the average gap time was approximately 0.38 sec and the sentence detection rate was approximately 94% and these are independent of speech style. The proposed VP method performs well and is efficient compared with methods proposed in previous studies.
[sugiyama-03:2008]	K. Sugai and M. Sugiyama. A New Implementation of Similar Segment Search in an Arbitrary Number of Time-Series. In Proc. of CIT, pages 13 - 118, July 2008.
	This paper proposes a new implementation of a similar segment search algorithm in an arbitrary number of time-series. Recursive Diamond Division Search (RDDS) can theoretically search for similar segments in any arbitrary number of time-series. Previous implementations were based on the number of loops, which corresponded to the number of the given time-series; RDDS-2 and RDDS-3 were implemented for two time-series and three time-series, respectively. This new implementation RDDS-n can process an arbitrary number of time-series. For three time-series, RDDS-n with n = 3 achieves the same processing time as RDDS-3. The new implementation is evaluated with 3, 4 and 5 time-series to show its effectiveness.

Unrefereed Papers

[sugiyama-04:2008]	K. Sugai, H. Hashimoto, and M. Sugiyama. Evaluation of End Boundary Processing in RDDS Similar Segment Search Algorithm. In Proc. of ASJ Spring Meeting, pages 2–5–4, Japan, Mar. 2009. ASJ
[sugiyama-05:2008]	K. Sugai and M. Sugiyama. Similar Segment Search in Multiple Time-Series Using RDDS Clustering Techniques. In Proc. of ASJ Spring Meeting, pages 2–5–3, Japan, Mar. 2009. ASJ.
[sugiyama-06:2008]	Masahide Sugiyama. Similar Segment Clustering of RDDS Outputs. In Proc. of ASJ Spring Meeting, pages 2-10-21, Japan, Mar. 2008. ASJ.

Books

[j-huang-02:2008]

Jie Huang. Sound localization for robot navigation. IN-TECH, Vienna, 2009.

Academic Activities

[sugiyama-07:2008]	Masahide Sugiyama, 2008. Reviewer of ASJ Transaction
[sugiyama-08:2008]	Masahide Sugiyama, 2008. Reviewer of IEICE Transaction
[sugiyama-09:2008]	Masahide Sugiyama, 2008. Board member of IEEE Sendai Chapter

Ph.D, Master and Bachelor Theses

[j-huang-03:2008	Mari Anzai. Spatial perception with different types of sound stimuli, University of Aizu, 2008. Thesis Advisor: Huang, J
[j-huang-04:2008]	Kentaro Kogure. Elevation perception with smoothed HRTFs, University of Aizu, 2008. Thesis Advisor: Huang, J
[j-huang-05:2008]	Naomi Tayama. 3-D sound creation by a horizontally arranged 5- channel loudspeaker system, University of Aizu, 2008. Thesis Advisor: Huang, J
[j-huang-06:2008]	Yuki Tomotaki. Creation of frontal sound images with loudspeakers located near the ears, University of Aizu, 2008. Thesis Advisor: Huang, J
[j-huang-07:2008]	Takuya Maeda. Environmental sound analysis and generation, University of Aizu, 2008. Thesis Advisor: Huang, J
[j-huang-08:2008]	Kensuke Kusaura. Approximation of HRTFs by Gaussian distribution curves, University of Aizu, 2008. Thesis Advisor: Huang, J and Guo, M


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