G: basically I think you 'd you would build a  an HMM that has as a state space all of the possible speaker combinations
H: All the Yep .
E: Yeah .
G: and , um you can control H: It 's a little big .
G: It 's not that big actually ,
G: um
H: Two to the N .
H: Two to the number of people in the meeting .
D: But Actually , Andreas may maybe maybe just something simpler but but along the lines of what you 're saying ,
H: Anyway .
E: Yeah .
D: I was just realizing , I used to know this guy who used to build , uh um , mike mixers automatic mike mixers where , you know , t in order to able to turn up the gain , you know , uh as much as you can , you you you lower the gain on on the mikes of people who aren't talking ,
G: Mmm .
E: Yeah <comment> Yeah .
G: Mmm .
G: Mm - hmm .
D: right ?
G: Mm - hmm .
D: And then he had some sort of reasonable way of doing that ,
D: but uh , what if you were just looking at very simple measures like energy measures but you don't just compare it to some threshold overall but you compare it to the energy in the other microphones .
H: I was thinking about doing that originally to find out who 's the loudest ,
H: and that person is certainly talking .
D: Yeah .
H: But I also wanted to find threshold uh , excuse me , mol overlap .
D: Yeah .
H: So , not just just the loudest .
F: Mm - hmm .
E: But , eh
E: I I Sorry .
E: I I have found that when when I I analyzed the the speech files from the , eh mike , eh from the eh close eh microphone , eh I found zones with a a different level of energy .
G: Sorry , I have to go .
H: OK .
H: Could you fill that out anyway ?
H: Just , put your name in .
H: Are y you want me to do it ?
H: I 'll do it .
A: But he 's not gonna even read that .
H: I know .
A: Oh .
E: including overlap zone .
E: including .
E: because , eh eh depend on the position of the of the microph of the each speaker to , eh , to get more o or less energy i in the mixed sign in the signal .
E: and then , if you consider energy to to detect overlapping in in , uh , and you process the the in the the the speech file from the the the mixed signals .
E: The mixed signals , eh .
E: I I think it 's it 's difficult , um  only to en with energy to to consider that in that zone We have eh , eh , overlapping zone Eh , if you process only the the energy of the , of each frame .
D: Well , it 's probably harder ,
D: but I I think what I was s nnn noting just when he when Andreas raised that , was that there 's other information to be gained from looking at all of the microphones and you may not need to look at very sophisticated things ,
E: Yeah .
D: because if there 's  if most of the overlaps you know , this doesn't cover , say , three , but if most of the overlaps , say , are two , if the distribution looks like there 's a couple high ones and and the rest of them are low ,
E: Yeah .
E: Yeah .
E: Yeah .
H: And everyone else is low , yeah .
E: Yeah .
D: you know , what I mean ,
E: Yeah .
D: there 's some information there about their distribution even with very simple measures .
E: Yeah .
E: Yeah .
D: Uh , by the way , I had an idea with while I was watching Chuck nodding at a lot of these things , is that we can all wear little bells on our heads , so that then you 'd know that E: Yeah .
H: Ding , ding , ding , ding .
F: " Ding " .
E: Yeah .
F: That 's cute !
B: I think that 'd be really interesting too , with blindfolds .
H: Nodding with blindfolds ,
B: Then B: Yeah .
H: " what are you nodding about ? "
B: The question is , like whether B: Well , trying with and  with and without , yeah .
H: " Sorry , I 'm just I 'm just going to sleep . "
B: But then there 's just one @ @ , like .
D: Yeah .
A: Actually , I saw a uh a woman at the bus stop the other day who , um , was talking on her cell phone speaking Japanese , and was bowing .
E: Yeah <comment> Yeah .
A: you know , profusely .
B: Oh , yeah , that 's really common .
C: Yeah .
F: Ah .
A: Just , kept E: Yeah .
D: Wow .
B: It 's very difficult if you try while you 're trying , say , to convince somebody on the phone it 's difficult not to move your hands .
B: Not You know , if you watch people they 'll actually do these things .
D: Mm - hmm ?
B: So .
B: I still think we should try a a meeting or two with the blindfolds ,
B: at least of this meeting that we have lots of recordings of
H: Mm - hmm .
D: Yeah , I think th
B: Um , maybe for part of the meeting , we don't have to do it the whole meeting .
D: I think it 's a great idea .
B: That could be fun .
B: It 'll be too hard to make barriers , I was thinking because they have to go all the way
D: W Yeah .
B: you know , I can see Chuck even if you put a barrier here .
H: Well , we could just turn out the lights .
F: Actually well also I I can say I made barr barriers for so that the stuff I was doing with Collin wha which just used , um this kind of foam board .
B: Y Yeah ?
F: R really inexpensive .
F: You can you can masking tape it together ,
F: these are you know , pretty l large partitions .
D: Yeah .
B: But then we also have these mikes , is the other thing I was thinking ,
B: so we need a barrier that doesn't disturb the sound ,
H: The acoustics .
F: It 's true , it would disturb the , um the the long - range B: um
D: Blindfolds would be good .
H: I think , blindfolds .
F: it would B: I mean , it sounds weird but but  you know it 's  it 's cheap and , uh Be interesting to have the camera going .
D: Probably we should wait until after Adam 's set up the mikes ,
D: But .
F: OK .
F: I think we 're going to have to work on the , uh  on the human subjects form .
A: I 'll be peeking .
H: Yeah , that 's right , we didn't tell them we would be blindfolding .
D: That 's F: " Do you mind being blindfolded while you 're interviewed ? "
D: that 's that 's that 's the one that we videotape .
D: So .
D: Um , I I wanna move this along .
D: Uh I did have this other agenda item which is , uh @ @ it 's uh a list which I sent to uh a couple folks , but um I wanted to get broader input on it ,
D: So this is the things that I think we did in the last three months
D: obviously not everything we did but but sort of highlights that I can  can tell s some outside person , you know , what what were you actually working on .
D: Um in no particular order uh , one , uh , ten more hours of meeting r meetings recorded , something like that , you know from from , uh three months ago .
D: Uh XML formats and other transcription aspects sorted out and uh sent to IBM .
D: Um , pilot data put together and sent to IBM for transcription ,
D: uh next batch of recorded data put together on the CD - ROMs for shipment to IBM ,
H: Hasn't been sent yet , but It 's getting ready .
D: But yeah , that 's why I phrased it that way , yeah OK .
D: Um human subjects approval on campus , uh and release forms worked out
D: so the meeting participants have a chance to request audio pixelization of selected parts of the spee their speech .
D: Um audio pixelization software written and tested .
D: Um  preliminary analysis of overlaps in the pilot data we have transcribed ,
D: and exploratory analysis of long - distance inferences for topic coherence , that was I was  wasn't sure if those were the right way  that was the right way to describe that because of that little exercise that that you <comment> and and Lokendra did .
F: What was that called ?
F: The , uh say again ?
D: I well , I I 'm probably saying this wrong , but what I said was exploratory analysis of long - distance inferences for topic coherence .
D: Something like that .
D: Um so , uh I   a lot of that was from , you know , what what what you two were doing
D: so I I sent it to you ,
D: and you know , please mail me , you know , the corrections or suggestions for changing
H: Mm - hmm .
D: I I don't want to make this twice it 's length but  but you know , just im improve it .
D: Um Is there anything anybody H: I I did a bunch of stuff for supporting of digits .
D: " Bunch of stuff for s "
D: OK , maybe maybe send me a sentence that 's a little thought through about that .
H: So , OK , I 'll send you a sentence that doesn't just say " a bunch of " ?
D: " Bunch of stuff " , yeah , " stuff " is probably bad too ,
H: Yep .
H: " Stuff " is not very technical .
D: Yeah , well .
H: I 'll try to phrase it in passive voice .
D: Yeah .
D: Yeah , yeah ,
A: Technical stuff .
D: " range of things " , yeah .
D: Um and and you know , I sort of threw in what you did with what Jane did on in under the , uh uh preliminary analysis of overlaps .
D: Uh uh Thilo , can you tell us about all the work you 've done on this project in the last , uh last three months ?
E: Yeah .
C: So what is what Um .
D: That 's C: Not really .
A: It 's too complicated .
C: Um , I didn't get it .
C: Wh - what is " audio pixelization " ?
D: Uh , audio pix wh he did it ,
D: so why don't you explain it quickly ?
H: It 's just , uh beeping out parts that you don't want included in the meeting
H: so , you know you can say things like , " Well , this should probably not be on the record , but beep "
C: OK , OK .
C: I got that .
D: Yeah .
D: We we we spent a a a fair amount of time early on just talk dealing with this issue about op w e e we realized , " well , people are speaking in an impromptu way and they might say something that would embarrass them or others later " , and , how do you get around that
C: OK .
D: so in the consent form it says , well you we will look at the transcripts later and if there 's something that you 're unhappy with , yeah .
C: OK , and you can say C: OK .
D: But you don't want to just totally excise it
D: because
D: um
D: uh , well you have to be careful about excising it , how how you excise it
D: keeping the timing right and so forth
D: so that at the moment tho th the idea we 're running with is is h putting the beep over it .
H: Yeah , you can either beep or it can be silence .
C: OK .
H: I I couldn't decide . which was the right way to do it .
E: Ah , yeah .
H: Beep is good auditorily ,
H: if someone is listening to it , there 's no mistake that it 's been beeped out ,
C: Yeah .
C: Yeah .
H: but for software it 's probably better for it to be silence .
A: No , no .
A: You can you know , you could make a m as long as you keep using the same beep , people could make a model of that beep ,
F: Hmm .
H: Yep .
A: and F: I like that idea .
H: And I use it 's it 's , uh it 's an A below middle C beep ,
B: I think the beep is a really good idea .
F: It 's very clear .
A: Yeah .
F: Then you don't think it 's a long pause .
B: Also H: so
A: Yeah , it 's more obvious that there was something there than if there 's just silence .
D: Yeah , that I mean , he 's he 's removing the old thing
F: Yeah .
C: Yeah .
E: Yeah
H: Yep .
D: and and and A: Yea - right .
A: Right .
H: Yeah , it 's not A: But I mean if you just replaced it with silence , it 's not clear whether that 's really silence or C: Yeah .
E: Yeah .
F: Yeah , I agree .
H: Yep .
E: Yeah .
D: Yeah .
F: One one question .
F: Do you do it on all channels ?
H: Of course .
F: Interesting .
F: I like that .
H: Yeah you have to do it on all channels because it 's , uh audible .
D: Yeah .
F: Yeah , I like that .
F: Very clear .
F: Very clear .
H: Uh , it 's it 's potentially audible , you could potentially recover it .
D: Ke - keep a back door .
F: Well , the other thing that you know , I mean the the alternative might be to s
H: Yeah .
H: Well , I I haven't thrown away any of the meetings that I beeped .
H: Actually yours is the only one that I beeped and then , uh the ar DARPA meeting .
B: Notice how quiet I am .
H: Sorry ,
H: and then the DARPA meeting I just excised completely ,
F: Yeah .
H: so it 's in a private directory .
F: That 's great .
B: You have some people who only have beeps as their speech in these meetings .
F: Yeah .
D: OK .
A: They 're easy to find , then .
D: Alright , so , uh I think we should , uh uh , go on to the digits ?
H: OK .
F: I have one concept a t I I want to say , which is that I think it 's nice that you 're preserving the time relations ,
F: s so you 're you 're not just cutting you 're not doing scissor snips .
H: Right .
F: You 're you 're keeping the , uh the time duration of a de - deleted deleted part .
B: Yeah , definitely .
D: Yeah .
F: OK , good , digits .
H: Yeah , since we wanna possibly synchronize these things as well .
H: Oh , I should have done that .
H: Shoot .
F: It 's great .
H: Oh well .
D: Yeah .
D: Oh
B: So I guess if there 's an overlap , like , if I 'm saying something that 's bleepable and somebody else overlaps during it they also get bleeped , too ?
H: You 'll lose it .
H: There 's no way around that .
D: Yeah .
D: Um I d I did before we do the digits , I did also wanna remind people , uh  please do send me , you know , uh thoughts for an agenda ,
H: Agenda ?
D: yeah
D: that that would be that 'd be good .
F: Good .
D: Eh So that , uh , people 's ideas don't get
H: Thursday crept up on me this week .
D: yeah , well it does creep up ,
D: doesn't it ?
D: OK .
B: And , I wanted to say , I think this is really interesting analysis .
H: It 's cool stuff , definitely .
F: Thank you .
F: Thank you .
B: I meant to say that before I started off on the Switchboard stuff .
H: I was gonna say " can you do that for the other meetings ,
B: It 's neat .
H: can you do it for them ? "
H: And , no actually , you can't .
B: Yeah .
B: Does it take A: Actually actually I I thought that 's what you were giving us was another meeting and I was like , " Oh , OK ! "
F: Thank you .
H: " Ooo , cool ! "
F: Yeah .
F: Aw , thanks .
B: How long does it take , just briefly , like t to  OK . to label the ,
F: No .
F: I have the script now ,
F: so , I mean , it can work off the , uh other thing ,
H: It 's As soon as we get labels , yep .
B: OK .
A: But it has to be hand - labeled first ?
F: but F: Uh , well , yeah .
F: Because , uh well , I mean once his his algorithm is up and running then we can do it that way .
H: If it works well enough .
H: Right now it 's not . Not quite to the point where it works .
B: OK .
F: But I I just worked off of my
D: OK , go ahead
B: It 's really neat .
F: Thanks .
F: Appreciate that .
F: I think what I what this has , uh , caused me so this discussion caused me to wanna subdivide these further .
F: I 'm gonna take a look at the , uh backchannels ,
F: how much we have anal I hope to have that for next time .
H: Yeah , my my algorithm worked great actually on these ,
A: That 'd be interesting .
H: but when you wear it like that or with the uh , lapel or if you have it very far from your face , that 's when it starts failing .
A: Mm - hmm .
B: Well , I can wear it , I mean if you A: Oh .
H: It doesn't matter .
B: OK .
H: I mean , we want it to work ,
H: right ?
A: It 's too late now .
H: I I don't want to change the way we do the meeting .
B: I feel like this troublemaker .
H: It 's uh  so , it was just a comment on the software , not a comment on prescriptions on how you wear microphones .
B: OK .
D: OK , that 's let 's let 's let 's do digits .
H: Get the bolts , " whh whh "
F: Let 's do it .
H: OK .
F: OK .
B: I 'm sorry .
H: OK , thank you .
F: Do you want us to put a mark on the bottom of these when they 've actually been read , or
F: do you just i
F: i
F: the only one that wasn't read is F: is known , so we don't do it .
F: OK .