MINI PROJECT REPORT

UTTARANCHAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY/ CSE-1,

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the

Requirements for the award of
Degree of Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science & Engineering

SUBMITTED BY:

Arti (2101010053)
Anjali Farswan (2101010040)
Ayushi (2101010073)
Chhavi(2101010080)
Semester/Branch: 7th/CSE

SUBMITTED TO:

Prof. Pinky Uniyal

Prof.Amita Bisht

Department of Computer Science & Engineering

UIT, UTTARANCHAL UNIVERSITY
Dehradun (Uttarakhand), 248001.

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 CERTIFICATE

This is certify that the work in this project title as “Speech recognition” is entirely
written ,successfully completed and demonstrated by following students themselves as a
fulfillment of requirement for Bachelors of Engineering in Computer Science
Name of students:
Arti
Anjali Farswan
Ayushi
Chhavi

Supervisor Name: Department Name:UIT

Prof. Pinky Uniyal
Prof.Amita Bisht

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my deepest appreciation to all those who have been helping me throughout
the project and without whom this project would have been a very difficult task.I would like to
thank all of them.

I am highly indebted to Miss. Amita Bisht for her guidance and constant supervision as well as for
providing necessary information regarding this project and also for their support in doing my
Project. My thanks and appreciations also go to our colleagues who have helped me out with their
abilities in developing the Project.

This is certify that the above statement made by candidate is true to the best of my knowledge.

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 ABSTRACT

Speech recognition is a transformative technology that enables machines to interpret and respond
to human speech, making it an essential component in numerous applications such as virtual
assistants (e.g., Siri, Alexa), automated transcription services, voice-controlled interfaces, and
accessibility tools for individuals with disabilities. The field has seen remarkable advances over the
past few decades, particularly with the rise of machine learning and deep learning techniques,
which have significantly improved the accuracy and real-time performance of speech recognition
systems. Modern systems utilize deep neural networks (DNNs), recurrent neural networks (RNNs),
and transformer-based models, which learn to map raw audio signals to text through training on
large, labeled datasets.
This project investigates the key elements involved in building a speech recognition system,
including data acquisition, preprocessing, feature extraction, model selection, and decoding. We
focus on extracting features such as Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) from audio data,
training deep learning models to recognize speech patterns, and evaluating system performance
using metrics such as Word Error Rate (WER) and Real-Time Factor (RTF). The project also
explores various challenges faced by speech recognition systems, including handling noisy
environments, differentiating between various accents and dialects, and ensuring real-time
processing without sacrificing accuracy.

Despite the substantial progress made, limitations such as robustness to noise, accent variability,
and computational efficiency remain key hurdles. This report concludes by providing insights into
the current state of speech recognition technology and suggesting directions for future research,
such as exploring end-to-end models, enhancing noise robustness, and leveraging transfer learning
techniques. Ultimately, speech recognition continues to evolve, with ongoing improvements
opening the door to more natural, intuitive, and inclusive human-computer interactions.

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 Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Problem Statement
3. Objectives
4. Literature Review
5. Methodology
o Data Collection
o Preprocessing
o Feature Extraction
o Model Training
6. Speech Recognition Algorithms
o Acoustic Models
o Language Models
o Decoding
7. Tools and Technologies
8. Applications of Speech Recognition
9. Challenges and Limitations
10. Results and Analysis
11. Conclusion
12. References

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 INTRODUCTION

Speech recognition is a branch of artificial intelligence (AI) that focuses on enabling machines to
understand and interpret human speech. This technology allows spoken language to be converted
into text, facilitating natural, voice-based communication between humans and computers. Over
the years, speech recognition has become an integral part of numerous applications, including
virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant, automated transcription systems, and
accessibility tools for people with hearing impairments.

At its core, speech recognition involves analyzing audio signals and mapping them to words or
phonetic units. Early speech recognition systems, which were based on template matching and
rule-based algorithms, had limited accuracy and could only handle small vocabularies under
controlled conditions. However, with the advent of machine learning, and particularly deep
learning, speech recognition has seen significant improvements in accuracy, robustness, and
scalability. Modern systems can handle large vocabularies, noisy environments, and various
accents with high accuracy and efficiency.

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HOW SPEECH RECOGNITION WORK

1. Capture: Sound is captured by a microphone.

2. Preprocessing: The audio is cleaned, segmented, and normalized.

3. Feature Extraction: The audio is converted into features (like MFCCs or spectrograms) that
represent the relevant aspects of the speech.

4. Acoustic Modeling: A model is used to map these features to phonetic units or word
representations.

5. Language Modeling: The context of the speech is analyzed using a language model to predict
the next most probable word or phrase.

6. Decoding: A decoder uses the outputs from both models to generate the final transcription.

7. Post-processing: The output text is cleaned up for readability and accuracy.

8. Output: The transcription is made available for the user or application.

Speech recognition systems have advanced dramatically due to innovations in machine learning,
particularly deep learning. They are now capable of handling large vocabularies, noisy
environments, and varied accents with impressive accuracy. While challenges like noise
robustness, real-time performance, and accent variation remain, modern systems continue to
improve, enabling new possibilities in voice-activated technologies, transcription services, and
human-computer interaction.

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TYPES OF SPEECH RECOGNITION

Speech recognition systems can be classified based on various factors, including the size of the
vocabulary, the environment in which they are used, and their adaptability:

 Isolated Word Recognition: These systems can recognize individual words, but the
speech must be clearly separated (e.g., no continuous speech). They are commonly used in
applications such as voice-controlled devices.
 Continuous Speech Recognition: These systems recognize natural, continuous speech,
allowing users to speak at a normal pace. They are more complex and require more
advanced algorithms to handle variations in speech patterns and background noise.
 Speaker-Dependent vs. Speaker-Independent: Speaker-dependent systems require
training with a particular user's voice to improve accuracy, while speaker-independent
systems aim to recognize speech from any speaker without prior adaptation.
 Large Vocabulary Continuous Speech Recognition (LVCSR): LVCSR systems are
capable of recognizing thousands or even millions of words, making them suitable for real-
world applications like dictation, virtual assistants, and transcription services.

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 Applications of Speech Recognition

The use of speech recognition spans a wide range of applications, with some of the most notable
being:

 Virtual Assistants: AI-powered voice assistants such as Apple’s Siri, Google Assistant,
and Amazon’s Alexa use speech recognition to understand user commands and perform
tasks like setting reminders, playing music, or answering questions.
 Transcription Services: Speech-to-text systems are widely used to transcribe meetings,
interviews, lectures, and podcasts. These systems allow for quicker documentation and
improved accessibility.
 Accessibility: For individuals with disabilities, speech recognition provides a powerful tool
for interacting with technology. It enables voice-controlled computing for people with
mobility or vision impairments, helping them use devices, write emails, and browse the
web.
 Customer Support: Speech recognition is widely used in customer service applications to
automate phone systems, enabling users to interact with systems using natural language
rather than needing to navigate through a series of options.
 Healthcare: Medical professionals use speech recognition to dictate patient notes and
transcribe medical records, which reduces administrative workload and improves
efficiency.

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