Speech research is remarkable in so many ways – in its essential human-centeredness, the rich interconnections between the science and technology, and its wide-ranging impact that is both fundamental and applied. Crucial advances in speech science research catalyze and leverage technological advances across the machine intelligence ecosystem, from sensing and imaging to signal processing and machine learning. Likewise, creation of speech-centric societal applications benefits from an understanding of how humans produce, process and use speech in communication. In these complementary endeavors, two intertwined lines of inquiry endure: illuminating the rich information tapestry and inherent variability in speech and creating trustworthy speech technologies.
This talk will highlight some advances and possibilities in this multifaceted speech research realm. The first is capturing and modeling the human vocal instrument during speaking and how related technological and clinical applications leverage this technology. The second focuses on speech-based informatics tools to support research and clinical translation related to human health and wellbeing. Finally, the talk will highlight the critical goal of designing trustworthy speech and spoken language machine intelligence tools that are inclusive, equitable, robust, safe, and secure.