Text-based speech editing aims to modify specific segments while preserving speaker identity and acoustic context. Existing methods rely on task-specific training, which incurs high data costs and struggles with temporal fidelity in unedited regions. Meanwhile, adapting Text-to-Speech (TTS) models often faces a trade-off between editing quality and consistency. To address these issues, we propose AST, an Adaptive, Seamless, and Training-free precise speech editing framework. Leveraging a pre-trained autoregressive TTS model, AST introduces Latent Recomposition to selectively stitch preserved source segments with newly synthesized targets. Furthermore, AST extends this latent manipulation to enable precise style editing for specific speech segments. To prevent artifacts at these edit boundaries, the framework incorporates Adaptive Weak Fact Guidance (AWFG). AWFG dynamically modulates a mel-space guidance signal, enforcing structural constraints only where necessary without disrupting the generative manifold. To fill the gap of publicly accessible benchmarks, we introduce LibriSpeech-Edit, a new and larger speech editing dataset. As existing metrics poorly evaluate temporal consistency in unedited regions, we propose Word-level Dynamic Time Warping (WDTW). Extensive experiments demonstrate that AST resolves the controllability-quality trade-off without extra training. Compared to the previous most temporally consistent baseline, AST improves consistency while reducing Word Error Rate by nearly 70%. Moreover, applying AST to a foundation TTS model reduces WDTW by 27%, achieving state-of-the-art speaker preservation and temporal fidelity.
Primary: Zhejiang University
All Institutions: Institute of Remote Sensing Satellite, China Academy of Space Technology, Innovation and Management Center of the School of Software (Ningbo), Institute of Remote Sensing Satellite, School of Software Technology, Zhejiang University
The paper presents AST, a novel training-free framework for precise speech editing that effectively balances quality and controllability by leveraging latent space manipulation and adaptive guidance mechanisms. This work significantly advances the field of speech editing, providing a robust alternative to traditional task-specific approaches and establishing a new benchmark for future research.
The proposed AST framework introduces a novel approach to speech editing by leveraging latent space manipulation from pre-trained TTS models, which is a significant departure from traditional task-specific training methods. The incorporation of Adaptive Weak Fact Guidance (AWFG) to manage edit boundaries and maintain acoustic fidelity is particularly innovative. The methodology is well-structured, with clear stages for input inversion, alignment, and generation, making it easy to follow and replicate. The use of Latent Recomposition to stitch segments together while preserving speaker identity and context is a strong contribution to the field.
The experiments are extensive and well-designed, utilizing a new dataset (LibriSpeech-Edit) that addresses previous limitations in speech editing benchmarks. The paper provides a thorough comparison against established baselines, demonstrating significant improvements in key metrics such as Word Error Rate (WER) and Word-level Dynamic Time Warping (WDTW). The results indicate that AST not only matches but often surpasses the performance of models specifically trained for speech editing, showcasing its effectiveness.
The paper includes detailed implementation details, including the experimental setup and evaluation metrics, which enhances reproducibility. However, the lack of publicly available code or a demo URL limits the ability for other researchers to directly replicate the results. The introduction of a new dataset is a positive step towards facilitating reproducibility in future work.
While the AST framework shows promise, it may still face challenges in more complex editing scenarios that involve significant alterations to the speech content. The reliance on a pre-trained TTS model may also limit the adaptability of the framework to other TTS architectures. Additionally, the subjective evaluation of audio quality and naturalness could benefit from further exploration through user studies.
The implications of this research are substantial, particularly for applications in media production, accessibility, and content creation. By enabling precise speech editing without the need for extensive training data, AST could democratize access to high-quality speech editing tools, fostering innovation in various fields such as entertainment, education, and assistive technologies. The paper presents AST, a novel training-free framework for precise speech editing that effectively balances quality and controllability by leveraging latent space manipulation and adaptive guidance mechanisms. This work significantly advances the field of speech editing, providing a robust alternative to traditional task-specific approaches and establishing a new benchmark for future research.
Large Audio-Language Models (LALMs) have recently achieved strong performance across various audio-centric tasks. However, hallucination, where models generate responses that are semantically incorrect or acoustically unsupported, remains largely underexplored in the audio domain. Existing hallucination benchmarks mainly focus on text or vision, while the few audio-oriented studies are limited in scale, modality coverage, and diagnostic depth. We therefore introduce HalluAudio, the first large-scale benchmark for evaluating hallucinations across speech, environmental sound, and music. HalluAudio comprises over 5K human-verified QA pairs and spans diverse task types, including binary judgments, multi-choice reasoning, attribute verification, and open-ended QA. To systematically induce hallucinations, we design adversarial prompts and mixed-audio conditions. Beyond accuracy, our evaluation protocol measures hallucination rate, yes/no bias, error-type analysis, and refusal rate, enabling a fine-grained analysis of LALM failure modes. We benchmark a broad range of open-source and proprietary models, providing the first large-scale comparison across speech, sound, and music. Our results reveal significant deficiencies in acoustic grounding, temporal reasoning, and music attribute understanding, underscoring the need for reliable and robust LALMs.
Primary: College of Intelligence and Computing, Tianjin University
All Institutions: College of Intelligence and Computing, Tianjin University, ASUS Intelligent Cloud Services
The paper presents HalluAudio, a comprehensive benchmark for evaluating hallucination detection in Large Audio-Language Models, addressing a critical gap in the audio domain. The innovative methodology and thorough experimental evaluation contribute significantly to the understanding of model behavior, making it a valuable resource for future research in audio processing and machine learning.
The methodology is robust, featuring a systematic approach to constructing the HalluAudio benchmark, which includes a five-step pipeline for data collection and validation. The use of adversarial prompts and mixed-audio conditions to induce hallucinations is particularly innovative, allowing for a nuanced exploration of model behavior across various audio tasks. The incorporation of multiple task types and the detailed analysis of hallucination behaviors add depth to the evaluation process.
The experimental evaluation is comprehensive, benchmarking a wide range of LALMs across three audio domains with over 5,000 human-verified QA pairs. The results reveal significant deficiencies in current models, highlighting specific failure modes such as acoustic grounding and temporal reasoning. The analysis of Yes/No bias and false refusal rates provides valuable insights into model behavior beyond mere accuracy, making the findings relevant and actionable for future research.
The paper outlines a clear methodology for dataset construction and evaluation, which enhances reproducibility. The use of a human-in-the-loop approach for validation ensures high-quality data, and the detailed description of the evaluation metrics allows for replication of the experiments. However, the actual implementation details of the models evaluated are not provided, which could hinder complete reproducibility.
One limitation is the potential bias introduced by the specific audio clips selected for the benchmark, which may not represent the full diversity of audio scenarios encountered in real-world applications. Additionally, while the benchmark is comprehensive, it may not cover all possible hallucination scenarios, leaving some gaps in the evaluation of LALMs. The reliance on human verification, while ensuring quality, may also introduce subjectivity.
The introduction of HalluAudio has the potential to significantly impact the development of more reliable LALMs by providing a standardized framework for evaluating hallucination behaviors. This benchmark could guide researchers in identifying and addressing the limitations of current models, ultimately leading to improvements in audio understanding and reasoning capabilities in practical applications. The paper presents HalluAudio, a comprehensive benchmark for evaluating hallucination detection in Large Audio-Language Models, addressing a critical gap in the audio domain. The innovative methodology and thorough experimental evaluation contribute significantly to the understanding of model behavior, making it a valuable resource for future research in audio processing and machine learning.
High-fidelity character voice synthesis is a cornerstone of immersive multimedia applications, particularly for interacting with anime avatars and digital humans. However, existing systems struggle to maintain consistent persona traits across diverse emotional contexts. To bridge this gap, we present ATRIE, a unified framework utilizing a Persona-Prosody Dual-Track (P2-DT) architecture. Our system disentangles generation into a static Timbre Track (via Scalar Quantization) and a dynamic Prosody Track (via Hierarchical Flow-Matching), distilled from a 14B LLM teacher. This design enables robust identity preservation (Zero-Shot Speaker Verification EER: 0.04) and rich emotional expression. Evaluated on our extended AnimeTTS-Bench (50 characters), ATRIE achieves state-of-the-art performance in both generation and cross-modal retrieval (mAP: 0.75), establishing a new paradigm for persona-driven multimedia content creation.
Primary: Guangdong University of Technology
All Institutions: Guangdong University of Technology, South China University of Technology
ATRIE presents a novel framework for high-fidelity, character-consistent voice synthesis that bridges semantic understanding and acoustic realization. The integration of LLM-guided emotional reasoning with a lightweight adapter represents a significant advancement in TTS technology, with potential applications across multiple domains.
The methodology presented in ATRIE is innovative, leveraging a dual-track architecture that separates static timbre from dynamic prosody, which is a significant advancement in the field of persona-driven speech synthesis. The use of a large language model (LLM) for distilling emotional reasoning into a lightweight adapter is particularly noteworthy, as it allows for real-time inference without the computational burden of the LLM during synthesis. The contrastive persona alignment mechanism is a clever approach to ensure character identity preservation while allowing for emotional variability. Overall, the proposed methods are well-structured and address critical challenges in TTS synthesis.
The experimental evaluation is robust, utilizing a newly established benchmark, AnimeTTS-Bench, which includes a diverse set of characters and strict zero-shot protocols. The paper reports state-of-the-art results across multiple metrics, including character consistency and emotional expression accuracy, demonstrating the effectiveness of ATRIE compared to existing systems. The inclusion of both qualitative and quantitative analyses strengthens the findings, providing a comprehensive view of the system's performance.
The paper provides sufficient details regarding the implementation of ATRIE, including hyperparameters, training protocols, and evaluation metrics. However, the absence of a publicly available demo or project URL limits the ability for independent verification of results. The authors do mention using PyTorch and provide a clear description of the architecture, which aids in reproducibility.
While ATRIE shows strong performance, there are limitations noted in the paper, such as the potential latency introduced by the LLM during inference and the reliance on a well-curated reference library for optimal performance. The model's performance may degrade for characters with limited voice data, and the system's effectiveness in languages other than Japanese remains untested.
The implications of ATRIE are significant, particularly in entertainment, accessibility, and education. By enabling consistent and emotionally expressive voice synthesis for virtual characters, the technology can enhance user engagement in various applications. However, ethical considerations regarding voice cloning and misinformation are crucial, and the authors advocate for responsible usage and detection mechanisms. ATRIE presents a novel framework for high-fidelity, character-consistent voice synthesis that bridges semantic understanding and acoustic realization. The integration of LLM-guided emotional reasoning with a lightweight adapter represents a significant advancement in TTS technology, with potential applications across multiple domains.
Omnimodal Notation Processing (ONP) represents a unique frontier for omnimodal AI due to the rigorous, multi-dimensional alignment required across auditory, visual, and symbolic domains. Current research remains fragmented, focusing on isolated transcription tasks that fail to bridge the gap between superficial pattern recognition and the underlying musical logic. This landscape is further complicated by severe notation biases toward Western staff and the inherent unreliability of "LLM-as-a-judge" metrics, which often mask structural reasoning failures with systemic hallucinations. To establish a more rigorous standard, we introduce ONOTE, a multi-format benchmark that utilizes a deterministic pipeline--grounded in canonical pitch projection--to eliminate subjective scoring biases across diverse notation systems. Our evaluation of leading omnimodal models exposes a fundamental disconnect between perceptual accuracy and music-theoretic comprehension, providing a necessary framework for diagnosing reasoning vulnerabilities in complex, rule-constrained domains.
Primary: Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications
All Institutions: Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, China Conservatory of Music, Nanyang Technological University
The paper introduces ONOTE, a comprehensive benchmark for evaluating Omnimodal Notation Processing, which addresses critical gaps in the assessment of music intelligence systems. The methodology and results presented are significant contributions to the field, paving the way for more effective and interpretable models in music AI.
The proposed ONOTE benchmark introduces a structured and deterministic evaluation framework for Omnimodal Notation Processing (ONP), addressing the limitations of existing models that often rely on subjective evaluations. The methodology effectively integrates multiple notation systems and tasks, ensuring a comprehensive assessment of model capabilities across auditory, visual, and symbolic domains. The use of canonical pitch projection and sequence alignment to eliminate biases is particularly innovative, allowing for a more rigorous comparison of model performance.
The experiments conducted on leading omnimodal models reveal significant insights into their performance across various tasks, including Visual Score Understanding (VSU), Cross-Format Notation Conversion (CNC), Audio-to-Symbolic Transcription (AST), and Symbolic Music Generation (SMG). The results highlight a clear disconnect between perceptual accuracy and music-theoretic comprehension, underscoring the benchmark's effectiveness in diagnosing reasoning vulnerabilities. The dataset construction and evaluation metrics are well-defined, providing a robust foundation for future research.
The paper provides detailed implementation details and a clear methodology for constructing the ONOTE benchmark, which enhances reproducibility. The availability of the dataset and code on GitHub further supports the reproducibility of the results, allowing other researchers to validate and build upon the work.
While the benchmark addresses several critical issues in music notation processing, it may still be limited by the inherent biases present in the datasets used for training and evaluation. Additionally, the focus on specific notation systems may not fully encompass the diversity of global musical representations, potentially limiting the generalizability of the findings.
The ONOTE benchmark has the potential to significantly influence the field of music intelligence by providing a standardized evaluation framework that encourages the development of more robust and interpretable omnimodal systems. Its implications extend beyond academic research, potentially impacting music education, automated composition, and music analysis tools. The paper introduces ONOTE, a comprehensive benchmark for evaluating Omnimodal Notation Processing, which addresses critical gaps in the assessment of music intelligence systems. The methodology and results presented are significant contributions to the field, paving the way for more effective and interpretable models in music AI.
Voiceprints are widely used for authentication; however, they are easily captured in public settings and cannot be revoked once leaked. Existing anonymization systems operate inside recording devices, which makes them ineffective when microphones or software are untrusted, as in conference rooms, lecture halls, and interviews. We present EchoMask, the first practical physical-layer system for real-time voiceprint anonymization using acoustic metamaterials. By modifying sound waves before they reach the microphone, EchoMask prevents attackers from capturing clean voiceprints through compromised devices. Our design combines three key innovations: frequency-selective interference to disrupt voiceprint features while preserving speech intelligibility, an acoustic-field model to ensure stability under speaker movement, and reconfigurable structures that create time-varying interference to prevent learning or canceling a fixed acoustic pattern. EchoMask is low-cost, power-free, and 3D-printable, requiring no machine learning, software support, or microphone modification. Experiments conducted across eight microphones in diverse environments demonstrate that EchoMask increases the Miss-match Rate, i.e., the fraction of failed voiceprint matching attempts, to over 90%, while maintaining high speech intelligibility.
Primary: Northwest University
All Institutions: Northwest University, University of Leeds
This paper presents a pioneering approach to voiceprint anonymization using acoustic metamaterials, addressing critical challenges in real-time applications while maintaining speech intelligibility. The combination of innovative design principles and thorough experimental validation positions this work as a significant contribution to the field of audio privacy and security.
The methodology presented in this paper is innovative, leveraging acoustic metamaterials for voiceprint anonymization in real-time scenarios. The authors effectively address three critical challenges: maintaining speech intelligibility while disrupting identity cues, ensuring stability under speaker movement, and preventing predictable acoustic patterns. The design principles are well-structured, focusing on targeted low-frequency perturbation, dynamic stability, and passive randomization, which collectively enhance the robustness of the system. The use of numerical simulations and physical experimentation to validate the design is commendable, although the lack of machine learning integration may limit adaptability in some contexts.
The experiments are comprehensive, evaluating the system across various microphones and real-world conditions. The results demonstrate a high Miss-match Rate (MMR) of over 90%, indicating effective voiceprint protection while maintaining speech intelligibility. The inclusion of subjective listening tests (Mean Opinion Score) further strengthens the evaluation by providing insights into perceived audio quality. However, the paper could benefit from a more detailed breakdown of the experimental setup and conditions to enhance transparency.
While the paper provides a solid theoretical foundation and experimental results, it lacks specific implementation details that would facilitate reproducibility. Key parameters, such as the exact configurations of the metamaterials and the experimental setups, are not thoroughly documented. Additionally, the absence of a project URL or code repository limits the ability of other researchers to replicate the work.
The primary limitations include the reliance on passive metamaterials, which may restrict adaptability to varying acoustic environments and speaker dynamics. The system's performance under extreme conditions (e.g., very high noise levels or rapid speaker movement) is not fully explored. Furthermore, while the approach is innovative, it does not incorporate machine learning techniques that could enhance performance through adaptive learning.
The implications of this research are significant, particularly in enhancing privacy and security in voice-based authentication systems. The ability to anonymize voiceprints in real-time without requiring modifications to existing devices opens up new avenues for protecting users in public and shared environments. The findings could influence future designs of microphones and voice interaction systems, promoting user privacy in increasingly digital and interconnected spaces. This paper presents a pioneering approach to voiceprint anonymization using acoustic metamaterials, addressing critical challenges in real-time applications while maintaining speech intelligibility. The combination of innovative design principles and thorough experimental validation positions this work as a significant contribution to the field of audio privacy and security.
Audio carries richer information than text, including emotion, speaker traits, and environmental context, while also enabling lower-latency processing compared to speech-to-text pipelines. However, recent multimodal information retrieval research has predominantly focused on images, largely overlooking audio, especially in the setting of interleaved audio-text contextual retrieval. In this work, we introduce the Audio-Text Interleaved contextual Retrieval (ATIR) task, where queries can alternate between audio and text modalities. We construct an ATIR benchmark by integrating several Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), QA, and retrieval datasets, ultimately unifying four types of contextual retrieval tasks. This benchmark substantially addresses the limitations of existing audio retrieval datasets in semantic retrieval. To study this task, we evaluate several off-the-shelf retrievers and train our ATIR model based on a Multimodal Large Language Model (MLLM). We further introduce a novel token compression mechanism that is orthogonal to existing compression methods, thereby alleviating the issue of excessive audio tokens in MLLM-based ATIR models. Experimental results demonstrate that our ATIR model achieves substantial improvements over strong baselines.
Primary: Renmin University of China
All Institutions: Renmin University of China
The paper presents a novel approach to audio-text interleaved contextual retrieval, introducing the ATIR task and a benchmark that significantly enhances the capabilities of existing retrieval systems. The comprehensive methodology, innovative technical contributions, and thorough experimental validation position this work as a meaningful advancement in the field of multimodal information retrieval.
The methodology presented in the paper is robust, introducing the ATIR task and a comprehensive benchmark that addresses the limitations of existing audio retrieval datasets. The novel token compression mechanism and the bi-encoder architecture with a token selector module are innovative contributions that enhance the performance of interleaved audio-text retrieval. The synthesis pipeline for data generation is well-structured, ensuring high-quality multimodal data that is critical for training effective models.
The experimental evaluation is thorough, demonstrating significant improvements over strong baselines across various retrieval settings. The use of multiple metrics (Recall@k and nDCG@k) provides a comprehensive assessment of model performance. The ablation studies effectively validate the contributions of the proposed components, particularly the token selector's impact on retrieval efficiency and accuracy.
The paper provides detailed implementation information, including model architecture, training configurations, and hyperparameters, which supports reproducibility. However, the lack of a publicly available project or demo URL limits accessibility for other researchers wishing to replicate the results.
The paper acknowledges limitations, such as the focus on single-document retrieval and the potential for future exploration of more complex retrieval scenarios. Additionally, the lightweight representation design may restrict performance in certain contexts, and the evaluation is primarily centered on QA-centric tasks, leaving broader applications untested.
The introduction of the ATIR task and benchmark has the potential to significantly influence multimodal retrieval research, particularly in applications involving conversational agents and hybrid search systems. The findings could lead to advancements in how audio and text are integrated for more effective information retrieval systems. The paper presents a novel approach to audio-text interleaved contextual retrieval, introducing the ATIR task and a benchmark that significantly enhances the capabilities of existing retrieval systems. The comprehensive methodology, innovative technical contributions, and thorough experimental validation position this work as a meaningful advancement in the field of multimodal information retrieval.
We propose a new approach for the second stage of a practical two-stage Optical Music Recognition (OMR) pipeline. Given symbol and event candidates from the visual pipeline, we decode them into an editable, verifiable, and exportable score structure. We focus on complex polyphonic staff notation, especially piano scores, where voice separation and intra-measure timing are the main bottlenecks. Our approach formulates second-stage decoding as a structure decoding problem and uses topology recognition with probability-guided search (BeadSolver) as its core method. We also describe a data strategy that combines procedural generation with recognition-feedback annotations. The result is a practical decoding component for real OMR systems and a path to accumulate structured score data for future end-to-end, multimodal, and RL-style methods.
Primary: FindLab
All Institutions: FindLab
The paper introduces a novel two-stage OMR approach that effectively decodes complex polyphonic music into structured formats, significantly advancing the field of music recognition. The methodology leverages innovative techniques to address longstanding challenges in music transcription, with implications for both practical applications and future research directions.
The paper presents a two-stage Optical Music Recognition (OMR) pipeline that innovatively formulates the second stage as a structure decoding problem. The use of topology recognition with a probability-guided search (BeadSolver) is a significant methodological advancement, addressing the complex challenges of voice separation and timing in polyphonic music. The integration of procedural generation with recognition-feedback annotations for training data further enhances the robustness of the proposed method.
The experiments are well-structured, comparing the proposed BeadSolver against rule-based and linear-equations baselines. The results demonstrate clear improvements in the quality of the structured output, indicating that the proposed method effectively addresses the limitations of existing approaches. However, specific quantitative results and metrics used for evaluation could be more explicitly detailed to strengthen the findings.
The paper outlines the methodology and provides a clear description of the data pipeline and model architecture, which aids in reproducibility. However, the absence of publicly available code or datasets limits the ability to fully replicate the results.
The paper does not address potential limitations in handling highly variable music notations or the scalability of the proposed method to broader music genres beyond piano scores. Additionally, the reliance on procedural generation for training data may introduce biases that are not fully explored.
The proposed OMR system has the potential to significantly enhance the accessibility of historical and contemporary music scores, enabling better integration into digital music platforms and educational tools. This could foster greater engagement with music education and preservation efforts. The paper introduces a novel two-stage OMR approach that effectively decodes complex polyphonic music into structured formats, significantly advancing the field of music recognition. The methodology leverages innovative techniques to address longstanding challenges in music transcription, with implications for both practical applications and future research directions.
Evaluation of musical source separation (MSS) has traditionally relied on Blind Source Separation Evaluation (BSS-Eval) metrics. However, recent work suggests that BSS-Eval metrics exhibit low correlation between metrics and perceptual audio quality ratings from a listening test, which is considered the gold standard evaluation method. As an alternative approach in singing voice separation, embedding-based intrusive metrics that leverage latent representations from large self-supervised audio models such as Music undERstanding with large-scale self-supervised Training (MERT) embeddings have been introduced. In this work, we analyze the correlation of perceptual audio quality ratings with two intrusive embedding-based metrics: a mean squared error (MSE) and an intrusive variant of the Fréchet Audio Distance (FAD) calculated on MERT embeddings. Experiments on two independent datasets show that these metrics correlate more strongly with perceptual audio quality ratings than traditional BSS-Eval metrics across all analyzed stem and model types.
Primary: University of Music and Performing Arts Graz
All Institutions: University of Music and Performing Arts Graz
The main contribution of this paper is the introduction of embedding-based intrusive evaluation metrics for musical source separation, which demonstrate stronger correlations with perceptual audio quality ratings than traditional BSS-Eval metrics. This work significantly advances the evaluation methodologies in the field, providing a more perceptually relevant framework for assessing audio separation models.
The paper introduces a novel approach to evaluate musical source separation (MSS) using embedding-based intrusive metrics derived from MERT representations. The methodology is well-structured, leveraging self-supervised audio models to compute metrics that correlate better with human perceptual ratings compared to traditional BSS-Eval metrics. The use of two specific metrics (MSE and an intrusive variant of FAD) is innovative, and the paper provides a clear explanation of how these metrics are calculated and their significance in the context of MSS evaluation.
The experiments are robust, utilizing two independent datasets (Bake-Off and GenSVS) to validate the proposed metrics. The correlation analysis conducted using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (SRCC) and Pearson's correlation coefficient (PCC) is appropriate and effectively demonstrates the superiority of the embedding-based metrics over traditional methods. The results are well-presented, with clear tables and figures that summarize the findings.
The paper provides sufficient detail about the datasets and the implementation of the metrics, including references to the Python packages used. However, the absence of direct access to the datasets limits full reproducibility for external researchers. The code repository linked in the paper enhances reproducibility for the proposed metrics and analyses.
One limitation is the reliance on specific datasets, which may not fully represent the diversity of musical sources encountered in real-world applications. Additionally, while the proposed metrics show improved correlation with perceptual ratings, the paper does not explore their performance across a broader range of audio genres or separation tasks.
The findings have significant implications for the field of audio processing and music technology, as they suggest a more reliable evaluation framework for MSS models. This could lead to improved development and assessment of audio separation technologies, benefiting applications in music production, audio restoration, and content creation. The approach could also inspire further research into embedding-based evaluation metrics in other audio-related tasks. The main contribution of this paper is the introduction of embedding-based intrusive evaluation metrics for musical source separation, which demonstrate stronger correlations with perceptual audio quality ratings than traditional BSS-Eval metrics. This work significantly advances the evaluation methodologies in the field, providing a more perceptually relevant framework for assessing audio separation models.
Tokenizing music to fit the general framework of language models is a compelling challenge, especially considering the diverse symbolic structures in which music can be represented (e.g., sequences, grids, and graphs). To date, most approaches tokenize symbolic music as sequences of musical events, such as onsets, pitches, time shifts, or compound note events. This strategy is intuitive and has proven effective in Transformer-based models, but it treats the regularity of musical time implicitly: individual tokens may span different durations, resulting in non-uniform time progression. In this paper, we instead consider whether an alternative tokenization is possible, where a uniform-length musical step (e.g., a beat) serves as the basic unit. Specifically, we encode all events within a single time step at the same pitch as one token, and group tokens explicitly by time step, which resembles a sparse encoding of a piano-roll representation. We evaluate the proposed tokenization on music continuation and accompaniment generation tasks, comparing it with mainstream event-based methods. Results show improved musical quality and structural coherence, while additional analyses confirm higher efficiency and more effective capture of long-range patterns with the proposed tokenization.
Primary: New York University
All Institutions: South China University of Technology, National University of Singapore, New York University
The main contribution of this paper is the introduction of BEAT, a novel tokenization framework for symbolic music generation that enhances the coherence and quality of generated music while facilitating real-time accompaniment. This work significantly advances the field by integrating structured tokenization with autoregressive modeling, addressing key challenges in music generation and representation.
The proposed BEAT tokenization method introduces a novel approach to symbolic music representation by utilizing uniform temporal steps, which addresses the limitations of existing event-based and notation-based methods. The authors effectively leverage the concept of beats as fundamental units, allowing for compact representation while maintaining temporal regularity. The methodology is well-structured, detailing the encoding process, beat-level assembly, and sequence construction, which collectively enhance the model's ability to generate coherent musical outputs. The integration of a Transformer model with this tokenization is a significant advancement, as it facilitates real-time generation and accommodates various music generation tasks.
The experiments conducted are comprehensive, involving both objective and subjective evaluations across multiple music generation tasks, including piano and multi-track continuation. The use of established metrics such as Groove Consistency, Scale Consistency, and Fréchet Music Distance provides a robust framework for assessing the performance of the BEAT method against baseline models. The subjective evaluations, which include listener surveys, further validate the effectiveness of BEAT in producing high-quality musical outputs. The results consistently demonstrate that BEAT outperforms existing methods, indicating its practical applicability in real-world scenarios.
The paper provides sufficient implementation details, including model architecture, training datasets, and evaluation protocols, which enhance the reproducibility of the results. However, the absence of a public code repository limits the ease with which other researchers can replicate the findings. The authors could improve reproducibility by sharing their code and datasets, allowing for independent verification of their results.
While the BEAT method shows promise, there are limitations regarding the diversity of the training datasets, which primarily reflect Western musical traditions. This cultural bias may restrict the model's applicability to other musical styles. Additionally, the reliance on subjective evaluations, while valuable, introduces variability based on listener preferences, which may not universally represent the quality of generated music.
The development of BEAT has the potential to significantly impact the field of generative music AI, enhancing artistic expression and creativity. By providing a structured framework for music generation, it can assist musicians and learners in exploring new creative avenues. However, the potential for over-reliance on automated systems raises concerns about the erosion of fundamental musical skills. Furthermore, the focus on Western music could lead to a homogenization of musical styles, underscoring the need for diverse datasets in future research. The main contribution of this paper is the introduction of BEAT, a novel tokenization framework for symbolic music generation that enhances the coherence and quality of generated music while facilitating real-time accompaniment. This work significantly advances the field by integrating structured tokenization with autoregressive modeling, addressing key challenges in music generation and representation.
The intonational structure of Seoul Korean has been defined with discrete tonal categories within the Autosegmental-Metrical model of intonational phonology. However, it is challenging to map continuous $F_0$ contours to these invariant categories due to variable $F_0$ realizations in real-world speech. Our paper proposes Dual-Glob, a deep supervised contrastive learning framework to robustly classify fine-grained pitch accent patterns in Seoul Korean. Unlike conventional local predictive models, our approach captures holistic $F_0$ contour shapes by enforcing structural consistency between clean and augmented views in a shared latent space. To this aim, we introduce the first large-scale benchmark dataset, consisting of manually annotated 10,093 Accentual Phrases in Seoul Korean. Experimental results show that our Dual-Glob significantly outperforms strong baseline models with state-of-the-art accuracy (77.75%) and F1-score (51.54%). Therefore, our work supports AM-based intonational phonology using data-driven methodology, showing that deep contrastive learning effectively captures holistic structural features of continuous $F_0$ contours.
Primary: Rutgers University
All Institutions: Rutgers University, Gachon University, Hanyang Institute for Phonetics and Cognitive Sciences of Language (HIPCS)
The main contribution of this paper is the introduction of the Dual-Glob framework for pitch accent classification in Seoul Korean, which leverages deep supervised contrastive learning to effectively capture the structural features of continuous $F_0$ contours. This work not only presents a novel methodology but also establishes a valuable benchmark dataset, paving the way for future research in the intersection of linguistics and machine learning.
The proposed Dual-Glob framework employs deep supervised contrastive learning to enhance pitch accent classification by focusing on the holistic representation of $F_0$ contours. This approach is innovative as it contrasts with traditional local predictive models by enforcing structural consistency between clean and augmented views, which is crucial for capturing the nuances of pitch accents in Seoul Korean. The introduction of a large-scale benchmark dataset with 10,093 manually annotated Accentual Phrases is a significant methodological advancement, providing a solid foundation for the proposed learning framework.
The experimental results demonstrate that the Dual-Glob framework achieves state-of-the-art performance with an accuracy of 77.75% and an F1-score of 51.54%. The paper effectively compares its results against strong baseline models, showcasing the robustness of the proposed method. However, the paper could benefit from more detailed discussions on the experimental setup, including data splits, training protocols, and hyperparameter tuning, to allow for better reproducibility and understanding of the results.
The paper lacks sufficient details regarding the implementation of the Dual-Glob framework, such as specific model architectures, training procedures, and evaluation metrics. This omission may hinder reproducibility. Including a supplementary material section with code or detailed configuration settings would significantly enhance the paper's reproducibility.
One limitation of the study is the focus on a specific language (Seoul Korean), which may limit the generalizability of the findings to other languages or dialects. Additionally, while the proposed method shows improved performance, the F1-score indicates that there may still be challenges in accurately classifying certain pitch accent patterns, suggesting room for further refinement.
The findings of this research have the potential to advance the understanding of intonational phonology and improve speech recognition systems for Seoul Korean. By leveraging deep learning techniques, this work could contribute to more robust language processing tools, which may also be applicable to other tonal languages. Furthermore, the introduction of a benchmark dataset can foster further research in this area, encouraging the development of more sophisticated models for pitch accent classification. The main contribution of this paper is the introduction of the Dual-Glob framework for pitch accent classification in Seoul Korean, which leverages deep supervised contrastive learning to effectively capture the structural features of continuous $F_0$ contours. This work not only presents a novel methodology but also establishes a valuable benchmark dataset, paving the way for future research in the intersection of linguistics and machine learning.
Unification of automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems reduces development and maintenance costs, but training a single model to perform well in both offline and low-latency streaming settings remains challenging. We present a Unified ASR framework for Transducer (RNNT) training that supports both offline and streaming decoding within a single model, using chunk-limited attention with right context and dynamic chunked convolutions. To further close the gap between offline and streaming performance, we introduce an efficient Triton implementation of mode-consistency regularization for RNNT (MCR-RNNT), which encourages agreement across training modes. Experiments show that the proposed approach improves streaming accuracy at low latency while preserving offline performance and scaling to larger model sizes and training datasets. The proposed Unified ASR framework and the English model checkpoint are open-sourced.
Primary: NVIDIA
All Institutions: NVIDIA, NVIDIA
The paper presents a novel Unified ASR framework that effectively bridges the performance gap between offline and streaming automatic speech recognition systems. This work is significant for its methodological innovations, comprehensive experimental validation, and potential impact on the deployment of efficient ASR solutions in various applications.
The paper introduces a Unified ASR framework for RNNT that effectively combines offline and streaming capabilities within a single model. The use of chunk-limited attention and dynamic chunked convolutions is well-justified, addressing the challenges of context limitations in streaming scenarios. The innovative mode-consistency regularization (MCR-RNNT) is a significant methodological advancement, as it directly targets the performance gap between offline and streaming modes. The dual-mode training strategy is also a thoughtful approach to optimizing model performance across different operational contexts.
The experiments are comprehensive, utilizing a large dataset of 120,000 hours of labeled English speech, which is crucial for validating the proposed methods. The evaluation across multiple test sets enhances the robustness of the results. The paper reports significant improvements in streaming accuracy while maintaining offline performance, which is a critical requirement for practical ASR systems. The ablation studies provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of the proposed MCR-RNNT loss and the impact of varying right context parameters.
The authors mention that the model and code will be open-sourced, which is a positive aspect for reproducibility. However, the paper lacks detailed implementation specifics that would aid in replicating the experiments, such as hyperparameter settings and training configurations.
While the proposed methods show promise, the paper does not thoroughly discuss potential limitations, such as the computational overhead introduced by dual-mode training and the scalability of the approach to other languages or dialects. Additionally, the performance in extremely low-latency scenarios could be further explored.
The advancements in unified ASR systems have significant implications for real-world applications, especially in environments requiring both high accuracy and low latency, such as virtual assistants and real-time transcription services. The open-sourcing of the model also encourages further research and development in the ASR community. The paper presents a novel Unified ASR framework that effectively bridges the performance gap between offline and streaming automatic speech recognition systems. This work is significant for its methodological innovations, comprehensive experimental validation, and potential impact on the deployment of efficient ASR solutions in various applications.
The self-noise of capacitive sensors, primarily caused by thermal noise from the gate-bias resistor in the preamplifier, imposes a fundamental limit on measurement sensitivity. In electret condenser microphones (ECMs), this resistor simultaneously determines the noise low-pass cutoff frequency and the signal high-pass cutoff frequency through a single RC time constant, creating a trade-off between noise reduction and signal bandwidth. This paper proposes PDS-Amp (Photoelectric DC Servo Amplifier), a circuit technique that replaces the gate-bias resistor with a photoelectric element functioning as an ultra-high-impedance current source. A DC servo loop using lag-lead compensation feeds back the preamplifier output through an LED to control the photocurrent, thereby stabilizing the gate bias while decoupling the noise and signal cutoff frequencies. A custom photosensor based on the external photoelectric effect of a zinc photocathode was fabricated to achieve sub-picoampere dark current, overcoming the limitations of commercial semiconductor photodiodes. Combined with a cascode JFET preamplifier that minimizes input capacitance through bootstrap action, PDS-Amp achieved a self-noise of 11 dBA with a 12 pF dummy microphone. Despite using a small-diameter ECM capsule, this performance is comparable to that of large-diaphragm condenser microphones costing several thousand dollars. Recording experiments with an actual ECM capsule qualitatively confirmed a significant reduction in background noise. The proposed technique is applicable not only to microphones but broadly to capacitive sensors including accelerometers, pressure sensors, and pyroelectric sensors.
Primary: National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO)
All Institutions: National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), University of Tsukuba
This paper presents the PDS-Amp, a novel circuit technique that effectively reduces self-noise in capacitive sensors, demonstrating significant improvements in performance and potential applications across various sensor technologies. The comprehensive methodology and experimental validation underscore its importance in advancing the field of audio and sensor technology.
The methodology presented in this paper is innovative as it introduces the PDS-Amp, which replaces the conventional gate-bias resistor with a photoelectric element to significantly reduce self-noise in capacitive sensors. The use of a DC servo loop to stabilize the gate bias while decoupling noise and signal cutoff frequencies is a novel approach that addresses the inherent trade-offs in traditional designs. The theoretical background is well-articulated, providing a solid foundation for the proposed method.
The experiments conducted are thorough, including noise spectral density comparisons and self-noise evaluations using both dummy microphones and actual ECM capsules. The results demonstrate a significant reduction in self-noise, achieving 11 dBA, which is a substantial improvement over conventional methods. The qualitative recording experiments further validate the effectiveness of the proposed technique in real-world applications.
While the paper provides detailed descriptions of the circuit design and experimental setup, the lack of publicly available code or a project repository limits reproducibility. Future work should include sharing the circuit schematics and experimental data to enhance reproducibility.
The paper acknowledges potential limitations regarding the long-term stability of the custom photosensor, the increased complexity of the circuit due to the DC servo loop, and the need for close proximity between the photoelectric element and the LED. These factors could pose challenges in practical applications.
The PDS-Amp technique has significant implications for various capacitive sensors beyond microphones, including accelerometers and pressure sensors, potentially leading to advancements in sensor technology across multiple fields. The ability to achieve low self-noise without increasing size or voltage requirements could revolutionize the design of compact, high-performance sensors. This paper presents the PDS-Amp, a novel circuit technique that effectively reduces self-noise in capacitive sensors, demonstrating significant improvements in performance and potential applications across various sensor technologies. The comprehensive methodology and experimental validation underscore its importance in advancing the field of audio and sensor technology.
While generative models have set new benchmarks for Target Speaker Extraction (TSE), their inherent reliance on global context precludes deployment in real-time applications. Direct adaptation to streaming scenarios often leads to catastrophic inference performance degradation due to the severe mismatch between training and streaming inference. To bridge this gap, we present the first autoregressive (AR) models tailored for streaming TSE. Our approach introduces a Chunk-wise Interleaved Splicing Paradigm that ensures highly efficient and stable streaming inference. To ensure the coherence between the extracted speech segments, we design a historical context refinement mechanism that mitigates boundary discontinuities by leveraging historical information. Experiments on Libri2Mix show that while AR generative baseline exhibits performance degradation at low latencies, our approach maintains 100% stability and superior intelligibility. Furthermore, our streaming results are comparable to or even surpass offline baselines. Additionally, our model achieves a Real-Time-Factor (RTF) of 0.248 on consumer-level GPUs. This work provides empirical evidence that AR generative backbones are viable for latency-sensitive applications through the Chunk-wise Interleaved Splicing Paradigm.
Primary: Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University
All Institutions: Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, SenseTime Research
The paper presents the first autoregressive generative backbone tailored for streaming Target Speaker Extraction, filling a critical research void. The technical contributions, particularly the innovative Chunk-wise Interleaved Splicing Paradigm and historical context refinement mechanism, represent significant advancements in the field, with the potential to improve real-time audio processing applications substantially.
The paper presents a novel autoregressive model specifically designed for streaming Target Speaker Extraction (TSE), introducing the Chunk-wise Interleaved Splicing Paradigm. This approach effectively addresses the mismatch between training and streaming inference by ensuring causality and stability in real-time applications. The historical context refinement mechanism is a significant addition that enhances the coherence of extracted speech segments, mitigating boundary discontinuities. The methodology is well-structured, with clear definitions and a logical flow from problem identification to proposed solutions. The use of autoregressive models in a streaming context is innovative, and the interleaved splicing paradigm is a clever engineering solution that maintains efficiency.
The experimental results are robust, showcasing a comprehensive evaluation against both generative and discriminative baselines. The use of the Libri2Mix dataset is appropriate, and the metrics employed (DNSMOS, NISQA, WER, etc.) are relevant for assessing speech quality and intelligibility. The results demonstrate that the proposed method not only maintains stability at low latencies but also achieves comparable or superior performance to offline models. The ablation studies provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of the historical context refinement and input strategies, reinforcing the contributions of the proposed methodology.
The paper provides sufficient implementation details, including the architecture of the model, the training protocol, and the evaluation metrics. However, the lack of a public demo or project URL limits the reproducibility of the results. Future work could benefit from sharing code and models to facilitate further research and validation by the community.
One limitation is the reliance on specific datasets, which may not fully capture the diversity of real-world scenarios. Additionally, while the proposed method shows promise, the performance at extreme low latencies (e.g., below 80ms) is not thoroughly evaluated. There may also be concerns regarding the generalizability of the model to other languages or dialects, which could affect its applicability in diverse settings.
This work has significant implications for real-time applications such as teleconferencing, voice-controlled systems, and multi-turn dialogue interactions. By enabling high-quality speech extraction in latency-sensitive environments, the proposed method can enhance user experiences in various audio processing applications. The approach could also inspire further research into autoregressive models for other real-time audio tasks, potentially leading to broader advancements in the field of speech processing. The paper presents the first autoregressive generative backbone tailored for streaming Target Speaker Extraction, filling a critical research void. The technical contributions, particularly the innovative Chunk-wise Interleaved Splicing Paradigm and historical context refinement mechanism, represent significant advancements in the field, with the potential to improve real-time audio processing applications substantially.
The rapid advancement of Audio Large Language Models (ALMs), driven by Neural Audio Codecs (NACs), has led to the emergence of highly realistic speech deepfakes, commonly referred to as CodecFakes (CFs). Consequently, CF detection has attracted increasing attention from the research community. However, existing studies predominantly focus on English or Chinese, leaving the vulnerability of Indic languages largely unexplored. To bridge this gap, we introduce Indic-CodecFake (ICF) dataset, the first large-scale benchmark comprising real and NAC-synthesized speech across multiple Indic languages, diverse speaker profiles, and multiple NAC types. We use IndicSUPERB as the real speech corpus for generation of ICF dataset. Our experiments demonstrate that state-of-the-art (SOTA) CF detectors trained on English-centric datasets fail to generalize to ICF, underscoring the challenges posed by phonetic diversity and prosodic variability in Indic speech. Further, we present systematic evaluation of SOTA ALMs in a zero-shot setting on ICF dataset. We evaluate these ALMs as they have shown effectiveness for different speech tasks. However, our findings reveal that current ALMs exhibit consistently poor performance. To address this, we propose SATYAM, a novel hyperbolic ALM tailored for CF detection in Indic languages. SATYAM integrates semantic representations from Whisper and prosodic representations from TRILLsson using through Bhattacharya distance in hyperbolic space and subsequently performs the same alignment procedure between the fused speech representation and an input conditioning prompt. This dual-stage fusion framework enables SATYAM to effectively model hierarchical relationships both within speech (semantic-prosodic) and across modalities (speech-text). Extensive evaluations show that SATYAM consistently outperforms competitive end-to-end and ALM-based baselines on the ICF benchmark.
Primary: IIIT-Delhi, India
All Institutions: UPES, India, Veer Bahadur Singh Purvanchal University, India, IIIT-Delhi, India
The paper significantly advances the field of audio deepfake detection by introducing a dedicated dataset for Indic languages and a novel hyperbolic ALM tailored for this context. The comprehensive methodology and robust experimental results underscore its potential impact on both academic research and practical applications in speech technology.
The paper introduces a novel hyperbolic ALM, SATYAM, which integrates semantic and prosodic representations for detecting speech deepfakes in Indic languages. The methodology is well-structured, leveraging Bhattacharya distance in hyperbolic space for alignment, which is a unique approach in the context of audio deepfake detection. The dual-stage fusion framework is innovative, allowing for effective modeling of hierarchical relationships within speech and across modalities. The use of existing models like Whisper and TRILLsson as encoders is appropriate, and the choice of hyperbolic geometry adds a compelling dimension to the representation of speech data.
The experiments are robust, featuring a comprehensive evaluation of the proposed ICF dataset and comparisons against state-of-the-art models. The zero-shot evaluation of SOTA ALMs demonstrates the challenges in generalizing to Indic languages, providing a strong rationale for the development of SATYAM. The results show significant improvements over existing baselines, validating the effectiveness of the proposed framework. The paper also includes thorough ablation studies that highlight the contributions of various components, enhancing the credibility of the findings.
The authors provide a clear description of the dataset generation process, model architecture, and training procedures, which facilitates reproducibility. The inclusion of a project URL with code and dataset access further supports this aspect. However, the paper could benefit from more detailed hyperparameter settings and training configurations to enhance clarity.
One notable limitation is the reliance on a single family of LLM decoders, which may restrict the generalizability of the findings. Additionally, while the proposed framework shows promise, the performance on noisy conditions could be further explored to assess robustness in real-world applications. The paper acknowledges these limitations and suggests future work to explore alternative encoder and decoder architectures.
The introduction of the ICF dataset and the SATYAM model has significant implications for speech technology in multilingual contexts, particularly in combating the rising threat of speech deepfakes. By focusing on Indic languages, the work addresses a critical gap in the literature and provides a foundation for future research in low-resource language settings. The ethical considerations outlined also reflect a responsible approach to the potential misuse of the technology. The paper significantly advances the field of audio deepfake detection by introducing a dedicated dataset for Indic languages and a novel hyperbolic ALM tailored for this context. The comprehensive methodology and robust experimental results underscore its potential impact on both academic research and practical applications in speech technology.
Recent advances in Text-To-Speech (TTS) synthesis have seen the popularity of multi-stage approaches that first predict semantic tokens and then generate acoustic tokens. In this paper, we extend the coarse-to-fine generation paradigm to the temporal domain and introduce Chain-of-Details (CoD), a novel framework that explicitly models temporal coarse-to-fine dynamics in speech generation using a cascaded architecture. Our method progressively refines temporal details across multiple stages, with each stage targeting a specific temporal granularity. All temporal detail predictions are performed using a shared decoder, enabling efficient parameter utilization across different temporal resolutions. Notably, we observe that the lowest detail level naturally performs phonetic planning without the need for an explicit phoneme duration predictor. We evaluate our method on several datasets and compare it against several baselines. Experimental results show that CoD achieves competitive performance with significantly fewer parameters than existing approaches. Our findings demonstrate that explicit modeling of temporal dynamics with the CoD framework leads to more natural speech synthesis.
Primary: Canva Research
All Institutions: Canva Research, Dolby Laboratories
The main contribution of this paper is the introduction of the Chain-of-Details framework, which innovatively extends the coarse-to-fine generation paradigm to incorporate temporal dynamics in TTS synthesis, leading to more natural speech generation with improved efficiency. This work represents a meaningful advancement in the field of audio synthesis, combining theoretical insights with practical applications that could influence future developments in TTS technologies.
The proposed Chain-of-Details (CoD) framework introduces a novel approach to modeling temporal dynamics in Text-To-Speech (TTS) synthesis through a multi-stage, cascaded architecture. This method effectively refines speech generation across various temporal resolutions, which is a significant advancement over existing coarse-to-fine generation paradigms. The use of a shared decoder across different temporal levels enhances parameter efficiency and consistency. The methodology is well-grounded in previous work, yet it innovatively extends the temporal modeling aspect, which has been largely overlooked in prior TTS systems.
The experimental evaluation is robust, utilizing multiple datasets, including LibriSpeech and SeedTTS, to validate the effectiveness of the CoD framework. The results demonstrate competitive performance in terms of Word Error Rate (WER) with fewer parameters compared to existing models, indicating a significant improvement in efficiency. The inclusion of ablation studies further strengthens the findings by providing insights into the effects of different temporal levels and token types.
The paper provides detailed implementation specifics, including model architecture, training procedures, and evaluation metrics, which enhances reproducibility. However, the lack of publicly available code or demo URLs may hinder broader accessibility for researchers looking to replicate or build upon this work.
While the CoD framework shows promise, the paper does not address potential limitations related to the scalability of the model to more complex speech patterns or the generalization to diverse languages and accents. Additionally, the reliance on specific datasets may limit the applicability of the findings to other contexts.
The implications of this research are significant, as improved TTS systems can enhance accessibility for individuals with speech impairments, improve user experiences in virtual assistants, and contribute to advancements in human-computer interaction. The explicit modeling of temporal dynamics could also pave the way for more nuanced applications in multimedia content creation and entertainment. The main contribution of this paper is the introduction of the Chain-of-Details framework, which innovatively extends the coarse-to-fine generation paradigm to incorporate temporal dynamics in TTS synthesis, leading to more natural speech generation with improved efficiency. This work represents a meaningful advancement in the field of audio synthesis, combining theoretical insights with practical applications that could influence future developments in TTS technologies.
This report presents an Audio-aware Referring Video Object Segmentation (Ref-VOS) pipeline tailored to the MEVIS\_Audio setting, where the referring expression is provided in spoken form rather than as clean text. Compared with a standard Sa2VA-based Ref-VOS pipeline, the proposed system introduces two additional front-end stages: speech transcription and visual existence verification. Specifically, we first employ VibeVoice-ASR to convert long-form spoken input into a structured textual transcript. Since audio-derived queries are inherently noisy and may describe entities that are not visually present in the video, we then introduce an Omni-based judgment module to determine whether the transcribed target can be grounded in the visual content. If the target is judged to be absent, the pipeline terminates early and outputs all-zero masks. Otherwise, the transcript is transformed into a segmentation-oriented prompt and fed into Sa2VA to obtain a coarse mask trajectory over the full video. Importantly, this trajectory is treated as an initial semantic hypothesis rather than a final prediction. On top of it, an agentic refinement layer evaluates query reliability, temporal relevance, anchor quality, and potential error sources, and may invoke SAM3 to improve spatial boundary precision and temporal consistency. The resulting framework explicitly decomposes the MEVIS\_Audio task into audio-to-text conversion, visual existence verification, coarse video segmentation, and agent-guided refinement. Such a staged design is substantially more appropriate for audio-conditioned Ref-VOS than directly sending noisy ASR outputs into a segmentation model.
Primary: Harbin Institute of Technology
All Institutions: Harbin Institute of Technology, Pengcheng Laboratory, University of California at Merced
The main contribution of this paper is the introduction of a robust pipeline for audio-aware referring video object segmentation that effectively addresses the challenges posed by noisy audio inputs through a staged processing approach. This work significantly advances the state of the art in Ref-VOS by explicitly modeling uncertainties from both speech recognition and visual grounding, thereby enhancing the accuracy and reliability of segmentation outcomes.
The proposed methodology introduces a novel pipeline for Audio-aware Referring Video Object Segmentation (Ref-VOS) that effectively addresses the unique challenges posed by audio-derived queries. By incorporating stages for speech transcription and visual existence verification, the authors create a robust framework that minimizes the impact of ASR noise and enhances segmentation accuracy. The staged design allows for a clear separation of tasks, which is a significant improvement over traditional models that treat audio input as a straightforward text query. This decomposition into distinct stages not only clarifies the processing flow but also allows for targeted improvements at each step, showcasing a thoughtful approach to the problem.
The experimental evaluation includes a well-structured ablation study that demonstrates the incremental benefits of each component of the proposed pipeline. The results indicate that the addition of the visual existence judgment stage significantly enhances performance, highlighting the importance of addressing ASR errors before segmentation. The reported scores reflect a competitive performance in the MEVIS_Audio challenge, providing evidence of the effectiveness of the proposed method. However, the paper could benefit from a more extensive evaluation against baseline models and a broader set of datasets to further validate the approach.
The paper lacks detailed implementation specifics that would facilitate reproducibility. While the methodology is clearly outlined, the absence of code or supplementary materials makes it difficult for other researchers to replicate the results. Providing access to the model architecture, training procedures, and datasets used would greatly enhance the reproducibility of the findings.
One limitation of the proposed approach is its reliance on the quality of the ASR system, VibeVoice-ASR. If the ASR output is significantly flawed, it could lead to erroneous visual existence judgments and subsequent segmentation errors. Additionally, the complexity of the pipeline may introduce challenges in real-time applications, where speed is critical. The paper also does not discuss the potential impact of varying audio qualities or accents on ASR performance, which could affect the generalizability of the approach.
The proposed framework has significant implications for various applications, including video surveillance, content retrieval, and interactive media where audio queries are prevalent. By improving the robustness of video segmentation in the presence of noisy audio inputs, this work could enhance user experiences in multimedia applications and contribute to advancements in human-computer interaction. The methodology also opens avenues for further research in multimodal learning, particularly in integrating audio and visual data for more complex tasks. The main contribution of this paper is the introduction of a robust pipeline for audio-aware referring video object segmentation that effectively addresses the challenges posed by noisy audio inputs through a staged processing approach. This work significantly advances the state of the art in Ref-VOS by explicitly modeling uncertainties from both speech recognition and visual grounding, thereby enhancing the accuracy and reliability of segmentation outcomes.
Large Audio-Language Models (LALMs) have made significant progress in audio understanding, yet they primarily operate as perception-and-answer systems without explicit reasoning processes. Existing methods for enhancing audio reasoning rely either on supervised chain-of-thought (CoT) fine-tuning, which is limited by training data quality, or on reinforcement learning (RL) with coarse rewards that do not directly evaluate reasoning quality. As a result, the generated reasoning chains often appear well-structured yet lack specific acoustic grounding. We propose Audio-DeepThinker, a framework built on two core ideas. First, we introduce a hybrid reasoning similarity reward that directly supervises the quality of generated reasoning chains by combining an LLM evaluator assessing logical path alignment, key step coverage, and analytical depth with an embedding similarity component enforcing semantic alignment with reference reasoning chains. Second, we propose a progressive two-stage curriculum that enables high-quality CoT reasoning to emerge through pure RL exploration, without any supervised reasoning fine-tuning, from an instruction-tuned model that possesses no prior chain-of-thought capability. Stage 1 trains on foundational audio QA with the hybrid reward to foster basic reasoning patterns, while Stage 2 shifts to acoustically challenging boundary cases with an LLM-only reward for greater reasoning diversity. Audio-DeepThinker achieves state-of-the-art results on MMAR (74.0%), MMAU-test-mini (78.5%), and MMSU (77.26%), winning 1st Place in the Interspeech 2026 Audio Reasoning Challenge (Single Model Track). Interpretability analyses further reveal that RL training primarily reshapes upper-layer MoE gating mechanisms and that reasoning tokens crystallize progressively in the upper transformer layers, offering mechanistic insights into how audio reasoning emerges through exploration.
Primary: The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou)
All Institutions: Tencent AI Lab, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou)
The main contribution of this paper is the introduction of Audio-DeepThinker, a novel framework that enables high-quality chain-of-thought reasoning to emerge in large audio-language models through reinforcement learning, significantly advancing the field of audio reasoning. The combination of innovative methodologies and strong experimental results positions this work as a meaningful contribution to the machine learning community, particularly in the audio domain.
The proposed methodology of Audio-DeepThinker is innovative, leveraging a hybrid reasoning similarity reward and a progressive two-stage curriculum to enhance reasoning capabilities in audio-language models. The integration of reinforcement learning without prior supervised fine-tuning is a significant advancement, allowing the model to develop reasoning skills through exploration. The detailed data construction pipeline and the dual reward system provide a structured approach to improving model performance while ensuring acoustic grounding in reasoning chains.
The experiments conducted on multiple benchmarks (MMAR, MMAU, and MMSU) demonstrate the effectiveness of Audio-DeepThinker, achieving state-of-the-art results. The comprehensive evaluation metrics, including accuracy and Rubrics scores, validate the model's performance across various audio reasoning tasks. The ablation studies further substantiate the contributions of the hybrid reward and the two-stage training approach.
While the paper provides a thorough description of the methodology and experimental setup, including hyperparameters and training details, it lacks direct links to code or datasets, which may hinder reproducibility. The absence of a project URL or demo limits the ability for others to replicate the results.
One limitation is the reliance on automated data construction, which may introduce biases or inaccuracies in the generated reasoning chains. Additionally, the model's performance on boundary cases may still be constrained by the inherent challenges of audio reasoning, and further exploration of diverse audio contexts is needed to fully assess its robustness.
The advancements presented in Audio-DeepThinker have significant implications for audio understanding and reasoning tasks, potentially enhancing applications in accessibility, education, and interactive audio systems. The framework could pave the way for more sophisticated audio-language models capable of nuanced reasoning, thereby improving user interactions with audio content. The main contribution of this paper is the introduction of Audio-DeepThinker, a novel framework that enables high-quality chain-of-thought reasoning to emerge in large audio-language models through reinforcement learning, significantly advancing the field of audio reasoning. The combination of innovative methodologies and strong experimental results positions this work as a meaningful contribution to the machine learning community, particularly in the audio domain.
We introduce the Latent Fourier Transform (LatentFT), a framework that provides novel frequency-domain controls for generative music models. LatentFT combines a diffusion autoencoder with a latent-space Fourier transform to separate musical patterns by timescale. By masking latents in the frequency domain during training, our method yields representations that can be manipulated coherently at inference. This allows us to generate musical variations and blends from reference examples while preserving characteristics at desired timescales, which are specified as frequencies in the latent space. LatentFT parallels the role of the equalizer in music production: while traditional equalizers operates on audible frequencies to shape timbre, LatentFT operates on latent-space frequencies to shape musical structure. Experiments and listening tests show that LatentFT improves condition adherence and quality compared to baselines. We also present a technique for hearing frequencies in the latent space in isolation, and show different musical attributes reside in different regions of the latent spectrum. Our results show how frequency-domain control in latent space provides an intuitive, continuous frequency axis for conditioning and blending, advancing us toward more interpretable and interactive generative music models.
Primary: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All Institutions: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The paper presents the Latent Fourier Transform, a novel framework for generative music models that enhances frequency-domain control over musical patterns. This work significantly advances the interpretability and interactivity of generative audio systems, offering a new approach to music creation that leverages latent-space representations and Fourier transforms.
The paper introduces the Latent Fourier Transform (LatentFT), which innovatively combines a diffusion autoencoder with a latent-space Fourier transform to manipulate musical patterns based on timescale. The methodology effectively utilizes frequency-domain controls to enhance generative music models, allowing for coherent manipulation of musical attributes at specified timescales. The masking of latents in the frequency domain during training is a novel approach that facilitates the generation of variations while preserving desired characteristics, paralleling traditional audio equalizers but operating in latent space. The end-to-end training framework is well-structured, and the use of Fourier transforms to separate musical patterns by timescale is a significant advancement in the field.
The experiments conducted are robust, utilizing a substantial dataset (MTG-Jamendo) and comparing the proposed method against several relevant baselines. The evaluation metrics include both quantitative measures (e.g., Mel-Cepstral Distortion, Frechet Audio Distance) and qualitative assessments through listening tests, which are essential for validating the model's performance in generating high-quality audio. The results demonstrate that LatentFT outperforms existing methods in terms of adherence to conditions and audio quality, showcasing its effectiveness in practical applications.
The authors provide a comprehensive reproducibility statement, including links to their GitHub repository, which contains the code for training, generating, and blending examples. They also detail their experimental setup, model architectures, and hyperparameters, which should facilitate replication of their results by other researchers in the field.
While the paper presents a compelling framework, it does not explore the potential computational costs associated with the proposed method, especially in real-time applications. Additionally, the subjective nature of music quality could lead to variability in listener preferences, which may not be fully captured in the quantitative metrics used. The paper could also benefit from a more extensive discussion on the implications of the latent frequency manipulations on different genres or styles of music.
The Latent Fourier Transform has the potential to significantly impact the field of generative music models by providing a more interpretable and interactive framework for music generation. Its ability to manipulate musical structures at various timescales could enhance creative processes in music production, allowing artists and producers to explore new soundscapes and compositions. Furthermore, the framework could pave the way for future research in audio signal processing and machine learning applications in music, contributing to advancements in both academic and commercial domains. The paper presents the Latent Fourier Transform, a novel framework for generative music models that enhances frequency-domain control over musical patterns. This work significantly advances the interpretability and interactivity of generative audio systems, offering a new approach to music creation that leverages latent-space representations and Fourier transforms.
Neural audio codecs are widely used as tokenizers for spoken language models, but they are optimized for waveform reconstruction rather than autoregressive prediction. This mismatch injects acoustically driven uncertainty into the discrete token space and increases language-model perplexity. We propose \ours, which augments codec training with language-model-facing objectives while keeping both codec and LLM architectures unchanged. \ours introduces (i) future token prediction with Medusa-style multi-step heads to encourage multi-step predictability, and (ii) semantic alignment that matches audio and text representations via a memory-bank contrastive loss. A differentiable Gumbel bridge enables end-to-end gradients from these objectives to the codec encoder. On SALMon speech coherence, token LMs trained on \ours reach 61.6% accuracy (+12.1 points over AUV) while reducing perplexity 35. On Codec-SUPERB-tiny, \ours improves speech Mel distance by 5.0% over AUV while simultaneously achieving the learnability gains, demonstrating that reconstruction fidelity and token predictability can be improved together.
Primary: National Taiwan University
All Institutions: National Taiwan University, ASUS Intelligent Cloud Services, NTU Artificial Intelligence Center of Research Excellence (NTU AI-CoRE)
This paper presents a significant advancement in the training of neural audio codecs by integrating language model objectives, resulting in improved token predictability and reconstruction fidelity. The innovative methodology and comprehensive experimental evaluation position this work as a valuable contribution to the field of audio processing and machine learning.
The paper introduces a novel training framework for neural audio codecs that incorporates language model objectives to enhance token predictability while maintaining reconstruction fidelity. The methodology is well-structured, employing future token prediction and semantic alignment as complementary regularizers. The use of a differentiable Gumbel bridge for end-to-end optimization is a significant technical contribution, allowing gradients to flow through the quantization process. The approach is innovative in its simplicity, modifying only the training objectives without altering existing codec or LLM architectures.
The experiments are comprehensive, evaluating the proposed method on two benchmarks: SALMon for speech coherence and Codec-SUPERB-tiny for reconstruction quality. The results demonstrate substantial improvements in both token predictability (35% reduction in perplexity) and reconstruction fidelity (5% improvement in Mel distance) compared to baseline codecs. The paper provides clear comparisons against strong baselines and effectively illustrates the benefits of the proposed framework through rigorous evaluation metrics.
The paper includes detailed implementation details, model configurations, and training procedures, which enhance reproducibility. The authors specify hyperparameters, training phases, and the architecture of the models used, making it easier for other researchers to replicate the experiments. However, the reliance on specific datasets and the need for paired transcripts may limit broader applicability.
The primary limitation is the dependence on speech-text correspondence for semantic alignment, which may not generalize well to untranscribed audio or non-speech domains. Additionally, the training overhead introduced by auxiliary heads may pose challenges for scaling to larger models or datasets. The paper also notes that the evaluation focuses on read speech, which may not capture the complexities of conversational speech.
The proposed method has significant implications for improving spoken language models, potentially enhancing applications in speech synthesis, voice assistants, and audio processing. By addressing the predictability of tokens in audio codecs, the framework could lead to more coherent and contextually aware speech generation systems. The integration of language model objectives into audio processing represents a promising direction for future research and development in multimodal AI systems. This paper presents a significant advancement in the training of neural audio codecs by integrating language model objectives, resulting in improved token predictability and reconstruction fidelity. The innovative methodology and comprehensive experimental evaluation position this work as a valuable contribution to the field of audio processing and machine learning.
Multimodal LLMs can accurately perceive numerical content across modalities yet fail to perform exact multi-digit multiplication when the identical underlying arithmetic problem is presented as numerals, number words, images, or in audio form. Because existing benchmarks often lack systematically paired instances across modalities, it remains difficult to compare genuine arithmetic limits within and across model families. We therefore introduce a controlled multimodal multiplication benchmark that factorially varies digit length, digit sparsity, representation (e.g., numerals vs. number words), and modality (text, rendered images, audio), with paired instances from a reproducible generator. We also define arithmetic load, C, as the product of the total and non-zero digit count as a compact, mechanistically motivated proxy for operation count. Across evaluations, accuracy falls sharply as C grows, often nearing zero by C > 100. Indeed, C remains predictive of performance across modalities and models, with R-squared often > 0.5, nearing the value from more complex measures of arithmetic load that count the number of intermediate arithmetic steps. A separate perception-versus-computation decomposition shows that multimodal degradation is primarily computational rather than perceptual: on matched-perception checks, models are near-perfect (> 99%) across modalities, even when multiplication accuracy drops. Beyond measuring when models fail, we ask which procedures they are predisposed to follow. We introduce a forced-completion loss probe that scores heuristic-specific reasoning prefixes--including columnar multiplication, distributive decomposition, and rounding/compensation. Here, decomposition is favored in both text and vision modalities; heuristic-specific LoRA adapters produce near-orthogonal updates yet degrade accuracy, indicating the base model maintains a well-tuned internal router.
Primary: University of Texas at Austin
All Institutions: University of Texas at Austin, National University of Singapore (NUS)
The paper presents a comprehensive examination of arithmetic performance in multimodal LLMs, introducing a novel benchmark and methodology that reveals critical insights into model behavior across different representations. The findings contribute meaningfully to the understanding of computational limitations in AI systems, particularly in the context of multimodal interactions.
The paper introduces a controlled multimodal multiplication benchmark that systematically varies digit length, digit sparsity, representation, and modality. This approach is methodologically sound as it isolates the effects of these variables on model performance, providing a clear framework for evaluating arithmetic capabilities across different modalities. The definition of arithmetic load (C) as a predictor of performance is a novel and insightful contribution, allowing for a compact representation of computational complexity. The use of forced-completion loss probes to assess heuristic preferences is an innovative method that adds depth to the analysis of model behavior.
The experiments are robust, involving multiple model families and a variety of modalities (text, image, audio). The logistic regression analysis effectively demonstrates the relationship between arithmetic load and accuracy, with R-squared values indicating a strong predictive capability. The results reveal significant insights into how different models handle arithmetic tasks under varying conditions, highlighting the computational challenges faced by multimodal LLMs. However, the reliance on synthetic templates for problem generation may limit the generalizability of the findings to real-world scenarios.
The paper provides detailed descriptions of the experimental setup, including model configurations and evaluation protocols, which enhances reproducibility. However, the absence of publicly available datasets or code repositories limits the ability of other researchers to replicate the study fully. The methodology for generating the benchmark and the specific models used are well-documented, but sharing the actual implementation would further support reproducibility.
The study's focus on multiplication limits its applicability to other arithmetic operations, such as addition or division, which may exhibit different computational characteristics. Additionally, the model coverage is restricted to specific families, and the synthetic nature of the digit templates may not accurately reflect the complexity of real-world arithmetic problems. The controlled rendering of inputs may also overlook the challenges presented by messy real-world data.
This research has the potential to significantly influence the development of multimodal LLMs, particularly in applications requiring precise arithmetic capabilities. By identifying the computational limits and preferred strategies of these models, the findings can inform future training methodologies and benchmark designs. The insights gained could lead to improved performance in practical applications such as educational tools, automated reasoning systems, and AI-driven assistants that require reliable arithmetic processing. The paper presents a comprehensive examination of arithmetic performance in multimodal LLMs, introducing a novel benchmark and methodology that reveals critical insights into model behavior across different representations. The findings contribute meaningfully to the understanding of computational limitations in AI systems, particularly in the context of multimodal interactions.
Integrating large language models (LLMs) into automatic speech recognition (ASR) has become a mainstream paradigm in recent years. Although existing LLM-based ASR models demonstrate impressive performance on public benchmarks, their training remains predominantly data-driven, leaving key practical challenges insufficiently addressed -- particularly limited downward scalability in resource-constrained deployments and hallucinations under acoustically challenging conditions. To address these issues, we present NIM4-ASR, a production-oriented LLM-based ASR framework optimized for both efficiency and robustness. Grounded in a principled delineation of functional roles between the encoder and the LLM, we redesign the multi-stage training paradigm to align each module with its intended capability boundary. Specifically, we reformulate the pre-training architecture and objective to mitigate the modality gap and improve parameter efficiency; introduce an iterative asynchronous SFT stage to preserve acoustic fidelity and constrain representation drift; and design an ASR-specialized reinforcement learning stage to further enhance recognition quality and robustness. We additionally incorporate a suite of production-oriented optimizations, including robustness under noisy and silent conditions, real-time streaming inference, and hotword customization via retrieval-augmented generation (RAG). Experiments show that NIM4-ASR achieves state-of-the-art performance on multiple public benchmarks with merely 2.3B parameters, while substantially outperforming larger-scale competitors on internal benchmarks -- particularly in entity-intensive real-world scenarios. NIM4-ASR further supports million-scale hotword customization via RAG with sub-millisecond retrieval latency, enabling efficient adaptation to emerging entities and personalized user requirements.
Primary: NIO
All Institutions: NIO
The main contribution of this paper is the introduction of NIM4-ASR, a novel LLM-based ASR framework that optimizes efficiency and robustness through a multi-stage training paradigm and innovative hotword customization techniques. This work represents a significant step forward in addressing the practical challenges faced by existing ASR systems, particularly in real-time applications.
The methodology presented in NIM4-ASR is robust and innovative, addressing key limitations of existing LLM-based ASR systems. The authors propose a multi-stage training paradigm that effectively delineates the roles of the encoder and the LLM, which is a significant improvement over conventional methods. The introduction of an iterative asynchronous SFT stage and an ASR-specialized reinforcement learning stage enhances both recognition quality and robustness. The use of phoneme-level retrieval for hotword customization is particularly noteworthy, as it allows for efficient adaptation to new entities while maintaining low latency. The overall design is well-structured, with a clear focus on practical deployment challenges.
The experimental evaluation is comprehensive, covering a wide range of benchmarks, both public and internal. The results demonstrate that NIM4-ASR achieves state-of-the-art performance with a relatively small model size of 2.3B parameters, outperforming larger models in specific scenarios, particularly in entity-intensive tasks. The evaluation metrics are appropriate, and the authors provide a thorough comparison with existing models, highlighting the advantages of their approach. However, the paper could benefit from more detailed discussions on the statistical significance of the results.
The paper provides a detailed description of the training setup, including the architecture, training stages, and evaluation metrics. However, the lack of a publicly available implementation or code repository limits reproducibility. The authors could enhance this aspect by providing access to their model and training data, which would allow other researchers to validate their findings.
One limitation of the work is the focus on specific scenarios, such as real-time speech interactions, which may not generalize to all ASR applications. Additionally, while the paper addresses hallucination issues, it does not provide extensive empirical evidence on the effectiveness of the proposed solutions across diverse acoustic environments. The reliance on phoneme-level retrieval may also pose challenges in languages with complex phonetic structures.
The advancements made in NIM4-ASR have the potential to significantly improve user experiences in real-time speech applications, particularly in resource-constrained environments. The ability to customize hotword recognition and enhance robustness against noise can lead to more reliable and efficient voice interfaces in various domains, including automotive and smart home systems. The work also contributes to the ongoing research in integrating LLMs with audio processing, paving the way for future innovations in multimodal AI systems. The main contribution of this paper is the introduction of NIM4-ASR, a novel LLM-based ASR framework that optimizes efficiency and robustness through a multi-stage training paradigm and innovative hotword customization techniques. This work represents a significant step forward in addressing the practical challenges faced by existing ASR systems, particularly in real-time applications.
Large Language Models (LLMs) show promise in lyric-to-melody generation, but models trained with Supervised Fine-Tuning (SFT) often produce musically implausible melodies with issues like poor rhythm and unsuitable vocal ranges, a phenomenon we term "constraint violation". To address this, we propose a novel alignment framework that instills musical knowledge without human annotation. We define rule-based musical constraints to automatically generate a preference dataset from an SFT model's outputs. The model is then aligned through a sequential process, first using Direct Preference Optimization (DPO) on paired preference data, followed by Kahneman-Tversky Optimization (KTO) on unpaired negative samples. Experimental results demonstrate that our aligned model substantially reduces rule violations and outperforms strong baselines in both objective and subjective evaluations, generating melodies with substantially improved musicality and coherence. An interactive demo with audio comparisons is available at https://arain233.github.io/AligningMelody-demo.
Primary: Zuoyebang Education Technology
All Institutions: Zuoyebang Education Technology
The paper presents a novel framework for aligning language models in lyric-to-melody generation, significantly enhancing musicality and coherence through rule-based constraints and preference optimization techniques. This work contributes meaningfully to the intersection of machine learning and creative arts, providing a scalable solution to a longstanding challenge in generative music systems.
The methodology presented in this paper is robust and innovative, introducing a sequential alignment framework that leverages rule-based musical constraints to enhance the lyric-to-melody generation process. The authors effectively utilize Direct Preference Optimization (DPO) and Kahneman-Tversky Optimization (KTO) to refine the model's outputs, demonstrating a clear understanding of the challenges in generative music models. The structured approach to generating a preference dataset without human intervention is particularly noteworthy, as it addresses a significant bottleneck in traditional reinforcement learning methods that rely on human feedback.
The experimental evaluation is comprehensive, utilizing both objective and subjective metrics to assess the performance of the proposed model against strong baselines. The use of a large dataset for training and evaluation, alongside the detailed ablation studies, provides substantial evidence of the model's effectiveness. The results indicate significant improvements in musical quality, with the proposed method outperforming existing systems in both symbolic metrics and human evaluations, which adds credibility to the findings.
The paper provides sufficient implementation details, including the architecture of the model, training procedures, and evaluation metrics, which facilitate reproducibility. However, the absence of a publicly available code repository may hinder full reproducibility for other researchers interested in validating the results or building upon the work.
While the approach is innovative, it is limited by its reliance on predefined musical constraints, which may not capture the full complexity of musical creativity and expression. Additionally, the model's performance may vary with different genres or styles of music, which is not thoroughly explored in the paper. The subjective evaluation, while valuable, is based on a limited number of volunteers, which may not represent a broader audience's preferences.
The implications of this research are significant for the fields of music generation and artificial intelligence. By improving the quality of generated melodies, this work can enhance applications in music composition tools, interactive voice agents, and creative AI systems, potentially transforming how music is created and experienced. The approach also opens avenues for future research in integrating more complex musical structures and user-defined constraints, fostering greater creativity in AI-generated music. The paper presents a novel framework for aligning language models in lyric-to-melody generation, significantly enhancing musicality and coherence through rule-based constraints and preference optimization techniques. This work contributes meaningfully to the intersection of machine learning and creative arts, providing a scalable solution to a longstanding challenge in generative music systems.
Audio-text retrieval systems based on Contrastive Language-Audio Pretraining (CLAP) achieve strong performance on traditional benchmarks; however, these benchmarks rely on caption-style queries that differ substantially from real-world search behavior, limiting their assessment of practical retrieval robustness. We present Omni-Embed-Audio (OEA), a retrieval-oriented encoder leveraging multimodal LLMs with native audio understanding. To systematically evaluate robustness beyond caption-style queries, we introduce User-Intent Queries (UIQs) - five formulations reflecting natural search behaviors: questions, commands, keyword tags, paraphrases, and exclusion-based negative queries. For negative queries, we develop a hard negative mining pipeline and propose discrimination metrics (HNSR, TFR) assessing models' ability to suppress acoustically similar distractors. Experiments on AudioCaps, Clotho, and MECAT show that OEA achieves comparable text-to-audio retrieval performance to state-of-the-art M2D-CLAP, while demonstrating clear advantages in two critical areas: (1) dominant text-to-text retrieval (+22% relative improvement), and (2) substantially superior hard negative discrimination (+4.3%p HNSR@10, +34.7% relative TFR@10), revealing that LLM backbones provide superior semantic understanding of complex queries.
Primary: Sogang University
All Institutions: Sogang University
The paper introduces Omni-Embed-Audio (OEA), a novel multimodal architecture for audio-text retrieval that significantly improves retrieval robustness through the use of User-Intent Queries and innovative evaluation metrics. The comprehensive methodology and experimental validation demonstrate its potential to enhance real-world audio search applications.
The paper presents a novel architecture, Omni-Embed-Audio (OEA), which integrates multimodal large language models (LLMs) for audio-text retrieval. The methodology is well-structured, leveraging a unified encoder architecture that processes both text and audio through a shared transformer backbone. The introduction of User-Intent Queries (UIQs) is a significant advancement, as it reflects real-world search behaviors rather than relying solely on traditional caption-style queries. The hard negative mining pipeline and the proposed discrimination metrics (HNSR, TFR) are innovative contributions that enhance the evaluation of retrieval robustness.
The experiments conducted on multiple datasets (AudioCaps, Clotho, and MECAT) demonstrate the effectiveness of OEA compared to state-of-the-art models like M2D-CLAP. The results indicate clear advantages in text-to-text retrieval and hard negative discrimination, showcasing the model's robustness across different query types. The use of extensive experiments to validate the proposed UIQ benchmark further strengthens the findings.
The paper provides detailed implementation details, including the architecture, training objectives, and evaluation methodologies. The release of UIQ benchmark datasets and a web demo enhances reproducibility, allowing other researchers to validate and build upon the work. However, the reliance on a specific LLM (GPT-5.1) for query generation may limit broader applicability.
The paper acknowledges several limitations, including the dependency on multimodal LLMs with native audio understanding, which restricts the range of base encoders. Additionally, the potential for data leakage between training and evaluation datasets raises concerns about the validity of performance metrics. The authors also note that the hard negative mining process may miss certain forms of acoustic confusion, and the UIQ generation may not fully represent all user query styles.
The advancements in audio-text retrieval have significant implications for various applications, including multimedia content search, voice-activated assistants, and interactive AI systems. By addressing the limitations of traditional benchmarks and introducing more realistic query formulations, this work paves the way for more robust and user-friendly audio retrieval systems. The release of benchmark datasets also encourages further research in this area. The paper introduces Omni-Embed-Audio (OEA), a novel multimodal architecture for audio-text retrieval that significantly improves retrieval robustness through the use of User-Intent Queries and innovative evaluation metrics. The comprehensive methodology and experimental validation demonstrate its potential to enhance real-world audio search applications.
Video-to-music (V2M) is the fundamental task of creating background music for an input video. Recent V2M models achieve audiovisual alignment by typically relying on visual conditioning alone and provide limited semantic and stylistic controllability to the end user. In this paper, we present Video-Robin, a novel text-conditioned video-to-music generation model that enables fast, high-quality, semantically aligned music generation for video content. To balance musical fidelity and semantic understanding, Video-Robin integrates autoregressive planning with diffusion-based synthesis. Specifically, an autoregressive module models global structure by semantically aligning visual and textual inputs to produce high-level music latents. These latents are subsequently refined into coherent, high-fidelity music using local Diffusion Transformers. By factoring semantically driven planning into diffusion-based synthesis, Video-Robin enables fine-grained creator control without sacrificing audio realism. Our proposed model outperforms baselines that solely accept video input and additional feature conditioned baselines on both in-distribution and out-of-distribution benchmarks with a 2.21x speed in inference compared to SOTA. We will open-source everything upon paper acceptance.
Primary: University of Maryland College Park
All Institutions: University of Maryland College Park, Dolby Laboratories
Video-Robin presents a novel approach to video-to-music generation by integrating autoregressive planning with diffusion-based synthesis, significantly enhancing the ability to create semantically aligned music for video content. The comprehensive experimental evaluation and introduction of a new benchmark highlight its technical contributions and relevance to the field of machine learning in audio generation.
The methodology presented in Video-Robin is innovative, integrating autoregressive planning with diffusion-based synthesis to enhance video-to-music generation. The use of a multimodal semantic language model for planning and a refinement head utilizing local Diffusion Transformers is a notable advancement. The architecture effectively balances musical fidelity and semantic understanding, allowing for fine-grained control over the generated music. The two-stage training strategy, which includes pretraining on text-to-music generation followed by video-to-music fine-tuning, is a well-structured approach that leverages existing datasets effectively.
The experiments are comprehensive, utilizing both in-distribution and out-of-distribution benchmarks to validate the model's performance. The introduction of the ReelBench dataset is a significant contribution, providing a structured evaluation framework for text-conditioned video-to-music generation. The results demonstrate that Video-Robin outperforms existing models on multiple metrics, showcasing its effectiveness in generating high-quality, semantically aligned music. The use of human evaluations alongside quantitative metrics adds depth to the experimental assessment.
The paper provides detailed implementation specifics, including architecture configurations, training procedures, and evaluation metrics, which enhance reproducibility. However, the lack of open-source code or demo links limits the ability for others to replicate the results directly. The authors mention plans to open-source their work upon acceptance, which is a positive step towards improving reproducibility.
The paper acknowledges limitations, such as the focus on short-form videos and the dependency on frozen representation components, which may restrict the model's expressivity in niche genres. The evaluation metrics, while comprehensive, may not fully capture the nuances of music-video alignment and creator intent, suggesting a need for more refined metrics in future work.
The potential applications of Video-Robin are significant, particularly in the context of content creation for social media platforms. By enabling creators to generate music that aligns with their artistic intent, the model could enhance the creative process and democratize access to high-quality music production. The integration of multimodal inputs also opens avenues for further research in generative models that combine audio and visual data. Video-Robin presents a novel approach to video-to-music generation by integrating autoregressive planning with diffusion-based synthesis, significantly enhancing the ability to create semantically aligned music for video content. The comprehensive experimental evaluation and introduction of a new benchmark highlight its technical contributions and relevance to the field of machine learning in audio generation.
In this work, we introduce a paralinguistic supervision paradigm for low-resource multilingual speech emotion recognition (LRM-SER) that leverages non-verbal vocalizations to exploit prosody-centric emotion cues. Unlike conventional SER systems that rely heavily on labeled verbal speech and suffer from poor cross-lingual transfer, our approach reformulates LRM-SER as non-verbal-to-verbal transfer, where supervision from a labeled non-verbal source domain is adapted to unlabeled verbal speech across multiple target languages. To this end, we propose NOVA ARC, a geometry-aware framework that models affective structure in the Poincaré ball, discretizes paralinguistic patterns via a hyperbolic vector-quantized prosody codebook, and captures emotion intensity through a hyperbolic emotion lens. For unsupervised adaptation, NOVA-ARC performs optimal transport based prototype alignment between source emotion prototypes and target utterances, inducing soft supervision for unlabeled speech while being stabilized through consistency regularization. Experiments show that NOVA-ARC delivers the strongest performance under both non-verbal-to-verbal adaptation and the complementary verbal-to-verbal transfer setting, consistently outperforming Euclidean counterparts and strong SSL baselines. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first to move beyond verbal-speech-centric supervision by introducing a non-verbal-to-verbal transfer paradigm for SER.
Primary: UPES, India
All Institutions: UPES, Veer Bahadur Singh Purvanchal University, Ulster University
This work presents a groundbreaking approach to multilingual speech emotion recognition by introducing a non-verbal-to-verbal transfer paradigm, significantly advancing the field by addressing the challenges of low-resource settings and enhancing the robustness of emotion recognition systems.
The methodology introduces a novel approach to multilingual speech emotion recognition (SER) by leveraging non-verbal vocalizations as a source of supervision. The proposed NOVA-ARC framework utilizes hyperbolic geometry to model affective structures and employs optimal transport for aligning emotion prototypes with target utterances. This innovative non-verbal-to-verbal transfer paradigm is a significant departure from traditional SER methods that rely on labeled verbal data, showcasing a well-thought-out architecture that integrates various advanced techniques.
The experiments are comprehensive, utilizing multiple datasets that span various languages and emotional expressions. The results demonstrate that NOVA-ARC consistently outperforms traditional Euclidean models and strong self-supervised learning baselines, validating the effectiveness of the proposed approach across different settings. The inclusion of diverse corpora and rigorous evaluation metrics strengthens the findings.
The paper provides detailed descriptions of the models and training procedures, including hyperparameters and dataset configurations. However, the absence of a publicly available implementation or code repository may hinder full reproducibility. The authors could enhance reproducibility by sharing their code and trained models.
The study acknowledges limitations in evaluating spontaneous conversational speech and the potential challenges when emotion categories are closely related. The reliance on publicly available datasets may also restrict the generalizability of the findings to real-world applications.
The proposed framework has significant implications for developing more robust and scalable SER systems, particularly in low-resource settings. By decoupling emotional expression from language-specific cues, this research could enhance the accessibility of emotion recognition technologies across diverse linguistic backgrounds and applications, such as conversational agents and assistive technologies. This work presents a groundbreaking approach to multilingual speech emotion recognition by introducing a non-verbal-to-verbal transfer paradigm, significantly advancing the field by addressing the challenges of low-resource settings and enhancing the robustness of emotion recognition systems.
Large Audio-Language Models (LALMs) are increasingly integrated into daily applications, yet their generative biases remain underexplored. Existing speech fairness benchmarks rely on synthetic speech and Multiple-Choice Questions (MCQs), both offering a fragmented view of fairness. We propose VIBE, a framework that evaluates generative bias through open-ended tasks such as personalized recommendations, using real-world human recordings. Unlike MCQs, our method allows stereotypical associations to manifest organically without predefined options, making it easily extensible to new tasks. Evaluating 11 state-of-the-art LALMs reveals systematic biases in realistic scenarios. We find that gender cues often trigger larger distributional shifts than accent cues, indicating that current LALMs reproduce social stereotypes.
Primary: National Taiwan University
All Institutions: National Taiwan University, NVIDIA
The paper presents VIBE, a novel framework for evaluating generative bias in large audio-language models through open-ended tasks using real-world speech. This innovative approach not only addresses a critical gap in current evaluation methods but also provides actionable insights into the biases present in LALMs, making it a significant contribution to the field of machine learning and audio processing.
The proposed VIBE framework innovatively shifts the evaluation of generative biases in LALMs from traditional MCQ formats to open-ended tasks that allow for the organic emergence of biases. This approach is significant as it leverages real-world audio recordings, capturing a broader range of paralinguistic cues and phonetic variability. The methodology is well-structured, with a clear focus on extracting structured attributes from generated text, thus allowing for a quantifiable assessment of biases. The use of human-validated extraction methods adds robustness to the findings.
The experiments are comprehensive, evaluating 11 state-of-the-art LALMs across five diverse tasks that reflect realistic applications. The findings reveal systematic biases, particularly highlighting the stronger influence of gender cues over accent cues. The statistical rigor applied in measuring biases through total variation distance (TVD) and permutation tests strengthens the validity of the results. However, the paper could benefit from a more detailed discussion of the statistical methods used for bias quantification.
The paper mentions the use of specific datasets and provides a URL for the evaluation prompts, which aids reproducibility. However, there is no explicit mention of the code or model weights being made available, which could hinder full reproducibility of the experiments. The authors should consider releasing their code and models to facilitate further research.
The study is limited to English speech and does not account for spontaneous conversation, which may not fully represent natural vocal variation. Additionally, the definition of bias used may not encompass all aspects of fairness, such as individual fairness or intersectional bias. The reliance on specific datasets may also limit the generalizability of the findings to other languages or cultural contexts.
The implications of this research are significant for applications of LALMs in real-world scenarios, particularly in voice assistants and customer service, where biased outputs can perpetuate stereotypes. The framework provides a valuable tool for developers and researchers to audit and understand the biases in their models, potentially leading to more equitable AI systems. The focus on real-world speech recordings enhances the relevance of the findings to practical applications. The paper presents VIBE, a novel framework for evaluating generative bias in large audio-language models through open-ended tasks using real-world speech. This innovative approach not only addresses a critical gap in current evaluation methods but also provides actionable insights into the biases present in LALMs, making it a significant contribution to the field of machine learning and audio processing.
In this study, we present Healthcare Codec-Fake Detection (HCFD), a new task for detecting codec-fakes under pathological speech conditions. We intentionally focus on codec based synthetic speech in this work, since neural codec decoding forms a core building block in modern speech generation pipelines. First, we release Healthcare CodecFake, the first pathology-aware dataset containing paired real and NAC-synthesized speech across multipl clinical conditions and codec families. Our evaluations show that SOTA codec-fake detectors trained primarily on healthy speech perform poorly on Healthcare CodecFake, highlighting the need for HCFD-specific models. Second, we demonstrate that PaSST outperforms existing speech-based models for HCFD, benefiting from its patch-based spectro-temporal representation. Finally, we propose PHOENIX-Mamba, a geometry-aware framework that models codec-fakes as multiple self-discovered modes in hyperbolic space and achieves the strongest performance on HCFD across clinical conditions and codecs. Experiments on HCFK show that PHOENIX-Mamba (PaSST) achieves the best overall performance, reaching 97.04 Acc on E-Dep, 96.73 on E-Alz, and 96.57 on E-Dys, while maintaining strong results on Chinese with 94.41 (Dep), 94.40 (Alz), and 93.20 (Dys). This geometry-aware formulation enables self-discovered clustering of heterogeneous codec-fake modes in hyperbolic space, facilitating robust discrimination under pathological speech variability. PHOENIX-Mamba achieves topmost performance on the HCFD task across clinical conditions and codecs.
Primary: Veer Bahadur Singh Purvanchal University, India
All Institutions: Veer Bahadur Singh Purvanchal University, UPES, Ulster University
The paper presents a comprehensive study on Healthcare CodecFake Detection (HCFD), introducing a novel dataset and a geometry-aware framework that significantly improves the detection of audio deepfakes in pathological speech. The methodology and experimental results provide valuable insights and advancements in the field, addressing a critical need for robust detection mechanisms in healthcare audio communication.
The paper introduces a novel framework, PHOENIX-Mamba, which employs a geometry-aware approach to model codec-fakes in pathological speech. The methodology is well-structured, utilizing a hyperbolic space for clustering and evidence representation, which is a significant step forward in addressing the challenges posed by codec artifacts in healthcare audio. The use of pre-trained models and the detailed explanation of the evidence-driven classification process enhances the robustness of the proposed solution. The integration of temporal modeling and multi-evidence pooling is particularly noteworthy, as it allows for better handling of the variability inherent in pathological speech.
The experiments are comprehensive, utilizing a newly created dataset (Healthcare CodecFake) that is both diverse and relevant to the problem domain. The authors benchmarked their approach against state-of-the-art models, demonstrating significant performance improvements across various clinical conditions and languages. The results are well-presented, with clear metrics (accuracy, F1 score, and EER) that validate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The cross-pathology and unseen codec evaluations further strengthen the findings, showcasing the model's generalization capabilities.
The authors provide a clear commitment to reproducibility by sharing the dataset access, code, and evaluation resources. They detail the codec generation pipeline and the specific configurations used in experiments, which is crucial for others to replicate their work. However, the paper could benefit from more explicit links to the shared resources and clearer instructions for accessing the datasets.
While the paper addresses a critical gap in audio deepfake detection in healthcare, it acknowledges limitations in terms of the range of clinical conditions and languages covered. The focus on codec-based resynthesis means that other forms of audio manipulation are not addressed, which could limit the applicability of the findings in broader contexts. Additionally, the evaluation does not consider the potential for real-world channel effects, which may impact the performance of the proposed models.
The implications of this research are significant, particularly in the context of healthcare, where the integrity of audio communication is paramount. The proposed solutions could enhance the security of telehealth services and protect against potential misuse of AI-generated audio. By establishing a benchmark for codec-fake detection in pathological speech, the work lays the groundwork for future advancements in this area, potentially leading to more reliable healthcare communication systems. The paper presents a comprehensive study on Healthcare CodecFake Detection (HCFD), introducing a novel dataset and a geometry-aware framework that significantly improves the detection of audio deepfakes in pathological speech. The methodology and experimental results provide valuable insights and advancements in the field, addressing a critical need for robust detection mechanisms in healthcare audio communication.
We introduce a new framework for room acoustics modelling based on a state-space model of the boundary integral equation representing the sound field in a room. Whereas state-space models of linear time-invariant systems are traditionally constructed by means of a state vector and a 4-tuple of system matrices, the state-space representation introduced in this work consists of a state function representing the pressure distribution at the room boundary, and a 4-tuple of integral operators. We refer to this representation as a boundary integral operator state-space (BIOSS) model and provide a physical interpretation for each of the integral operators. As many mathematical operations on vectors and matrices translate to functions and operators, the BIOSS representation can be manipulated to obtain two transfer function representations, having either a feedback or a parallel feedforward structure. Consequently, various equivalent representations for room acoustics are obtained in the BIOSS framework, in the time or frequency domain, and in continuous or discrete space. We discuss two future directions for how the proposed framework can be fertile for research on room acoustics modelling. Firstly, we identify equivalences between the BIOSS framework and various existing room acoustics models (boundary element models, delay networks, geometric models), which may be used to establish relations between existing models and to develop novel room acoustics models. Secondly, we postulate on how concepts from state-space theory, such as observability, controllability, and state realization, can be used for developing new inference and control methods for room acoustics.
Primary: University of Surrey
All Institutions: University of Surrey, KU Leuven
The main contribution of this paper is the introduction of a novel framework for room acoustics modeling that integrates state-space theory with boundary integral equations, offering new perspectives and methodologies for future research in the field. The technical contribution is significant, as it not only advances theoretical understanding but also opens avenues for practical applications and improvements in existing acoustic models.
The paper introduces a novel boundary integral operator state-space (BIOSS) model for room acoustics, leveraging state-space theory to provide a flexible framework that connects various existing models. The methodology is grounded in solid theoretical foundations, utilizing integral operators to represent acoustic pressure distributions and enabling manipulation of the model to derive different transfer function representations. The approach is innovative in its integration of physics-based and data-driven methodologies, which is a significant advancement in room acoustics modeling.
The paper does not present experimental results or datasets, focusing instead on theoretical development and potential applications of the proposed framework. While it discusses future research directions and applications, empirical validation of the framework's effectiveness in practical scenarios is lacking.
The paper provides a comprehensive theoretical framework, but without empirical results or detailed implementation guidelines, reproducibility is limited. Future work should include practical examples or case studies to validate the theoretical claims and demonstrate the framework's applicability.
The primary limitation is the absence of experimental validation and real-world application examples. Additionally, the reliance on certain assumptions, such as known boundary impedances, may limit the framework's applicability in diverse acoustic environments.
The proposed BIOSS framework has the potential to significantly impact the field of room acoustics by providing a unified approach that can bridge the gap between various modeling techniques. Its implications extend to applications in architectural acoustics, sound design, and virtual environments, where accurate acoustic modeling is crucial. The main contribution of this paper is the introduction of a novel framework for room acoustics modeling that integrates state-space theory with boundary integral equations, offering new perspectives and methodologies for future research in the field. The technical contribution is significant, as it not only advances theoretical understanding but also opens avenues for practical applications and improvements in existing acoustic models.
The growing reliance on large-scale speech data has made privacy protection a critical concern. However, existing anonymization approaches often degrade data utility, for example by disrupting acoustic continuity or reducing vocal diversity, which compromises the value of speech data for downstream tasks such as Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), Text-to-Speech (TTS), and Speech Emotion Recognition (SER). Current evaluation practices are also limited, as they mainly rely on direct testing of anonymized speech with pretrained models, providing only a partial view of utility. To address these issues, we propose a novel two-stage framework that protects both linguistic content and acoustic identity while maintaining usability. For content privacy, we employ a generative speech editing model to seamlessly replace personally identifiable information (PII), and for voice privacy, we introduce F3-VA, a flow-matching-based anonymization framework with a three-stage design that produces diverse and distinct anonymized speakers. To enable a more comprehensive assessment, we evaluate privacy using both acoustic- and content-based speaker verification metrics, and assess utility by training ASR, TTS, and SER models from scratch. Experimental results show that our framework achieves stronger privacy protection with minimal utility degradation compared to baselines from the VoicePrivacy Challenge, while the proposed evaluation protocol provides a more realistic reflection of the utility of anonymized speech under privacy protection.
Primary: Shanghai Jiao Tong University
All Institutions: Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Nanjing University, MoE Key Lab of Artificial Intelligence, Nanhu Lab
The paper presents a comprehensive two-stage framework for utility-preserved speech anonymization, effectively balancing privacy and usability in speech data. The technical contributions, particularly in generative modeling and evaluation methodologies, are significant advancements in the field of speech privacy protection.
The proposed two-stage framework for speech anonymization is innovative, combining generative speech editing for content anonymization and a flow-matching-based approach for voice anonymization. This dual focus on linguistic and voice privacy is a significant advancement over existing methods that often compromise one for the other. The use of a generative model for seamless replacement of personally identifiable information (PII) while maintaining acoustic integrity is a notable strength. The flow-matching model allows for controlled generation of diverse speaker embeddings, addressing the challenge of speaker identity preservation effectively.
The experimental setup is robust, utilizing well-known datasets (LibriSpeech, LibriTTS, IEMOCAP) for evaluating the framework's performance across ASR, TTS, and SER tasks. The results demonstrate a clear advantage of the proposed methods over baseline models, particularly in terms of privacy preservation and utility retention. The use of multiple evaluation metrics, including A-EER and C-EER for privacy, alongside WER and SECS for utility, provides a comprehensive assessment of the framework's effectiveness.
The paper provides detailed implementation specifics, including model architectures, training configurations, and evaluation protocols, which enhances reproducibility. However, the absence of publicly available code or a demo URL limits the practical reproducibility of the results.
One limitation is the reliance on specific datasets, which may not generalize to all speech data scenarios. Additionally, while the proposed methods show promise, the paper does not fully explore the performance under diverse real-world conditions, such as background noise or varied speaker demographics, which could impact the effectiveness of the anonymization.
The research addresses a critical need for privacy-preserving techniques in speech data, which is increasingly important given regulatory frameworks like GDPR. The potential applications span various domains, including healthcare, legal services, and voice-assisted technologies, where maintaining user privacy is paramount. The framework could significantly influence future research and development in speech processing and privacy protection. The paper presents a comprehensive two-stage framework for utility-preserved speech anonymization, effectively balancing privacy and usability in speech data. The technical contributions, particularly in generative modeling and evaluation methodologies, are significant advancements in the field of speech privacy protection.
Video-to-Speech (VTS) generation aims to synthesize speech from a silent video without auditory signals. However, existing VTS methods disregard the hierarchical nature of speech, which spans coarse speaker-aware semantics to fine-grained prosodic details. This oversight hinders direct alignment between visual and speech features at specific hierarchical levels during property matching. In this paper, leveraging the hierarchical structure of Residual Vector Quantization (RVQ)-based codec, we propose HiCoDiT, a novel Hierarchical Codec Diffusion Transformer that exploits the inherent hierarchy of discrete speech tokens to achieve strong audio-visual alignment. Specifically, since lower-level tokens encode coarse speaker-aware semantics and higher-level tokens capture fine-grained prosody, HiCoDiT employs low-level and high-level blocks to generate tokens at different levels. The low-level blocks condition on lip-synchronized motion and facial identity to capture speaker-aware content, while the high-level blocks use facial expression to modulate prosodic dynamics. Finally, to enable more effective coarse-to-fine conditioning, we propose a dual-scale adaptive instance layer normalization that jointly captures global vocal style through channel-wise normalization and local prosody dynamics through temporal-wise normalization. Extensive experiments demonstrate that HiCoDiT outperforms baselines in fidelity and expressiveness, highlighting the potential of discrete modelling for VTS. The code and speech demo are both available at https://github.com/Jiaxin-Ye/HiCoDiT.
Primary: Fudan University
All Institutions: Fudan University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Computing Technology
The main contribution of this paper is the introduction of HiCoDiT, a Hierarchical Codec Diffusion Transformer that leverages the hierarchical structure of speech tokens for improved video-to-speech generation. This work represents a substantial advancement in the field by addressing the limitations of existing methods and providing a robust framework for future research and applications in multimodal audio-visual synthesis.
The proposed methodology, HiCoDiT, introduces a novel hierarchical codec diffusion transformer that effectively utilizes the hierarchical structure of speech tokens to improve video-to-speech generation. By incorporating low-level and high-level blocks for token generation, the model captures both speaker-aware semantics and prosodic details, which is a significant advancement over existing methods that treat speech as a flat sequence. The dual-scale adaptive instance layer normalization is particularly innovative, allowing for better conditioning of speech generation based on visual features.
The experiments are extensive, utilizing well-known datasets such as VoxCeleb2, LRS2, and LRS3. The paper provides a comprehensive evaluation with both subjective (MOS, A/B testing) and objective metrics (WER, DNSMOS, MCD), demonstrating that HiCoDiT outperforms state-of-the-art methods in several key areas, including naturalness and synchronization. The ablation studies further validate the importance of the hierarchical modeling and dual-scale AdaLN in enhancing performance.
The paper includes sufficient implementation details, such as the training procedure, model architecture, and hyperparameters, which support reproducibility. The availability of the code and demo enhances the likelihood that other researchers can replicate the results.
While the paper demonstrates strong performance, it does not address potential limitations related to the diversity of the training data, which may affect the model's generalization capabilities. Additionally, the reliance on specific visual features for conditioning may limit applicability in scenarios where such features are not easily extractable.
The implications of this work are significant, particularly for applications in assistive communication, dubbing, and other areas where video-to-speech generation can enhance user experience. The hierarchical approach could pave the way for more nuanced and expressive speech synthesis systems, potentially benefiting a wide range of industries. The main contribution of this paper is the introduction of HiCoDiT, a Hierarchical Codec Diffusion Transformer that leverages the hierarchical structure of speech tokens for improved video-to-speech generation. This work represents a substantial advancement in the field by addressing the limitations of existing methods and providing a robust framework for future research and applications in multimodal audio-visual synthesis.
Audio deepfakes pose a significant security threat, yet current state-of-the-art (SOTA) detection systems do not generalize well to realistic in-the-wild deepfakes. We introduce a novel \textbf{I}n-\textbf{C}ontext \textbf{L}earning paradigm with comparison-guidance for \textbf{A}udio \textbf{D}eepfake detection (\textbf{ICLAD}). The framework enables the use of audio language models (ALMs) for training-free generalization to unseen deepfakes and provides textual rationales on the detection outcome. At the core of ICLAD is a pairwise comparative reasoning strategy that guides the ALM to discover and filter hallucinations and deepfake-irrelevant acoustic attributes. The ALM works alongside a specialized deepfake detector, whereby a routing mechanism feeds out-of-distribution samples to the ALM. On in-the-wild datasets, ICLAD improves macro F1 over the specialized detector, with up to $2\times$ relative improvement. Further analysis demonstrates the flexibility of ICLAD and its potential for deployment on recent open-source ALMs.
Primary: Purdue University
All Institutions: Purdue University, Reality Defender Inc.
The paper presents ICLAD, a novel framework for audio deepfake detection that utilizes in-context learning and comparative reasoning to improve generalization to unseen deepfakes while providing textual explanations for its decisions. This work represents a meaningful advancement in the field, addressing critical challenges in deepfake detection and enhancing the interpretability of machine learning models.
The proposed ICLAD framework introduces an innovative approach to audio deepfake detection by leveraging in-context learning (ICL) and a pairwise comparative reasoning (PCR) strategy. This methodology is notable for its training-free adaptation to unseen deepfakes, which is a significant advancement over traditional fine-tuning methods. The integration of textual rationales enhances interpretability, allowing for a deeper understanding of the model's decision-making process. However, the reliance on a proprietary ALM for evidence generation may limit accessibility and reproducibility.
The experiments are comprehensive, evaluating ICLAD across five diverse datasets, including both scripted and in-the-wild audio. The reported improvements in macro F1 scores, particularly in challenging in-the-wild scenarios, demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The use of multiple evaluation metrics, including macro F1 and accuracy, is appropriate for assessing model performance in real-world applications. However, the paper could benefit from more detailed comparisons with additional baselines to further validate the claims.
The paper provides a clear description of the experimental setup, including dataset details and evaluation protocols. However, the use of proprietary models may hinder full reproducibility. Future work could focus on open-source alternatives to ensure that the methodology can be widely adopted and tested by the research community.
Key limitations include the performance degradation of ICLAD on scripted datasets, suggesting that while the model excels in spontaneous speech scenarios, it struggles with the structured nature of studio recordings. Additionally, the dependency on proprietary models raises concerns about accessibility and potential biases inherent in the training data of the ALMs used.
The implications of this research are significant, as audio deepfakes pose a growing threat to security and misinformation. The ability to detect deepfakes effectively could enhance trust in audio communications across various domains, including media, law enforcement, and social platforms. The interpretability aspect of ICLAD also contributes to the broader goal of developing transparent AI systems. The paper presents ICLAD, a novel framework for audio deepfake detection that utilizes in-context learning and comparative reasoning to improve generalization to unseen deepfakes while providing textual explanations for its decisions. This work represents a meaningful advancement in the field, addressing critical challenges in deepfake detection and enhancing the interpretability of machine learning models.
Speech translation for low-resource languages remains fundamentally limited by the scarcity of high-quality, diverse parallel speech data, a challenge that is especially pronounced in African linguistic contexts. To address this, we introduce NaijaS2ST, a parallel speech translation dataset spanning Igbo, Hausa, Yorùbá, and Nigerian Pidgin paired with English. The dataset comprises approximately 50 hours of speech per language and captures substantial variation in speakers and accents, reflecting realistic multilingual and multi-accent conditions. With NaijaS2ST, we conduct a comprehensive benchmark of cascaded, end-to-end (E2E), and AudioLLM-based approaches across bidirectional translation settings. Our results show that audio LLMs with few-shot examples are more effective for speech-to-text translation than cascaded and end-to-end methods trained on fine-tuned data. However, for speech-to-speech translation, the cascaded and audio LLM paradigms yield comparable performance, indicating that there is still considerable room for improvement in developing targeted, task-specific models for this setting. By providing both a high-quality dataset and a systematic benchmark, we hope that NaijaS2ST will serve as a strong foundation for advancing research in low-resource, multilingual speech translation.
Primary: Mila - Quebec AI Institute
All Institutions: Mila - Quebec AI Institute, McGill University, Google DeepMind, Hausa NLP, Imperial College, University of Pretoria, Masakhane NLP, Naija Wikipedia Community, Canada CIFAR AI Chair
The main contribution of this paper is the introduction of the NaijaS2ST dataset and a comprehensive evaluation of speech translation models for low-resource Nigerian languages. This work significantly advances the field of speech translation by addressing the critical gap in data availability and model performance for underrepresented languages, ultimately contributing to more equitable access to information and communication technologies.
The paper presents a well-structured methodology for creating the NaijaS2ST dataset, which encompasses a diverse range of speakers and accents across four Nigerian languages. The systematic benchmarking of various translation models (cascaded, end-to-end, and AudioLLM-based) is thorough, providing insights into the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. The use of quality control measures in data collection enhances the reliability of the dataset.
The experiments are comprehensive, comparing multiple models across different translation tasks and directions. The results clearly demonstrate the advantages of AudioLLM systems over traditional cascaded methods, providing valuable benchmarks for future research. However, the evaluation metrics used could benefit from further exploration of their applicability to low-resource languages.
The paper outlines the data collection and experimental setup in detail, which aids reproducibility. However, the lack of shared code or dataset access limits the ability for others to replicate the findings directly.
The study acknowledges limitations such as the controlled nature of the evaluation, which may not reflect real-world scenarios. Additionally, the exploration of model configurations, particularly for AudioLLMs, is not exhaustive, potentially overlooking optimal strategies for performance improvement.
This work has significant implications for advancing speech translation technologies in low-resource languages, particularly in African contexts. By providing a robust dataset and benchmark, it paves the way for more inclusive multilingual technologies that can enhance communication and access to information for millions of speakers. The main contribution of this paper is the introduction of the NaijaS2ST dataset and a comprehensive evaluation of speech translation models for low-resource Nigerian languages. This work significantly advances the field of speech translation by addressing the critical gap in data availability and model performance for underrepresented languages, ultimately contributing to more equitable access to information and communication technologies.
Music understanding and reasoning are central challenges in the Music Information Research field, with applications ranging from retrieval and recommendation to music agents and virtual assistants. Recent Large Audio-Language Models (LALMs) have shown remarkable progress in answering music-related questions by following user instructions. However, their massive scale, often billions of parameters, results in expensive training, slow inference, and limited deployability on edge devices. In this work, we present TinyMU, a lightweight (229M) Music-Language Model (MLM) that achieves performance comparable to much larger LALMs while remaining efficient and compact. To train TinyMU, we introduce MusicSkills-3.5M, a carefully curated, music-grounded question-answering dataset with 3.5M samples. Spanning multiple-choice, binary, and open-ended formats, this dataset provides fine-grained supervision across diverse musical concepts. For its architecture, TinyMU leverages MATPAC++, the SOTA self-supervised audio encoder for fine-grained feature extraction. Paired with a lightweight linear projector, it efficiently aligns audio embeddings with the language model. Through extensive evaluation, we show that TinyMU performs strongly in both basic music understanding and complex reasoning. Notably, on the MuChoMusic benchmark, it achieves 82\% of SOTA LALM's performance despite being 35x smaller, highlighting the potential of small MLMs under constrained computational budgets.
Primary: Télécom Paris
All Institutions: Télécom Paris, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
This paper presents TinyMU, a compact Music-Language Model that achieves strong performance on music understanding and reasoning tasks while being efficient and deployable. The technical contributions, particularly the innovative dataset and the architecture design, mark a significant advancement in the field of music information retrieval and audio-language models.
The methodology presented in this paper is robust, focusing on the development of TinyMU, a compact Music-Language Model that leverages a novel dataset, MusicSkills-3.5M, and a state-of-the-art audio encoder, MATPAC++. The authors effectively combine diverse question-answering formats to enhance the model's reasoning and understanding capabilities. The architecture is well-structured, utilizing a lightweight linear projector to align audio and language embeddings, which is a practical approach for compact models. The ablation studies are comprehensive, providing insights into the contributions of different components, which strengthens the validity of the findings.
The experiments conducted are thorough, comparing TinyMU against several state-of-the-art models across multiple benchmarks. The results demonstrate that TinyMU achieves competitive performance despite its significantly smaller size, which is a notable achievement in the field. The evaluation metrics used, such as METEOR and BERT-Score, are appropriate for the tasks at hand, and the zero-shot evaluation on independent datasets adds credibility to the results. However, the paper could benefit from more detailed discussions on the statistical significance of the results.
While the paper mentions that codes and data are available, it lacks specific URLs for the project or demo, which could hinder reproducibility. The methodology is described in sufficient detail, but without access to the actual implementation, it may be challenging for other researchers to replicate the findings fully. Clearer documentation and availability of the code would enhance reproducibility.
One limitation of the study is the reliance on the quality and diversity of the MusicSkills-3.5M dataset, which, while comprehensive, may still have biases inherent in the data sources used. Additionally, the model's performance on more complex reasoning tasks may still lag behind larger models, indicating that further improvements are necessary for broader applicability. The paper does not sufficiently address potential ethical considerations in music understanding and generation, which is an important aspect of AI research.
The implications of this research are significant, as it addresses the need for efficient models that can operate in resource-constrained environments, making music understanding technology more accessible. The development of a compact model like TinyMU could enable real-time applications in music recommendation systems, virtual assistants, and educational tools, thus broadening the reach of AI in the music domain. This paper presents TinyMU, a compact Music-Language Model that achieves strong performance on music understanding and reasoning tasks while being efficient and deployable. The technical contributions, particularly the innovative dataset and the architecture design, mark a significant advancement in the field of music information retrieval and audio-language models.
Recent end-to-end spoken dialogue models enable natural interaction. However, as user demands become increasingly complex, models that rely solely on conversational abilities often struggle to cope. Incorporating agentic capabilities is therefore essential: by enabling tool use, these models can extend their knowledge boundaries and better solve real-world tasks. Yet, existing research has largely concentrated on core perception and generation, with comparatively limited exploration of such tool-augmented extensions. To bridge this gap, we present VoxMind, an integrated framework designed to equip end-to-end spoken dialogue models with comprehensive agentic abilities. Leveraging our curated 470-hour AgentChat dataset, we incorporate a "Think-before-Speak" mechanism, enabling the model to internalize structured reasoning as a critical prerequisite for planning and response generation. Furthermore, to mitigate latency bottlenecks caused by large-scale tool integration, we propose a Multi-Agent Dynamic Tool Management architecture. By asynchronously delegating retrieval tasks to an auxiliary agent aligned with the main model's reasoning trajectory, this system effectively decouples inference latency from toolset size. Experimental results confirm that VoxMind achieves significant improvements in agent performance: compared with strong baselines, the task completion rate increases from 34.88% to 74.57%, outperforming Gemini-2.5-Pro on spoken agent tasks while preserving general conversational quality. The source code and associated data are publicly available at https://github.com/MM-Speech/VoxMind.
Primary: Zhejiang University
All Institutions: Zhejiang University, China University of Petroleum-Beijing at Karamay, Xiamen University
The main contribution of this work is the introduction of VoxMind, a novel framework that enhances spoken dialogue systems with agentic capabilities through structured reasoning and dynamic tool management. This paper significantly advances the field by addressing critical gaps in the capabilities of existing end-to-end spoken dialogue models, providing a robust theoretical and practical foundation for future research and applications.
The paper presents a well-structured and innovative methodology for developing an end-to-end spoken dialogue system, VoxMind, which integrates agentic capabilities through a "Think-before-Speak" mechanism and a Multi-Agent Dynamic Tool Management architecture. The formal definition of End-to-End Spoken Agents and the construction of the AgentChat dataset are significant contributions that address existing gaps in the field. The proposed methods are theoretically sound and practically relevant, demonstrating a clear understanding of the challenges in spoken dialogue systems.
The experiments are comprehensive, comparing VoxMind against strong baselines, including closed-source models. The reported improvements in task completion rates and core agent competencies are substantial, showcasing the effectiveness of the proposed framework. The evaluation metrics used are appropriate, and the ablation studies provide insights into the importance of reasoning capabilities in enhancing performance.
The paper provides sufficient implementation details, including training configurations and dataset compositions, which facilitate reproducibility. The source code and dataset are publicly available, further supporting the reproducibility of the results.
The paper acknowledges the inherent latency introduced by the "Think-before-Speak" mechanism and the potential limitations of the AgentChat dataset, which may not fully capture the nuances of spontaneous spoken language. Future work should address these issues to enhance the practical applicability of the system.
The advancements presented in VoxMind have significant implications for real-world applications in spoken dialogue systems, particularly in areas requiring complex reasoning and tool usage. The integration of agentic capabilities could enhance user interactions in various domains, including customer service, education, and personal assistance. The main contribution of this work is the introduction of VoxMind, a novel framework that enhances spoken dialogue systems with agentic capabilities through structured reasoning and dynamic tool management. This paper significantly advances the field by addressing critical gaps in the capabilities of existing end-to-end spoken dialogue models, providing a robust theoretical and practical foundation for future research and applications.
We present ArtifactNet, a lightweight framework that detects AI-generated music by reframing the problem as forensic physics -- extracting and analyzing the physical artifacts that neural audio codecs inevitably imprint on generated audio. A bounded-mask UNet (ArtifactUNet, 3.6M parameters) extracts codec residuals from magnitude spectrograms, which are then decomposed via HPSS into 7-channel forensic features for classification by a compact CNN (0.4M parameters; 4.0M total). We introduce ArtifactBench, a multi-generator evaluation benchmark comprising 6,183 tracks (4,383 AI from 22 generators and 1,800 real from 6 diverse sources). Each track is tagged with bench_origin for fair zero-shot evaluation. On the unseen test partition (n=2,263), ArtifactNet achieves F1 = 0.9829 with FPR = 1.49%, compared to CLAM (F1 = 0.7576, FPR = 69.26%) and SpecTTTra (F1 = 0.7713, FPR = 19.43%) evaluated under identical conditions with published checkpoints. Codec-aware training (4-way WAV/MP3/AAC/Opus augmentation) further reduces cross-codec probability drift by 83% (Delta = 0.95 -> 0.16), resolving the primary codec-invariance failure mode. These results establish forensic physics -- direct extraction of codec-level artifacts -- as a more generalizable and parameter-efficient paradigm for AI music detection than representation learning, using 49x fewer parameters than CLAM and 4.8x fewer than SpecTTTra.
Primary: Dongguk University
All Institutions: Dongguk University
ArtifactNet presents a compact and efficient framework for detecting AI-generated music by leveraging forensic physics to analyze codec artifacts. The innovative methodology, robust experimental validation, and potential for significant real-world applications position this work as a meaningful contribution to the field of machine learning and audio forensics.
The methodology proposed in ArtifactNet is innovative, utilizing a bounded-mask UNet for forensic residual extraction, which is a novel approach in the context of AI-generated music detection. The use of Harmonic-Percussive Source Separation (HPSS) to derive forensic features from audio residuals is particularly noteworthy, as it repurposes existing techniques in a novel way. The two-phase training process, which includes knowledge distillation and codec-aware fine-tuning, is a sophisticated strategy that enhances the model's robustness against codec-induced artifacts. The overall architecture is efficient, with a total of 4.0M parameters, which is significantly lower than competing models while achieving superior performance.
The experiments are well-designed, utilizing a comprehensive benchmark (ArtifactBench) that includes a diverse set of audio tracks from multiple AI generators and real sources. The reported performance metrics, such as an F1 score of 0.9829 and a low false positive rate (FPR) of 1.49%, demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The comparison against existing models (CLAM and SpecTTTra) under identical conditions provides a clear validation of ArtifactNet's advantages. The inclusion of sanity checks and an OOD taxonomy adds rigor to the evaluation process.
The paper provides a clear baseline reproduction protocol, detailing the implementation specifics for ArtifactNet and the comparison models. The availability of the codebase on GitHub enhances reproducibility, allowing other researchers to verify the results and build upon the work. The authors also document the exact reproduction protocol, which is crucial for independent verification.
The paper acknowledges several limitations, including the requirement for full-bandwidth input, which may restrict the applicability of the method in scenarios where lower sample rates are used. Additionally, the model's performance on heavily compressed audio sources is a concern, as indicated by the high FPR observed in certain cases. The potential for future AI music generators to evade detection by altering their underlying mechanisms is also noted, highlighting the need for ongoing adaptation of the detection framework.
The implications of this research are significant, particularly as AI-generated music becomes increasingly prevalent. The ability to detect such music has important applications in copyright enforcement, content moderation, and the preservation of artistic integrity in music production. The forensic approach taken by ArtifactNet could pave the way for further advancements in audio forensics and detection methodologies. ArtifactNet presents a compact and efficient framework for detecting AI-generated music by leveraging forensic physics to analyze codec artifacts. The innovative methodology, robust experimental validation, and potential for significant real-world applications position this work as a meaningful contribution to the field of machine learning and audio forensics.
Non-verbal vocalizations (NVVs) like laugh, sigh, and sob are essential for human-like speech, yet standardized evaluation remains limited in jointly assessing whether systems can generate the intended NVVs, place them correctly, and keep them salient without harming speech. We present Non-verbal Vocalization Benchmark (NVBench), a bilingual (English/Chinese) benchmark that evaluates speech synthesis with NVVs. NVBench pairs a unified 45-type taxonomy with a curated bilingual dataset and introduces a multi-axis protocol that separates general speech naturalness and quality from NVV-specific controllability, placement, and salience. We benchmark 15 TTS systems using objective metrics, listening tests, and an LLM-based multi-rater evaluation. Results reveal that NVVs controllability often decouples from quality, while low-SNR oral cues and long-duration affective NVVs remain persistent bottlenecks. NVBench enables fair cross-system comparison across diverse control interfaces under a unified, standardized framework.
Primary: affiliation=1
All Institutions: affiliation=1, affiliation=2, affiliation=3, affiliation=4, affiliation=5, affiliation=6, affiliation=7
The main contribution of this paper is the introduction of NVBench, a standardized benchmark for evaluating TTS systems' ability to synthesize non-verbal vocalizations, which addresses a critical gap in the field of speech synthesis. The comprehensive methodology and rigorous experimental evaluation provide valuable insights into the performance of various TTS systems, paving the way for advancements in more human-like speech synthesis.
The paper introduces NVBench, a comprehensive benchmark for evaluating speech synthesis with non-verbal vocalizations (NVVs) using a multi-axis evaluation protocol that separates general speech quality from NVV-specific controllability, placement, and salience. The methodology includes a well-defined taxonomy of 45 NVV types and a bilingual dataset, which enhances the robustness of the evaluation framework. The integration of objective metrics, human listening tests, and LLM-based evaluations demonstrates a thorough approach to benchmarking TTS systems.
The authors benchmark 15 TTS systems using a variety of metrics, including intelligibility, quality, and NVV-specific metrics. The results reveal critical insights into the performance of these systems, particularly the decoupling of NVV controllability from overall speech quality. The experimental design is rigorous, with a clear focus on both objective and subjective evaluations, providing a comprehensive view of system performance.
The paper outlines a detailed methodology for dataset construction and evaluation, which aids reproducibility. However, the lack of explicit links to code repositories or detailed implementation instructions may hinder full reproducibility for some researchers.
The study acknowledges persistent bottlenecks in synthesizing low-SNR oral cues and long-duration affective NVVs, indicating areas for future improvement. Additionally, the reliance on human evaluations may introduce variability that could affect results.
This work has significant implications for improving human-computer interaction by enhancing the expressiveness and emotional depth of synthetic speech. The benchmark can serve as a foundation for future research in TTS systems, particularly in applications requiring nuanced emotional communication. The main contribution of this paper is the introduction of NVBench, a standardized benchmark for evaluating TTS systems' ability to synthesize non-verbal vocalizations, which addresses a critical gap in the field of speech synthesis. The comprehensive methodology and rigorous experimental evaluation provide valuable insights into the performance of various TTS systems, paving the way for advancements in more human-like speech synthesis.