Lawrence Rabiner
Encyclopedia
Lawrence R. Rabiner is an electrical engineer working in the fields of digital signal processing
and speech processing
; in particular in digital signal processing for automatic speech recognition. He has worked on systems for AT&T
for speech recognition.
He holds a joint academic appointment between Rutgers University
and the University of California, Santa Barbara
.
in 1996 as Director of the Speech and Image Processing Services Research Laboratory. He was promoted Vice-President of Research in 1998, succeeding Sandy Fraser, where he managed broad programs in communication, computing, and information sciences. He retired from AT&T in 2002 and joined the department of Electical Engineering at Rutgers University
, with a joint appointment at the University of California in Santa Barbara.
Dr. Rabiner has pioneered a range of novel algorithms for digital filtering and digital spectrum analysis. The most well known of these algorithms are the Chirp z-Transform method (CZT) of spectral analysis, a range of optimal FIR (finite impulse response) digital filter design methods based on linear programming and Chebyshev approximation methods, and a class of decimation/interpolation methods for digital sampling rate conversion. In the area of speech processing, Dr. Rabiner has made contributions to the fields of pitch detection, speech synthesis and speech recognition. Dr. Rabiner built one of the first digital speech synthesizers that was able to convert arbitrary text to intelligible speech. In the area of speech recognition, Dr. Rabiner was a major contributor to the creation of the statistical method of representing speech that is
known as hidden Markov modeling (HMM)
. Dr. Rabiner was the first to publish the scaling algorithm for the Forward-Backward method of training of HMM recognizers. His research showed how to successfully implement an HMM system based on either discrete or continuous density parameter distributions. His tutorial paper on HMM is highly cited. Dr. Rabiner’s research resulted in a series of speech recognition systems that went into deployment by AT&T to enable automation of a range of ‘operator services’ that previously had been carried out using live operators. One such system, called the Voice Recognition Call Processing (VRCP) system, automated a small vocabulary recognition system (5 active words) with word spotting and barge-in capability. It resulted in savings of several hundred millions of dollars annually for AT&T.
Digital signal processing
Digital signal processing is concerned with the representation of discrete time signals by a sequence of numbers or symbols and the processing of these signals. Digital signal processing and analog signal processing are subfields of signal processing...
and speech processing
Speech processing
Speech processing is the study of speech signals and the processing methods of these signals.The signals are usually processed in a digital representation, so speech processing can be regarded as a special case of digital signal processing, applied to speech signal.It is also closely tied to...
; in particular in digital signal processing for automatic speech recognition. He has worked on systems for AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
for speech recognition.
He holds a joint academic appointment between Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
and the University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
.
Education
- B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1964
- M.S. in Electrical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1964
- Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1967
Research interests
- Digital signal processingDigital signal processingDigital signal processing is concerned with the representation of discrete time signals by a sequence of numbers or symbols and the processing of these signals. Digital signal processing and analog signal processing are subfields of signal processing...
- Speech processingSpeech processingSpeech processing is the study of speech signals and the processing methods of these signals.The signals are usually processed in a digital representation, so speech processing can be regarded as a special case of digital signal processing, applied to speech signal.It is also closely tied to...
- MultimodalMultimodalMultimodal may refer to:* Multimodal distribution, a statistical distribution of values with multiple peaks* Multimodal interaction, a form of human-machine interaction using multiple modes of input/output....
user interfaces - Multimedia communications
- Shared Collaboration Systems for Tele-Collaboration
Life
Lawrence Rabiner was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1943. During his studies at MIT, he participated in the cooperative program at AT&T Bell Laboratories, during which he worked on digital circuit design and binaural hearing. After obtaining his PhD in 1967, he joined AT&T Bell Laboratories' research division in Murray Hill, NJ as a Member of Technical Staff. He was promoted to Supervisor in 1972, Department Head in 1985, Director in 1990, and Functional Vice-President in 1995. He joined the newly-created AT&T Labs - ResearchAT&T Laboratories
AT&T Laboratories, Inc. was the research & development division of AT&T Corporation. It was founded in 1925 as Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc., following the merger of the research & development divisions of American Telephone & Telegraph and Western Electric.-History:In 1996, most of Bell Labs...
in 1996 as Director of the Speech and Image Processing Services Research Laboratory. He was promoted Vice-President of Research in 1998, succeeding Sandy Fraser, where he managed broad programs in communication, computing, and information sciences. He retired from AT&T in 2002 and joined the department of Electical Engineering at Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
, with a joint appointment at the University of California in Santa Barbara.
Dr. Rabiner has pioneered a range of novel algorithms for digital filtering and digital spectrum analysis. The most well known of these algorithms are the Chirp z-Transform method (CZT) of spectral analysis, a range of optimal FIR (finite impulse response) digital filter design methods based on linear programming and Chebyshev approximation methods, and a class of decimation/interpolation methods for digital sampling rate conversion. In the area of speech processing, Dr. Rabiner has made contributions to the fields of pitch detection, speech synthesis and speech recognition. Dr. Rabiner built one of the first digital speech synthesizers that was able to convert arbitrary text to intelligible speech. In the area of speech recognition, Dr. Rabiner was a major contributor to the creation of the statistical method of representing speech that is
known as hidden Markov modeling (HMM)
Hidden Markov model
A hidden Markov model is a statistical Markov model in which the system being modeled is assumed to be a Markov process with unobserved states. An HMM can be considered as the simplest dynamic Bayesian network. The mathematics behind the HMM was developed by L. E...
. Dr. Rabiner was the first to publish the scaling algorithm for the Forward-Backward method of training of HMM recognizers. His research showed how to successfully implement an HMM system based on either discrete or continuous density parameter distributions. His tutorial paper on HMM is highly cited. Dr. Rabiner’s research resulted in a series of speech recognition systems that went into deployment by AT&T to enable automation of a range of ‘operator services’ that previously had been carried out using live operators. One such system, called the Voice Recognition Call Processing (VRCP) system, automated a small vocabulary recognition system (5 active words) with word spotting and barge-in capability. It resulted in savings of several hundred millions of dollars annually for AT&T.
Awards and recognitions
- Acoustical Society of America Fellow, 1970
- Paper Award of IEEE Group on Audio and Electroacoustics, 1971
- Eta Kappa NuEta Kappa NuEta Kappa Nu is the electrical and computer engineering honor society of the IEEE, founded in October 1904 by Maurice L. Carr at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The organization currently has around 200 student chapters and about 3,000,000 members and is headquartered in Chicago,...
Outstanding Young Electrical Engineer Award - Honorable Mention, 1972 - ASA Biennial Award, 1974
- IEEE Fellow, 1976
- IEEE ASSP Achievement Award, 1978
- IEEE Emanuel R. Piore AwardIEEE Emanuel R. Piore AwardThe IEEE Emanuel R. Piore Award is a Technical Field Award given each year by the IEEE to an individual or small team that has made outstanding contributions to information processing systems in relation to computer science. The award is named in honor of Emanuel R. Piore.The award was established...
, 1980 (with Ronald Schafer) - IEEE ASSP Society Award, 1980
- Election to National Academy of EngineeringNational Academy of EngineeringThe National Academy of Engineering is a government-created non-profit institution in the United States, that was founded in 1964 under the same congressional act that led to the founding of the National Academy of Sciences...
, 1983 - IEEE Centennial Award, 1984
- AT&T Bell Laboratories Fellow, 1989
- Election to National Academy of SciencesUnited States National Academy of SciencesThe National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
, 1990 - Speech Processing Magazine Award of the IEEE, 1994
- AT&T Patent Award, 1995
- AT&T Fellow Award, 1996
- IEEE Millennium Medal, 1999
- IEEE Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing MedalIEEE Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing MedalThe IEEE Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing Medal is presented "for outstanding achievements in signal processing" theory, technology or commerce. The recipients of this award will receive a gold medal, together with a replica in bronze, a certificate and a honorarium.The award was established in...
, 1999
Recent Journal Articles
- Digital Speech Processing, B. H. Juang, M. M. Sondhi, and L. R. Rabiner, Encyclopedia of Physical Science and Technology, Third Edition, Volume 4, pp. 485–500, 2002.
- Speech and Language Processing for Next-Millennium Communications Services, R. V. Cox, C. A. Kamm, L. R. Rabiner, J. Schroeter, and J. G. Wilpon, Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol. 88, No. 8, pp. 1314–1337, August 2000
- Image and Video Coding-Emerging Standards and Beyond, B. G. Haskell, P. G. Howard, Y. A. LeCun?, A. Puri, J. Ostermann, M.R. Civanlar, L. R. Rabiner, L. Bottou, and P. Haffner, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, Vol. 8, No. 7, pp. 814–837, November 1998
- On the Applications of Multimedia Processing to Communications, R. V. Cox, B. G. Haskell, Y. LeCun?, B. Shahraray, and L. R. Rabiner, IEEE Proceedings Vol. 86, No. 5, pp. 755–824, May 1998
- The Role of Speech Processing in Human-Computer Intelligent Communication, C. A. Kamm, M. Walker, and L. R. Rabiner, Speech Communication, Vol. 23, pp. 263–278, 1997