Audio Classification and Categorization Based on Wavelets and Support Vector Machine

In this paper, an improved audio classification and categorization technique is presented. This technique makes use of wavelets and support vector machines (SVMs) to accurately classify and categorize audio data. When a query audio is given, wavelets are first applied to extract acoustical features such as subband power and pitch information. Then, the proposed method uses a bottom-up SVM over these acoustical features and additional parameters, such as frequency cepstral coefficients, to accomplish audio classification and categorization. A public audio database (Muscle Fish), which consists of 410 sounds in 16 classes, is used to evaluate the performances of the proposed method against other similar schemes. Experimental results show that the classification errors are reduced from 16 (8.1%) to six (3.0%), and the categorization accuracy of a given audio sound can achieve 100% in the Top 2 matches.