Accent phrase segmentation using pitch pattern clustering

A novel algorithm for breaking continuous speech into accent phrases based on an optimal phrase segmentation criterion is proposed. The optimal segmentation is carried out by using a one-stage DP search algorithm between a pitch pattern from input speech and pitch-pattern templates of accent phrases. The LBG clustering algorithm is used to make up the pitch-pattern templates from a large number of training data. Experiments showed more than 88% of the accent-phrase boundaries were correctly detected. A novel feature value for representing pitch patterns instead of fundamental frequency is also presented