Classification of non-speech acoustic signals using structure models

Non-speech acoustic signals are widely used as the input of systems for non-destructive testing. In this rapidly growing field, the signals have an increasing complexity leading to the fact that powerful models are required. Methods like DTW and HMM, which are established in speech recognition, have been successfully used but are not sufficient in all cases. We propose the application of generalized structured Markov graphs (SMG). We describe a task independent structure learning technique which automatically adapts the models to the structure of the test signals. We demonstrate that our solution outperforms hand-tuned HMM structures in terms of class discrimination by two case studies using data from real applications.