Is Microsoft Working on 'Performant Sound Recognition' AI Technologies?

Windows Report speculates on what Microsoft may be working on next based on a recently-published patent for 'performant sound recognition AI technologies' (dated April 2, 2024):

Microsoft's new technology can recognize different types of sounds, from doorbells to babies crying, or dogs barking, but not limited to them. It can also recognize sounds of coughing or breathing difficulties, or unusual noises, such as glass breaking. Most intriguing, it can recognize and monitor environmental sounds, and they can be further processed to let users know if a natural disaster is about to happen...

The neural network generates scores and probabilities for each type of sound event in each segment. This is like guessing what type of sound each segment is and how sure it is about the guess. After that, the system does some post-processing to smooth out the scores and probabilities and generate confidence values for each type of sound for different window sizes.

Ultimately, this technology can be used in various applications. In a smart home device, it can detect when someone breaks into the house, by recognizing the sound of glass shattering, or if a newborn is hungry, or distressed, by recognizing the sounds of baby crying. It can also be used in healthcare, to accurately detect lung or heart diseases, by recognizing heartbeat sounds, coughing, or breathing difficulties. But one of its most important applications would be to prevent casual users of upcoming natural disasters by recognizing and detecting sounds associated with them.

Thanks to Slashdot reader John Nautu for sharing the article.

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