Cobra Voice Activity Detection (VAD) FAQ
What is the purpose of voice activity detection in speech recognition?
Voice activity detection plays an essential role in speech recognition. It aims to separate audio signals where speech is present and where it is absent. As humans, we naturally identify various audio inputs, whether it’s another human speaking or a bird chirping. Machines cannot naturally identify audio inputs as humans do. For them, all audio inputs are audio inputs. When there’s an audio input, voice activity detection makes a binary decision and identifies whether the input is speech or not. This information is an essential input to enabling various speech recognition applications.
How does voice activity detection work?
In a nutshell, voice activity detection software applies a statistical classification rule to classify the audio stream and returns a probability value. Depending on whether the value is above or below the threshold, it’s determined as speech vs. non-speech. The statistical methods change from one engine to another.
How does webRTC VAD work?
webRTC VAD applies the same principle explained in the previous question. It uses a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) to classify audio streams. webRTC VAD is developed and open-sourced by Google along with the webRTC project.
How does Cobra VAD perform against webRTC VAD?
Compared to webRTC VAD, Cobra VAD is more accurate and resource-efficient. Cobra also runs across platforms. To communicate its claims and provide necessary tools to buyers for data-driven decision-making, Picovoice develops and publishes open-source benchmarks. Please see the open-source voice activity detection benchmark.
Can I test Cobra VAD's performance on the web?
Yes. Visit the Cobra platform page to try the web voice activity detection demo. Just like other Picovoice demos, the voice activity detection demo also runs within your browser.
Can I use Cobra VAD for speech detection?
Yes, speech detection and speech activity detection are other terms used for voice activity detection.
Does Cobra VAD detect voice activity from streaming voice data in real-time?
Yes, Cobra Voice Activity Detection can be used to detect human speech in streaming, real-time audio inputs.
Does Cobra VAD detect voice activity in voice recordings?
Yes, Cobra Voice Activity Detection can be used to detect human speech in recordings.
Can I use Cobra VAD to detect voice activity in video files?
Yes, Cobra Voice Activity Detection can be used to detect human speech in video files.
Can I use Cobra VAD in VOIP?
Yes VAD is widely used in communications, including voice over IP, and you can use Cobra, just like other VAD solutions to build telephony applications.
What can I build with Cobra?
Anything you can build with other VADs and more thanks to Cobra’s highly accurate and efficient models. Check out the Cobra VAD platform page and use cases: Voice Command and Control, Search by Voice and Speech Analytics.
Does Cobra VAD run on Linux?
Yes, Cobra Voice Activity Detection runs on Linux. Check out Cobra docs for more information.
Does Cobra VAD run on macOS?
Yes, Cobra Voice Activity Detection runs on macOS. Check out Cobra docs for more information.
Does Cobra VAD run on Windows?
Yes, Cobra Voice Activity Detection runs on Windows. Check out Cobra docs for more information.
Does Cobra VAD run on Android?
Yes, Cobra Voice Activity Detection runs on Android. Check out Cobra docs for more information.
Does Cobra VAD run on iOS?
Yes, Cobra Voice Activity Detection runs on iOS. Check out Cobra docs for more information.
Does Cobra VAD run on the web?
Yes, Cobra Voice Activity Detection supports modern web browsers such as Chrome, Firefox and Safari. Check out Cobra docs for more information.