System and method to improve precision and recall of prototypical networks for sound event detection

A computing device configured to train a prototypical network for sound event detection, the computing device including a processing device configured to execute instructions stored in memory to:

• receive samples of an audio signal, wherein the samples include positive samples corresponding to sound events and negative samples that do not correspond to sound events;
• determine, based on the positive samples, respective positive prototypes of a plurality of classes of sound events;
• determine, based on the negative samples, respective negative prototypes for respective groups of the negative samples, wherein each of the negative prototypes corresponds to a combination of a plurality of the negative samples;
• and
• generate, based on comparisons between (i) a first sample and (ii) the respective positive prototypes and each of the negative prototypes, an output signal that indicates whether the first sample belongs to one of the plurality of classes of sound events.

A computer-controlled machine, comprising:

• at least one sensor configured to generate an audio signal;
• a control system configured to
• receive a first sample of the audio signal, and
• generate, based on comparisons between the (i) the first sample and (ii) respective positive prototypes for each of a plurality of classes of sound events and respective negative prototypes for each of a plurality of groups of negative prototypes, an output signal that indicates whether the first sample of the audio signal belongs to one of the plurality of classes of sound events;
• and
• an actuator configured to control an operation of the computer-controlled machine in response to the output of the control system.