Before the era of the neural network (NN), features extracted from auditory models have been applied to various speech applications and been demonstrated more robust against noise than conventional speech-processing features. What’s the role
of auditory models in the current NN era? Are they obsolete?
To answer this question, we construct a NN with a generative auditory model embedded to process speech signals. The
generative auditory model consists of two stages, the stage of spectrum estimation in the logarithmic-frequency axis by
the cochlea and the stage of spectral-temporal analysis in the modulation domain by the auditory cortex. The NN is evaluated
in a simple speaker identification task. Experiment results show that the auditory model embedded NN is still more
robust against noise, especially in low SNR conditions, than the randomly-initialized NN in speaker identification.