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Install GStreamer with pocketsphinx#

We use gstreamer with pocketsphinx within speech recognition.

Install gstreamer with pocketsphinx (Ubuntu 20.04 Focal)#

sudo apt install pocketsphinx libgstreamer1.0-dev libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-dev gstreamer1.0-pocketsphinx

Next, you can verify the detection of Spanish sentences on the dictionary and models hosted in our speech repository.

cd ~/repos/speech/share/speechRecognition
pocketsphinx_continuous -inmic yes -lm dictionary/20k-es.lm -dict dictionary/20k-es.dic -hmm model/es/

Check out the following sections if something goes wrong.

Install gstreamer#

sudo apt install libgstreamer1.0-dev
sudo apt install libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-dev

Install pocketsphinx dependencies#

To compile pocketsphinx from source, sphinxbase is a dependency.

Install pocketsphinx#

sudo apt install autoconf libtool
cd  # go home
mkdir -p repos; cd repos  # create $HOME/repos if it doesn't exist; then, enter it
git clone https://github.com/cmusphinx/pocketsphinx
cd pocketsphinx
./autogen.sh
./configure
make -j$(nproc)  # compile
sudo make install # install

Configure gstreamer with pocketsphinx#

We need to configure the path to look for shared libaries:

echo "export GST_PLUGIN_PATH=$GST_PLUGIN_PATH:/usr/local/lib/gstreamer-1.0" >> ~/.bashrc

Verify gstreamer with pocketsphinx#

To verify that GStreamer can find the plugin. You should get a large amount of output, ending with something like this:

gst-inspect-1.0 pocketsphinx

decoder             : The underlying decoder
                       flags: readable
                       Boxed pointer of type "PSDecoder"

To test that all is running ok:

pocketsphinx_continuous -inmic yes

Troubleshooting GStreamer with pocketsphinx#

Most importantly, follow steps in correct order: first gstreamer, then pocketsphinx, and finally configure. If you install pocketsphinx without gstreamer, you'll end up having to install gstreamer first, then re-.configure pocketsphinx, compile and install again.

Some tutorials also recommend: 

echo "export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/usr/local/lib" >> ~/.bashrc
echo "export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=$PKG_CONFIG_PATH:/usr/local/lib/pkgconfig" >> ~/.bashrc

As well as: 

sudo modprobe snd_pcm_oss # Depends on your sound system

References#