Piotr Kawa

Nicolas M. Müller, Piotr Kawa, Wei Herng Choong et al.

This paper presents the Multi-Language Audio Anti-Spoofing Dataset (MLAAD), version 10: a dataset of synthetic audio to train and evaluate audio deepfake detection models. It features 175 Text-to-Speech (TTS) models, comprising a total of 1002.9 hours of synthetic voice in 54 different languages. To evaluate this dataset, we train three state-of-the-art deepfake detection models with MLAAD and observe that it demonstrates superior performance to comparable datasets like InTheWild and FakeOrReal when used as a training resource. Moreover, compared to the renowned ASVspoof 2019 dataset, MLAAD proves to be a complementary resource. In tests across eight datasets, MLAAD and ASVspoof 2019 alternately outperformed each other, each excelling on four datasets. By publishing the dataset and making a trained model accessible via an interactive webserver, we aim to democratize anti-spoofing technology, making it accessible beyond the realm of specialists, and contributing to global efforts against audio spoofing and deepfakes.

Piotr Kawa, Marcin Plata, Michał Czuba et al.

With a recent influx of voice generation methods, the threat introduced by audio DeepFake (DF) is ever-increasing. Several different detection methods have been presented as a countermeasure. Many methods are based on so-called front-ends, which, by transforming the raw audio, emphasize features crucial for assessing the genuineness of the audio sample. Our contribution contains investigating the influence of the state-of-the-art Whisper automatic speech recognition model as a DF detection front-end. We compare various combinations of Whisper and well-established front-ends by training 3 detection models (LCNN, SpecRNet, and MesoNet) on a widely used ASVspoof 2021 DF dataset and later evaluating them on the DF In-The-Wild dataset. We show that using Whisper-based features improves the detection for each model and outperforms recent results on the In-The-Wild dataset by reducing Equal Error Rate by 21%.

Piotr Kawa, Marcin Plata, Piotr Syga

Audio DeepFakes allow the creation of high-quality, convincing utterances and therefore pose a threat due to its potential applications such as impersonation or fake news. Methods for detecting these manipulations should be characterized by good generalization and stability leading to robustness against attacks conducted with techniques that are not explicitly included in the training. In this work, we introduce Attack Agnostic Dataset - a combination of two audio DeepFakes and one anti-spoofing datasets that, thanks to the disjoint use of attacks, can lead to better generalization of detection methods. We present a thorough analysis of current DeepFake detection methods and consider different audio features (front-ends). In addition, we propose a model based on LCNN with LFCC and mel-spectrogram front-end, which not only is characterized by a good generalization and stability results but also shows improvement over LFCC-based mode - we decrease standard deviation on all folds and EER in two folds by up to 5%.

Piotr Kawa, Marcin Plata, Piotr Syga

Audio DeepFakes are utterances generated with the use of deep neural networks. They are highly misleading and pose a threat due to use in fake news, impersonation, or extortion. In this work, we focus on increasing accessibility to the audio DeepFake detection methods by providing SpecRNet, a neural network architecture characterized by a quick inference time and low computational requirements. Our benchmark shows that SpecRNet, requiring up to about 40% less time to process an audio sample, provides performance comparable to LCNN architecture - one of the best audio DeepFake detection models. Such a method can not only be used by online multimedia services to verify a large bulk of content uploaded daily but also, thanks to its low requirements, by average citizens to evaluate materials on their devices. In addition, we provide benchmarks in three unique settings that confirm the correctness of our model. They reflect scenarios of low-resource datasets, detection on short utterances and limited attacks benchmark in which we take a closer look at the influence of particular attacks on given architectures.

Piotr Kawa, Marcin Plata, Piotr Syga

Audio DeepFakes (DF) are artificially generated utterances created using deep learning, with the primary aim of fooling the listeners in a highly convincing manner. Their quality is sufficient to pose a severe threat in terms of security and privacy, including the reliability of news or defamation. Multiple neural network-based methods to detect generated speech have been proposed to prevent the threats. In this work, we cover the topic of adversarial attacks, which decrease the performance of detectors by adding superficial (difficult to spot by a human) changes to input data. Our contribution contains evaluating the robustness of 3 detection architectures against adversarial attacks in two scenarios (white-box and using transferability) and enhancing it later by using adversarial training performed by our novel adaptive training. Moreover, one of the investigated architectures is RawNet3, which, to the best of our knowledge, we adapted for the first time to DeepFake detection.

Nicolas Müller, Piotr Kawa, Wei-Herng Choong et al.

We show how replay attacks undermine audio deepfake detection: By playing and re-recording deepfake audio through various speakers and microphones, we make spoofed samples appear authentic to the detection model. To study this phenomenon in more detail, we introduce ReplayDF, a dataset of recordings derived from M-AILABS and MLAAD, featuring 109 speaker-microphone combinations across six languages and four TTS models. It includes diverse acoustic conditions, some highly challenging for detection. Our analysis of six open-source detection models across five datasets reveals significant vulnerability, with the top-performing W2V2-AASIST model's Equal Error Rate (EER) surging from 4.7% to 18.2%. Even with adaptive Room Impulse Response (RIR) retraining, performance remains compromised with an 11.0% EER. We release ReplayDF for non-commercial research use.

Patryk Marszałek, Maciej Rut, Piotr Kawa et al.

Implicit neural representations (INR) have gained prominence for efficiently encoding multimedia data, yet their applications in audio signals remain limited. This study introduces the Kolmogorov-Arnold Network (KAN), a novel architecture using learnable activation functions, as an effective INR model for audio representation. KAN demonstrates superior perceptual performance over previous INRs, achieving the lowest Log-SpectralDistance of 1.29 and the highest Perceptual Evaluation of Speech Quality of 3.57 for 1.5 s audio. To extend KAN's utility, we propose FewSound, a hypernetwork-based architecture that enhances INR parameter updates. FewSound outperforms the state-of-the-art HyperSound, with a 33.3% improvement in MSE and 60.87% in SI-SNR. These results show KAN as a robust and adaptable audio representation with the potential for scalability and integration into various hypernetwork frameworks. The source code can be accessed at https://github.com/gmum/fewsound.git.

Piotr Kawa, Kornel Howil, Piotr Borycki et al.

Explainable AI (XAI) has achieved remarkable success in image classification, yet the audio domain lacks equally mature solutions. Current methods apply vision-based attribution techniques to spectrograms, overlooking fundamental differences between visual and acoustic signals. While prototype reasoning is promising, acoustic similarity remains multidimensional. We introduce APEX (Audio Prototype EXplanations), a post-hoc framework for interpreting pre-trained audio classifiers. Crucially, APEX requires no fine-tuning of the original backbone and strictly preserves output invariance. APEX disentangles explanations into four perspectives: Square-based prototypes to localize transient events, Time-based for temporal patterns, Frequency-based highlighting spectral bands, and Time-Frequency-based integrating both. This yields intuitive, example-based explanations that respect acoustic properties, providing greater semantic clarity than standard gradient-based methods.

Nicolas M. Müller, Piotr Kawa, Shen Hu et al.

Voice faking, driven primarily by recent advances in text-to-speech (TTS) synthesis technology, poses significant societal challenges. Currently, the prevailing assumption is that unaltered human speech can be considered genuine, while fake speech comes from TTS synthesis. We argue that this binary distinction is oversimplified. For instance, altered playback speeds can be used for malicious purposes, like in the 'Drunken Nancy Pelosi' incident. Similarly, editing of audio clips can be done ethically, e.g., for brevity or summarization in news reporting or podcasts, but editing can also create misleading narratives. In this paper, we propose a conceptual shift away from the binary paradigm of audio being either 'fake' or 'real'. Instead, our focus is on pinpointing 'voice edits', which encompass traditional modifications like filters and cuts, as well as TTS synthesis and VC systems. We delineate 6 categories and curate a new challenge dataset rooted in the M-AILABS corpus, for which we present baseline detection systems. And most importantly, we argue that merely categorizing audio as fake or real is a dangerous over-simplification that will fail to move the field of speech technology forward.

Nicolas Müller, Piotr Kawa, Adriana Stan et al.

Deepfakes - manipulated or forged audio and video media - pose significant security risks to individuals, organizations, and society at large. To address these challenges, machine learning-based classifiers are commonly employed to detect deepfake content. In this paper, we assess the robustness of such classifiers through a systematic penetration testing methodology, which we introduce as DeePen. Our approach operates without prior knowledge of or access to the target deepfake detection models. Instead, it leverages a set of carefully selected signal processing modifications - referred to as attacks - to evaluate model vulnerabilities. Using DeePen, we analyze both real-world production systems and publicly available academic model checkpoints, demonstrating that all tested systems exhibit weaknesses and can be reliably deceived by simple manipulations such as time-stretching or echo addition. Furthermore, our findings reveal that while some attacks can be mitigated by retraining detection systems with knowledge of the specific attack, others remain persistently effective. We release all associated code.

Piotr Kawa, Piotr Syga

Deepfakes are videos that include changes, quite often substituting face of a portrayed individual with a different face using neural networks. Even though the technology gained its popularity as a carrier of jokes and parodies it raises a serious threat to ones security - via biometric impersonation or besmearing. In this paper we present two methods that allow detecting Deepfakes for a user without significant computational power. In particular, we enhance MesoNet by replacing the original activation functions allowing a nearly 1% improvement as well as increasing the consistency of the results. Moreover, we introduced and verified a new activation function - Pish that at the cost of slight time overhead allows even higher consistency. Additionally, we present a preliminary results of Deepfake detection method based on Local Feature Descriptors (LFD), that allows setting up the system even faster and without resorting to GPU computation. Our method achieved Equal Error Rate of 0.28, with both accuracy and recall exceeding 0.7.