Do we really need Self-Attention for Streaming Automatic Speech Recognition?

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Hauptverfasser: Dkhissi, Youness, Vielzeuf, Valentin, Allesiardo, Elys, Larcher, Anthony
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2026
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author Dkhissi, Youness
Vielzeuf, Valentin
Allesiardo, Elys
Larcher, Anthony
author_facet Dkhissi, Youness
Vielzeuf, Valentin
Allesiardo, Elys
Larcher, Anthony
contents Transformer-based architectures are the most used architectures in many deep learning fields like Natural Language Processing, Computer Vision or Speech processing. It may encourage the direct use of Transformers in the constrained tasks, without questioning whether it will yield the same benefits as in standard tasks. Given specific constraints, it is essential to evaluate the relevance of transformer models. This work questions the suitability of transformers for specific domains. We argue that the high computational requirements and latency issues associated with these models do not align well with streaming applications. Our study promotes the search for alternative strategies to improve efficiency without sacrificing performance. In light of this observation, our paper critically examines the usefulness of transformer architecture in such constrained environments. As a first attempt, we show that the computational cost for Streaming Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) can be reduced using deformable convolution instead of Self-Attention. Furthermore, we show that Self-Attention mechanisms can be entirely removed and not replaced, without observing significant degradation in the Word Error Rate.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_19960
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Do we really need Self-Attention for Streaming Automatic Speech Recognition?
Dkhissi, Youness
Vielzeuf, Valentin
Allesiardo, Elys
Larcher, Anthony
Audio and Speech Processing
Artificial Intelligence
Sound
Transformer-based architectures are the most used architectures in many deep learning fields like Natural Language Processing, Computer Vision or Speech processing. It may encourage the direct use of Transformers in the constrained tasks, without questioning whether it will yield the same benefits as in standard tasks. Given specific constraints, it is essential to evaluate the relevance of transformer models. This work questions the suitability of transformers for specific domains. We argue that the high computational requirements and latency issues associated with these models do not align well with streaming applications. Our study promotes the search for alternative strategies to improve efficiency without sacrificing performance. In light of this observation, our paper critically examines the usefulness of transformer architecture in such constrained environments. As a first attempt, we show that the computational cost for Streaming Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) can be reduced using deformable convolution instead of Self-Attention. Furthermore, we show that Self-Attention mechanisms can be entirely removed and not replaced, without observing significant degradation in the Word Error Rate.
title Do we really need Self-Attention for Streaming Automatic Speech Recognition?
topic Audio and Speech Processing
Artificial Intelligence
Sound
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.19960