Automatic glottal inverse filtering from speech and electroglottographic signals

Abstract

The flow of air through the glottis, the glottal volume-velocity, reflects the action of the vocal folds and is thus an important indicator of laryngeal function. However, it cannot be measured directly because of vocal tract filtering. We have developed an automated on-line method to determine the glottal volume-velocity waveform from normal and pathological speech based on digital inverse filtering. The method developed addresses the problems of accurate identification of vocal tract parameters and reduction of low-frequency noise. The vocal tract filter is estimated by analysis of the undriven vocal tract response during closed glottis, as identified from an electroglottographic signal. Low-frequency noise is attenuated by a high-pass filtering operation followed by a low-pass compensation. The complete inverse filtering method provides reliable glottal volume-velocity waveforms for both normal and pathological speech.