Speech directivity patterns generated from a high-fidelity speech corpus

Abstract

Human talkers are directional sound sources—a phenomenon that has consequences for speech perception in multi-talker environments. Directivity patterns for speech showing frequency- and angle-dependent radiation reveal that speech generally becomes more directional toward the front of the talker as frequency increases. Differences in physical attributes can lead to individual variability in directivity patterns across talkers. Here, we examine individual variability in speech directivity using frequency-dependentdirectivity indices and directivity maps. Speech directivity was examined in the horizontal plane using a corpus of simultaneous multi-channelfull-bandwidth (48-kHz sampling rate) recordings of the Bamford-Kowal-Bench (BKB) sentences recorded in an anechoic chamber. Thirty subjects (15 female) were recorded. The long-term average speech spectrum was utilized to calculate directivity indices in 1-ERB (equivalent rectangular bandwidth) bands. Gender differences in directivity indices were evaluated using a linear mixed-effects model. There was no main effect of gender. There was a main effect of ERB band with higher-frequency bands tending to have higher (i.e., more directional) directivity indices, however there was a nonmonotonic relationship between average directivity indices and frequency. Directivity maps demonstrated individual differences in speech radiation. [Work supported by NIH under Grant No. R01-DC019745.]