Changes In Fundamental Frequency Research Articles

Masking release with changing fundamental frequency: Electric acoustic stimulation resembles normal hearing subjects

It has been shown that patients with electric acoustic stimulation (EAS) perform better in noisy environments than patients with a cochlear implant (CI). One reason for this could be the preserved access to acoustic low-frequency cues including the fundamental frequency (F0). Therefore, our primary aim was to investigate whether users of EAS experience a release from masking with increasing F0 difference between target talker and masking talker. The study comprised 29 patients and consisted of three groups of subjects: EAS users, CI users and normal-hearing listeners (NH). All CI and EAS users were implanted with a MED-EL cochlear implant and had at least 12 months of experience with the implant. Speech perception was assessed with the Oldenburg sentence test (OlSa) using one sentence from the test corpus as speech masker. The F0 in this masking sentence was shifted upwards by 4, 8, or 12 semitones. For each of these masker conditions the speech reception threshold (SRT) was assessed by adaptively varying the masker level while presenting the target sentences at a fixed level. A statistically significant improvement in speech perception was found for increasing difference in F0 between target sentence and masker sentence in EAS users (p = 0.038) and in NH listeners (p = 0.003). In CI users (classic CI or EAS users with electrical stimulation only) speech perception was independent from differences in F0 between target and masker. A release from masking with increasing difference in F0 between target and masking speech was only observed in listeners and configurations in which the low-frequency region was presented acoustically. Thus, the speech information contained in the low frequencies seems to be crucial for allowing listeners to separate multiple sources. By combining acoustic and electric information, EAS users even manage tasks as complicated as segregating the audio streams from multiple talkers. Preserving the natural code, like fine-structure cues in the low-frequency region, seems to be crucial to provide CI users with the best benefit.

Emocijos: jų atpažinimas ir kai kurie akustiniai požymiai

Tyrimo tikslas – nustatyti svarbiausius fonetinius bazinių emocijų (liūdesio, džiaugsmo, nuostabos, baimė, bjaurėjimosi, pykčio) požymius, susijusius su pagrindiniu tonu, ir kaip šie požymiai koreliuoja su emocijų atpažinimu. Tam buvo atliktas audicinis tyrimas ir akustinė fonetinių požymių analizė. Audiciniame tyrime dalyvavo 42 infomantai, kurie turėjo atpažinti keturių profesionalių aktorių šešiomis pagrindinėmis emocijomis perskaitytas frazes. Rezultatai rodo, kad bendras emocijų atpažinimas yra neblogas (81 proc.). Geriausiai informantai atpažįsta liūdesį (96 proc.), gerai atskiriamas džiaugsmas (92 proc.), baimė (88 proc.), nuostaba (85 proc.), pyktis (82 proc.), prasčiausiai – bjaurėjimasis (47 proc.). Pastarąjį informantai buvo linkę laikyti liūdesiu ir džiaugsmu. Pyktis kai kada buvo palaikytas bjaurėjimusi ar džiaugsmu, nuostaba – džiaugsmu ir baime.Akustiniam tyrimui buvo pasirinkta įvertinti ir palyginti keturis pagrindinio tono dažnių (F0) rodiklius: pagrindinio tono dažnių vidurkį (MF0), standartinis nuokrypį (F0SD), maksimumą (F0max) ir diapazoną (F0 diapazonas). Siekiant nustatyti, kokie fonetiniai požymiai geriausiai apibūdina ir skiria emocijas, atlikta statistinė akustinių požymių analizė: vienfaktorinė daugiamatė dispersinė analizė (MANOVA) ir vienfaktorinė dispersinė analizė (ANOVA). Tiriamąją medžiagą sudarė tie patys įrašai, kurie buvo naudojami audiciniame eksperimente.Akustinės analizės rezultatai daugeliu atveju rodė tas pačias tendencijas kaip ir audicinio tyrimo – lengviausiai atpažįstamos tos emocijos, kurių akustiniai požymiai ryškiausi, artimos emocijos pasižymi panašiomis fonetinėmis ypatybėmis (pavyzdžiui, neigiamoms emocijoms būdingas žemas MF0, siauras diapazonas ir pan.). Džiaugsmas ir liūdesys buvo atpažįstami gerai, nes jų fonetiniai požymiai labiausiai skyrėsi (liūdesiui būdingi žemiausi pagrindinio tono dažnių įverčiai, džiaugsmui – aukščiausi). Emocijas, pasižyminčias panašiais F0 įverčiais, informantai buvo linkę painioti: bjaurėjimąsi su liūdesiu, nuostabą su džiaugsmu.

When is a Question a Question for Children and Adults?

ABSTRACTTerminal changes in fundamental frequency provide the most salient acoustic cues to declarative questions, but adults sometimes identify such questions from pre-terminal cues. In the present study, adults and 7- to 10-year-old children judged a single speaker’s adult- and child-directed utterances as questions or statements in a gating task with word-length increments. Listeners of all ages successfully used pre-terminal cues to identify utterance type, often only the initial word, and they were more accurate for child-directed than adult-directed utterances. There were age-related differences in identification accuracy and number of words required for correct identification. Age differences were already apparent on the initial (first five) utterances, confirming adults’ superior explicit knowledge of intonation patterns that signify questions and statements. Adults’ performance improved over the course of the test session, reflecting taker-specific learning, but children exhibited no such learning.

Peripheral Venous Waveform Analysis for Detecting Hemorrhage and Iatrogenic Volume Overload in a Porcine Model.

Unrecognized hemorrhage and unguided resuscitation is associated with increased perioperative morbidity and mortality. The authors investigated peripheral venous waveform analysis (PIVA) as a method for quantitating hemorrhage as well as iatrogenic fluid overload during resuscitation. The authors conducted a prospective study on Yorkshire Pigs (n = 8) undergoing hemorrhage, autologous blood return, and administration of balanced crystalloid solution beyond euvolemia. Intra-arterial blood pressure, electrocardiogram, and pulse oximetry were applied to each subject. Peripheral venous pressure was measured continuously through an upper extremity standard peripheral IV catheter and analyzed with LabChart. The primary outcome was comparison of change in the first fundamental frequency (f1) of PIVA with standard and invasive monitoring and shock index (SI). Hemorrhage, return to euvolemia, and iatrogenic fluid overload resulted in significantly non-zero slopes of f1 amplitude. There were no significant differences in heart rate or mean arterial pressure, and a late change in SI. For the detection of hypovolemia the PIVA f1 amplitude change generated an receiver operator curves (ROC) curve with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.93; heart rate AUC = 0.61; mean arterial pressure AUC = 0.48, and SI AUC = 0.72. For hypervolemia the f1 amplitude generated an ROC curve with an AUC of 0.85, heart rate AUC = 0.62, mean arterial pressure AUC = 0.63, and SI AUC = 0.65. In this study, PIVA demonstrated a greater sensitivity for detecting acute hemorrhage, return to euvolemia, and iatrogenic fluid overload compared with standard monitoring and SI. PIVA may provide a low-cost, minimally invasive monitoring solution for monitoring and resuscitating patients with perioperative hemorrhage.

Acoustics of palilalia: A case study

Palilalia is a rather rare speech disorder associated with a variety of etiologies including Parkinson's disease, stroke, epilepsy, and others. According to the literature, palilalia is characterized by repetitions of words, phrases, and/or sentences produced with an increasing rate and decreasing intensity. Because of the rare nature of this disorder, literature involving the characteristics is limited and somewhat contradictive. Although the original definition involves increasing rate and decreasing intensity, some researchers (i.e., Kent & Lapointe, 1982) have found different characteristics such as decreasing rate and increasing intensity when examining individual cases. This study adds to the literature regarding characteristics of palilalic speech in terms of change in rate and fundamental frequency from the original utterance to the first repeated train. This study utilized a single-subject design involving a 42 year old male who suffered an anoxic brain injury. Spontaneous speech samples were collected and analyzed. The results showed significant differences in terms of rate and fundamental frequency with the first repeated train in comparison to the original utterance. The rate was significantly faster and the fundamental frequency was significantly higher in the repeated utterance.

The New Bionic Electro-Larynx Speech System

Persons who have lost their larynx and thus speech functionality need to use a substitution voice to regain speech. The electro-larynx (EL) is a widely used device but is known for its unnatural and monotonic speech quality. Previous research has addressed these problems, but until now no significant improvements could be reported. Moreover, the importance of human-centered computing and co-adaptation was only considered marginally. The EL speech system is a complex system including hardware (artificial excitation source or sound transducer), software (control and generation of the artificial excitation signal) and most important of all, the human user. Taking one isolated problem into consideration is not an adequate approach here, since all aspects of the EL speech system need to be integrated into a holistic approach. We have responded by pushing forward the boundaries of the conventional EL device toward a new bionic electro-larynx speech system. In this paper, we review existing approaches and summarize the most important findings. Subsequently, we piece together an overall speech system, which integrates several parts to significantly improve EL speech: we study electromyographic signals to analyze their suitability for hands-free on/off control of the EL speech system and investigate learning effects in the training of naive users. We propose a new transducer for the EL speech system based on electromagnetic mechanisms. The technical properties of the new transducer show significant advantages over the conventional electro-dynamic transducer. Furthermore, we propose an algorithm to estimate a changing fundamental frequency from the speech spectral envelope and an optimized waveform shape for the excitation signal. Listening tests show that a changing fundamental frequency improves the perceived naturalness of EL speech. Listening tests serve as a proof of concept for the resulting EL speech system, which confirm that the proposed system is very promising.

From strong to weak coupling in holographic models of thermalization

We investigate the analytic structure of thermal energy-momentum tensor correlators at large but finite coupling in quantum field theories with gravity duals. We compute corrections to the quasinormal spectra of black branes due to the presence of higher derivative $R^2$ and $R^4$ terms in the action, focusing on the dual to $\mathcal{N}=4$ SYM theory and Gauss-Bonnet gravity. We observe the appearance of new poles in the complex frequency plane at finite coupling. The new poles interfere with hydrodynamic poles of the correlators leading to the breakdown of hydrodynamic description at a coupling-dependent critical value of the wave-vector. The dependence of the critical wave vector on the coupling implies that the range of validity of the hydrodynamic description increases monotonically with the coupling. The behavior of the quasinormal spectrum at large but finite coupling may be contrasted with the known properties of the hierarchy of relaxation times determined by the spectrum of a linearized kinetic operator at weak coupling. We find that the ratio of a transport coefficient such as viscosity to the relaxation time determined by the fundamental non-hydrodynamic quasinormal frequency changes rapidly in the vicinity of infinite coupling but flattens out for weaker coupling, suggesting an extrapolation from strong coupling to the kinetic theory result. We note that the behavior of the quasinormal spectrum is qualitatively different depending on whether the ratio of shear viscosity to entropy density is greater or less than the universal, infinite coupling value of $\hbar/4\pi k_B$. In the former case, the density of poles increases, indicating a formation of branch cuts in the weak coupling limit, and the spectral function shows the appearance of narrow peaks. We also discuss the relation of the viscosity-entropy ratio to conjectured bounds on relaxation time in quantum systems.

Development of a real-time scour monitoring system for bridge safety evaluation

The fact that hydraulic problems are major factors in bridge collapse has made bridge scour monitoring an important research topic. In view of the complex nonlinear behavior of bridge structure/soil/water interactions, the fundamental frequency of the bridge may gradually change as the height of the bed drops during scour. With an insufficient embedded depth, the bridge may collapse or sink unexpectedly without warning. As experimental investigation in past research has shown that bridge failure may be governed by rigid body motion, a real-time bridge scour monitoring system to distinguish the influence of rigid body motion from the vibration frequency of the bridge is proposed. The signal measured from the superstructure of the bridge is decomposed into a structural vibration set controlling the fundamental frequency change and a rigid body motion set controlling the rigid body motion, and an instability index to examine the safety condition of the bridge is further proposed. Following a successful preliminary single-pile scour experiment, the method is applied to a series of full-bridge testing. According to analysis result, the instability index deviated considerably from its original range before the bridge piles began tilting significantly, allowing an early warning alert for bridge safety evaluation.

Change of speech fundamental frequency explains the satisfaction with voice in response to testosterone therapy in female-to-male gender dysphoric individuals.

Previous studies demonstrated that there is a significant change in speaking fundamental frequency after testosterone therapy in female-to-male gender dysphoric individuals. It is yet an open question how the satisfaction with voice alteration can be predicted because until now it is not clear whether a testosterone therapy is sufficiently effective. The aim of the current study was not only to measure satisfaction with voice, but additionally to detect factors that predict or explain satisfaction with voice after testosterone therapy. Therefore, nine female-to-male gender dysphoric individuals were examined during the first year of testosterone treatment at different points of time. The patients underwent several voice analyses within 1year and had to fill out several questionnaires concerning their voice, depressive symptoms, quality of life and voice handicap index. Multiple regression analyses were performed to find the factors that explained satisfaction with altered voice after 1year. The difference of voice frequency in semitones before the treatment and after 1year is the only significant predictor for satisfaction after 1year (B=0.442; SE=0.049) and more important than the absolute fundamental frequency.

A longitudinal study of the effects of aging on speech breathing: Evidence of decreased expiratory volume in speech recordings

Age-related changes occur in speech that are associated with structural, physiological, and immunological processes involving the oral and nasal cavities, the larynx and pharynx, and the respiratory system. With aging, laryngeal tissues tend to degenerate or atrophy and laryngeal cartilages tend to ossify. These changes can lead to increased instability and perceived hoarseness or harshness, reduced loudness, and changes in fundamental frequency. In the respiratory system, a decline in lung and diaphragm elasticity and muscle strength can occur, and the thoracic cage can stiffen, leading to reductions in lung pressure and forced expiratory volume (hence, an increase in residual lung volume). In this study, recordings of three female and three male subjects were analyzed. These were made over the course of between 18 and 48 years (with a mean of 32.5 years). Samples of five minutes in length were extracted from each recording. Subsequently, trained raters measured the durations of exhalations during speech...

Variations in voice level and fundamental frequency with changing background noise level and talker-to-listener distance while wearing hearing protectors: A pilot study

Objective: Speech production in noise with varying talker-to-listener distance has been well studied for the open ear condition. However, occluding the ear canal can affect the auditory feedback and cause deviations from the models presented for the open-ear condition. Communication is a main concern for people wearing hearing protection devices (HPD). Although practical, radio communication is cumbersome, as it does not distinguish designated receivers. A smarter radio communication protocol must be developed to alleviate this problem. Thus, it is necessary to model speech production in noise while wearing HPDs. Such a model opens the door to radio communication systems that distinguish receivers and offer more efficient communication between persons wearing HPDs. Design: This paper presents the results of a pilot study aimed to investigate the effects of occluding the ear on changes in voice level and fundamental frequency in noise and with varying talker-to-listener distance. Study sample: Twelve participants with a mean age of 28 participated in this study. Results: Compared to existing data, results show a trend similar to the open ear condition with the exception of the occluded quiet condition. Conclusions: This implies that a model can be developed to better understand speech production for the occluded ear.

Biomechanical control of vocal plasticity in an echolocating bat.

Many animal species adjust the spectral composition of their acoustic signals to variable environments. However, the physiological foundation of such spectral plasticity is often unclear. The source-filter theory of sound production, initially established for human speech, applies to vocalizations in birds and mammals. According to this theory, adjusting the spectral structure of vocalizations could be achieved by modifying either the laryngeal/syringeal source signal or the vocal tract, which filters the source signal. Here, we show that in pale spear-nosed bats, spectral plasticity induced by moderate level background noise is dominated by the vocal tract rather than the laryngeal source signal. Specifically, we found that with increasing background noise levels, bats consistently decreased the spectral centroid of their echolocation calls up to 3.2 kHz, together with other spectral parameters. In contrast, noise-induced changes in fundamental frequency were small (maximally 0.1 kHz) and were inconsistent across individuals. Changes in spectral centroid did not correlate with changes in fundamental frequency, whereas they correlated negatively with changes in call amplitude. Furthermore, while bats consistently increased call amplitude with increasing noise levels (the Lombard effect), increases in call amplitude typically did not lead to increases in fundamental frequency. In summary, our results suggest that at least to a certain degree echolocating bats are capable of adjusting call amplitude, fundamental frequency and spectral parameters independently.

The Effect of a Vocal Loading Task on Vocal Function Before and After 24 Hours of Thickened Liquid Use

Objective: To determine the effect of a vocal loading task on vocal function before and after 24 hours of thickened liquid use. Methods: Seven healthy adults, ages 19 to 52 years of age, were recruited as participants. Baseline data regarding daily food/liquid intake and urine specific gravity levels (USG) as a marker of hydration were obtained. Participants then completed a vocal loading task, which consisted of 3 × 10 repetitions of a sustained vowel task at 65 dB to 75 dB SPL. Voice recordings and subjective ratings of vocal fatigue and muscle soreness were obtained prior to and following the vocal loading task for both the pre-thickened liquid and post-thickened liquid experimental session. The voice samples were analyzed for changes in fundamental frequency, loudness, and perturbation measures. Results: There was a significant main effect of vocal loading on vocal loudness as well as subjective ratings of vocal fatigue and muscle soreness; all parameters were higher post-vocal loading. There was also a significant main effect of thickened liquid use on jitter, as jitter levels were substantially lower post-thickened liquids. Conclusion: The objective and subjective changes reported by the participants’ post-vocal loading are consistent with prior reports concerning normal adaptive responses to greater vocal demands and increased muscular effort. A brief period of thickened liquids does not appear to affect vocal function.

The effect of prestress force magnitude and eccentricity on the natural bending frequencies of uncracked prestressed concrete beams

This paper describes the outcome of static 3-point bending testing and output-only experimental modal analysis on 9 post-tensioned concrete beams. Static 3-point bending testing and dynamic impact testing were conducted on each of the 9 beams at different levels of post-tensioning force. The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) was implemented on the dynamic accelerometer impact data, and the fundamental frequencies of the simply supported post-tensioned concrete beams were determined by a peak-picking algorithm at each post-tensioning load level. The tests were repeated 10 times at each impact location to ensure repeatability of the experiment. There were 3 impact locations per post-tensioning load level, and there were 11 post-tensioning load levels at which the beams were tested. A first-order linear regression model was then applied to the measured fundamental bending frequencies with increasing post-tensioning load. Statistical significance tests were subsequently conducted on the recorded data to determine if any statistically significant changes in fundamental bending frequency with increasing post-tensioning load was observed, for both static and dynamic results. The results obtained for the static 3-point bending tests were then compared and contrasted with the results obtained from dynamic testing. No statistically significant relationship between natural frequency and post-tensioning load level was found for these uncracked concrete beams.

Characterization of laryngealization as irregular vocal fold vibration and interaction with prosodic prominence

This paper introduces an original variant of recurrence analysis to quantify the degree of regularity of vocal fold vibration as captured by electroglottography during phonation. The proposed technique is applied to the analysis of laryngealized phonation as this phonation type typically shows irregular vibration cycles. The reliability of this approach is validated with synthetic vocal fold vibration signals, demonstrating that it permits measuring the regularity of vocal fold vibration, unaffected by changes in fundamental frequency. The method is also applied to real electroglottographic signals recorded at the onset of vowel-initial nonsense words produced in a speeded repetition task by five female German speakers. Results show that the degree of laryngealization during the production of word-initial vowels is modulated by the presence of stress (with stressed vowels being less laryngealized). Due to its robustness to changes of F0, the proposed technique proves to be a suitable tool for studying vocal fold regularity in concatenated speech. Its applications are not limited to the study of glottalization, since the degree of regularity of vocal fold vibration has paralinguistic functions and is a clinically relevant measure of voice pathologies.

Audience effects, but not environmental influences, explain variation in gorilla close distance vocalizations-A test of the acoustic adaptation hypothesis.

Close distance vocalizations are an integral part of primate vocal communication. They exhibit large acoustic variation which has been suggested to constitute flexible responses to the highly variable social setting of group living animals. However, a recent study suggested that acoustic variation in close distance calls of baboons may also arise from acoustic adaptations to environmental factors in order to counteract sound degradation. We tested whether the variation in calling rate and acoustic structure of gorilla close distance vocalizations may serve to counteract distorting effects of vegetation during sound propagation. Using focal animal sampling we recorded the vocal behavior of 15 adult individuals living in two groups: one group of western lowland gorillas Gorilla gorilla gorilla and one group of mountain gorillas Gorilla beringei beringei. We considered the distance between the caller and its nearest neighbor as the minimum transmission distance of calls; while vegetation density was quantified through measures of visibility. Our analysis revealed vocal plasticity in gorilla close calls in relation to changes in visibility and nearest neighbor distance. However, the observed changes in fundamental frequency and calling rate are unlikely to counteract degrading effects of vegetation, but rather seem to reflect reactions to variation in spatial and visual separation from other group members, similar to the audience effects demonstrated in a range of other species. We propose that vocal plasticity to counteract distorting environmental effects may not be prevalent across taxa and perhaps confined to species living in heterogeneous habitats with highly variable transmission conditions.

Speech production in the later years: Changes in fundamental frequency and speech breathing

With age, vocal quality can be affected by changes in articulatory, velo-pharyngeal, laryngeal, and breathing function. For example, past studies have shown that the voice is sensitive to hormonal changes. Other studies have indicated that there is atrophy of the vocal folds and a hardening of the laryngeal cartilages in old age. In the current study, recordings of three female adults (spanning 18 to 30 years) and three male adults (spanning 38 to 48 years, with one individual being 98 years old at the latest recording) were acquired and analyzed for changes in speech production. For a representative segment of each recording, the temporal boundaries of speech breath groups were identified by raters so that the durations of groups could be calculated. Additionally, the effect of age on speech fundamental frequency was considered. Finally, how fundamental frequency changes during a long speech task was examined, to track vocal fatigue. Results suggested a decrease in breath group duration for most subjects as age increased. Importantly, the effect of age on fundamental frequency seemed to change more than is commonly discussed (based on cross-sectional studies). Finally, there was a gender difference in how both breathing and fundamental frequency changed with age.

Effect of noise on each song element in Bengalese finch: Change of acoustic features

Certain acoustic features of vocalization involuntarily change in response to the presence of background noise (e.g., the Lombard effect). These changes, observed in many species, are considered to be induced by audio-vocal interaction. Bengalese finch (Lonchura striata var.domestica) is suitable for this study because they need real-time auditory feedback of their own song. By investigating the effect of noise on each distinct element (i.e. notes) of their song, we can get more detailed knowledge about audio-vocal interaction. Here we demonstrate the changes of intensity and fundamental frequency (F0) of notes of Bengalese finches’ songs under noises. Two band-pass noises (High/Low) in two levels (Loud/Soft) were used. The High/Low noises had spectral bands of 4.0–7.8/0.2–4.0 kHz each, and the Loud/Soft noises were set to 70/60 dBA, respectively. As a result, intensity in two High conditions and F0 in High Soft condition increased, while these features of some notes decreased in Low conditions. Also some individual lowered F0 of almost all the notes in all the conditions. The results suggest that the change of these features might depend on the relation between noise frequency and the original note characteristics, and also individual tendency. [Work supported by JSPS KAKENHI #26240019.]

Movement sequencing in normal aging: speech, oro-facial, and finger movements.

The manner and extent to which normal aging affects the ability to speak are not fully understood. While age-related changes in voice fundamental frequency and intensity have been documented, changes affecting the planning and articulation of speech are less well understood. In the present study, 76 healthy, cognitively normal participants aged between 18 and 93 years old were asked to produce auditorily and visually triggered sequences of finely controlled movements (speech, oro-facial, and manual movement). These sequences of movements were either (1) simple, in which at least two of the three movements were the same, or (2) complex, in which three different movements were produced. For each of the resulting experimental condition, accuracy was calculated. The results show that, for speech and oro-facial movements, accuracy declined as a function of age and complexity. For these movements, the negative effect of complexity on performance accuracy increased with age. No aging or complexity effects were found for the manual movements on accuracy, but a significant slowing of movement was found, particularly for the complex sequences. These results demonstrate that there is a significant deterioration of fine motor control in normal aging across different response modalities.

Improved Pathogen Detection Using Magnetoelastic Biosensors Operating Under Multi-Harmonic Resonance Modes

This paper presents an investigation into improved pathogen detection using phage-coated magnetoelastic (ME) biosensors that operate under multi-harmonic resonance modes. The ME biosensor is a class of mass-sensitive biosensors that is being developed for rapid, on-site detection of pathogenic bacteria in the food system. The ME biosensor used in this work consists of a freestanding, strip-shaped ME resonator as the signal transducer and an engineered phage probe specifically binding with the pathogen of interest. The ME resonator is made of an amorphous, ferromagnetic alloy with magnetostrictive properties and hence can be placed into mechanical resonance by an externally applied time-varying magnetic field. When this phage-coated ME biosensor comes into contact with the target pathogen, the pathogen is specifically captured and bound to the biosensor by the phage. The bound pathogen then causes the mass of the biosensor to increase, resulting in a decrease in the biosensor's resonant frequency. The conventional theory describes that the mass sensitivity of the ME biosensor (i.e., the ratio of the resonant frequency change to the mass change) is proportional to the harmonic, n, defined as an integer multiple of the fundamental resonant frequency (n = 1, 2, 3, ···). Hence, the mass sensitivity can be improved by measuring resonant frequency changes of higher harmonic modes. Additionally, there is an advantage of measuring multi-harmonic resonant frequency changes over solely measuring the fundamental resonant frequency change. For each harmonic mode, there exist nodes in a vibrating sensor where no displacement occurs. Hence, no resonant frequency changes can be detected when the target mass is loaded at these nodes, leading to false-negative detection. To improve the sensor’s detection capabilities as well as to avoid the false detection, this research takes the approach of measuring multi-harmonic resonant frequency changes in response to the attachment of the target pathogen. As a model study, detection experiments of Bacillus anthracis Stern spores using 4 mm × 0.8 mm × 30 µm ME biosensors were conducted. The JRB7 phage, which possesses high binding affinity for B. anthracis spores, was used as the detection probe and coated on the sensor surfaces. Up to the 15th harmonic resonant frequency was successfully measured, and the resonant frequency change of each harmonic mode was compared to one another. As anticipated, the mass sensitivity was found to improve as the harmonic, n, increases. The measured results also showed close agreement with theoretical calculation results. Furthermore, localized masses (spores) were attached to a biosensor, and measurement of multi-harmonic resonant frequency changes was performed. Depending on the location of the attached spores, the resonant frequency change of each harmonic mode varied. When spores were loaded at certain locations of a vibrating sensor, no detectable frequency changes were observed for some harmonic modes, indicating that the spores were loaded at the nodes of these harmonic modes. However, the other harmonic modes were found to show resonant frequency changes successfully, eliminating false-negative detection. Hence, poof-in-principle has been demonstrated.