Differences In Fundamental Frequency Research Articles

Style Generative Adversarial Network Combined with Dynamic Fundamental Frequency Difference Compensation: A Practical and Efficient Method for Emotional Voice Conversion

This paper explores a novel emotional voice conversion (EVC) method based on the style generative adversarial network combined with dynamic fundamental frequency difference compensation. On the one hand, in terms of spectrum mapping, based on the method of EVC using star generative adversarial network, we propose to replace one-hot vectors with the emotion style features extracted from spectrum to represent emotional information. It enables the conversion not only to fully learn emotion style from the target speech, but also to transfer unseen emotion styles to a new utterance, that is, one-shot EVC. On the other hand, given that the traditional logarithm Gaussian normalization transformation and its some variants for prosody transfer are not enough to reflect the fine-grained fundamental frequency distribution difference between the different emotional speech, we propose the improved strategy of dynamic fundamental frequency difference compensation. The experimental results show that our proposed method can accomplish high quality one-shot EVC, significantly outperforming the baseline in terms of speech quality and emotional saturation in both objective and subjective evaluations.

The liminal (vowel) space of womanhood: Fundamental frequency, formants, and the intersex body in Brazil

Abstract Despite the significance of intersex constituencies for explaining the social nature of sex and gender, intersex linguistic and social practices remain a yet unexplored frontier within sociolinguistics. This article examines fundamental frequency (F0) and vowel formant (F1–F3) production by participants with Turner Syndrome (TS), one of the most common intersex chromosomal conditions, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This analysis demonstrates significant differences in fundamental frequency and F3 among different participant groups. I argue that height, growth hormone, and chromosomes are fundamental in constructing womanhood for TS women. Along with relevant ethnographic data, these results call for a re-examination of the body within linguistic and anthropological understandings of ‘womanhood’ and ‘femaleness’. This article highlights the ways these biological factors intersect with gendered perceptions of age and maturity, which can have real-world effects on linguistic practice and the social life of intersex individuals. (Brazilian Portuguese, fundamental frequency, gender, intersex, Turner Syndrome, vowel formants, critical intersex studies)*

Modal analysis of honeycomb panel satellite structure based on MSC Apex

Modal analysis plays an important role in the process of Satellite structure development. In this paper, the honeycomb sandwich plate and the satellite structure are taken as the research objects, and the corresponding finite element models are established. The analysis results of the actual modeling of honeycomb plate and the equivalent modeling of sandwich sandwich plate are obtained, and the fundamental frequency deviation of the whole satellite structure is discussed when the equivalent correction coefficient γ of honeycomb plate is different. The results show that the maximum relative error of the modal frequency between the equivalent method of sandwich sandwich plate and the actual modeling is 2.8%. Therefore, the equivalent method can be applied to large-scale finite element analysis and calculation, and the calculation efficiency can be improved. When the value of γ is 0.4∼0.6, the vibration modes of the whole satellite structure are basically consistent, and the maximum fundamental frequency difference is 10%. The results can evaluate the accuracy of the sandwich sandwich plate equivalent method for satellite mechanical analysis.

Broad Learning System Using Rectified Adaptive Moment Estimation for Harmonic Detection and Analysis

The extensive application of nonlinear components and power electronic devices in power systems has led to increasingly deteriorating harmonic pollution. The rapid and high-precision harmonic detection and analysis technology will set the prerequisite for mitigating the harmonic crisis. This paper presents a robust, stable and real-time approach based on broad learning system (BLS) for detecting and analyzing the amplitudes of fundamental and harmonic components, which only requires half or even quarter cycle input. Additionally, a fast-converging adaptive parameter learning strategy using rectified adaptive moment estimation (RAdam) for BLS is proposed. To obtain the actual distorted signals, the signal acquisition system is built on the basis of the designed multi-pulse rectifier power supply (6/18 pulse). With the fundamental frequency deviation, interharmonics and noise, etc., the simulated signals synthesized by MATLAB tool and the actual signals acquired from the built system are attained to verify the performance of methods. The proposed approach differentiates from other existing methods not only due to its superior precision and robustness in the presence of multitudinous interference factors but also its real-time performance because of low average computing time.

Characteristics of Lexical Stress in Hebrew-Speaking Children With Childhood Apraxia of Speech.

The purpose of the present study was to explore the ability of Hebrew-speaking children with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) to produce lexical stress. A total of 36 children aged between 4 and 7 years, 18 children with CAS, and 18 typically developing (TD) children participated in the study. All children completed language and speech assessments. The children imitated 20 weak-strong and strong-weak target words within short sentences and in isolation. Acoustic analysis of the vowels in the stressed and unstressed syllables of the target words and perceptual judgment of the words by six speech-language pathologists were conducted. The acoustic analysis showed significant differences in duration, fundamental frequency, and amplitude between stressed and unstressed vowels in weak-strong and strong-weak words and in both groups of children. The total duration for both the stressed and weak syllables was longer in children with CAS compared to TD children. Rated on a Likert scale of 1-5, where 5 indicates correct production, the productions of lexical stress in the CAS group were judged as above 4 on average but were significantly worse compared to the TD group. The target productions of children with CAS were judged as including excessive, equal, or misplaced stress in 10.8% of the productions, whereas 5.8% of the target productions of the TD children were judged as having inappropriate stress. The present findings suggest that Hebrew-speaking children with CAS produce the acoustic characteristics of lexical stress similarly to their peers, and their productions are perceived as having relatively good lexical stress (above 4), although not as good as TD children.

Exploring the impact of type II diabetes mellitus on voice quality.

This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the potential of voice analysis as a prescreening tool for type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM) by examining the differences in voice recordings between non-diabetic and T2DM participants. 60 participants diagnosed as non-diabetic (n = 30) or T2DM (n = 30) were recruited on the basis of specific inclusion and exclusion criteria in Iran between February 2020 and September 2023. Participants were matched according to their year of birth and then placed into six age categories. Using the WhatsApp application, participants recorded the translated versions of speech elicitation tasks. Seven acoustic features [fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, harmonic-to-noise ratio (HNR), cepstral peak prominence (CPP), voice onset time (VOT), and formant (F1-F2)] were extracted from each recording and analyzed using Praat software. Data was analyzed with Kolmogorov-Smirnov, two-way ANOVA, post hoc Tukey, binary logistic regression, and student t tests. The comparison between groups showed significant differences in fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, CPP, and HNR (p < 0.05), while there were no significant differences in formant and VOT (p > 0.05). Binary logistic regression showed that shimmer was the most significant predictor of the disease group. There was also a significant difference between diabetes status and age, in the case of CPP. Participants with type II diabetes exhibited significant vocal variations compared to non-diabetic controls.

The Association between Depression Severity, Prosody, and Voice Acoustic Features in Women with Depression

The aim was to define the association between the severity of depression, prosody, and voice acoustic features in women suffering from depression and its comparisons with nondepressed people. Prosody and acoustic features in 30 women with major depression hospitalized in a psychiatric ward and 30 healthy women were investigated in a cross-sectional study. To define the severity of depression, the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRS-D) was applied. Acoustic parameters such as jitter, shimmer, cepstral peak prominence (CPP), standard deviation of fundamental frequency (SD F0), harmonic-to-noise ratio, and F0 and also some speech prosodic features including the speed of speech, switching pause duration means, and durations of produced sentences with different modals were measured quantitatively. Also, six raters judged the patient’s prosody qualitatively. SPSS V.28 was used for all statistical analyses ( p &lt; 0.05 ). There was a significant correlation between HRS-D with jitter, SD F0, speed of speech, and switching pause means ( p ≤ 0.05 ). The means of CPP and duration of producing emotional sentences differed between the depression and control groups. The HRS-D scores were significantly correlated with switching pauses in patients (Pearson coefficient = 0.47, p = 0.05 ). The results of the perceptual evaluation of prosody judged by six raters showed an 85% correlation between them ( p ≤ 0.001 ). Some acoustic and prosodic parameters are different between healthy women and those with depression disorder (e.g., CPP and duration of emotional sentences) and may also have an association with the severity of depression (e.g., jitter, SD F0, speed of speech, and switching pause means) in women with depression disorder. It was indicated that the best sentence modal to assess prosody in patients with depression would be exclamatory ones compared to declarative and interrogative sentences.

Production of emotions conveyed by voice in Parkinson's disease: Association between variability of fundamental frequency and gray matter volumes of regions involved in emotional prosody.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with impairment in producing emotions conveyed by voice which could depend on motor limitations of the vocal apparatus and/or alterations in emotional processing. This study explores the relationship between the standard deviation of fundamental frequency (F0SD) of emotional speech and the volume of specific gray matter regions. Fifteen PD patients and 15 healthy controls (HC) were asked to produce different emotions vocally elicited by reading short stories. For each vocal track, the F0SD was calculated as index of variability. All subjects underwent a structural magnetic resonance imaging and a voxel-based morphometry analysis. An ad hoc mask of brain regions implicated in emotional prosody was constructed to test the relationship between F0SD and the level of brain atrophy. PD patients showed lower F0SD values than HC in the expression of anger. Neuroimaging results showed brain atrophy in PD patients in a widespread bilateral network, including frontal areas, left cingulate cortex, parietal areas as well as occipital cortices. In the PD group, a positive correlation was observed between F0SD values of anger and volumes of the bilateral supramarginal gyrus, left thalamus, right inferior frontal gyrus, and amygdala. The lower F0SD values observed in PD patients in anger production are consistent with their lower ability to express anger effectively through voice compared to HC. Our data demonstrated the involvement of right-lateralized areas, such as the inferior frontal gyrus and amygdala, which are typically involved in emotional prosody. Disturbances in emotion processing might contribute to speech production deficits in PD, probably in addition to the motor impairment of the articulatory system. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Klasifikasi Rentang Usia Dan Gender Dengan Deteksi Suara Menggunakan Metode Deep Learning Algoritma Cnn (Convolutional Neural Network)

The research discusses the identification of human voices based on gender by utilizing the differences in voice characteristics between males and females. In addition to differences in vocal tract size, factors such as length, thickness, and stiffness of the vocal cords also play a role in producing the differences in fundamental frequency between the two genders. Fundamental frequency serves as an indicator used in acoustic analysis to classify gender based on voice. In the automatic classification of voices, sound processing techniques and machine learning are key in system development. Gender recognition methods based on voice involve acoustic analysis using voice features such as fundamental frequency, formants, duration, intensity, and intonation patterns. Diverse voice datasets containing recordings of both male and female voices are used to train gender recognition models. From the results of research from modeling using CNN on audio to get 92% accuracy and for testing results it is good enough in classifying.&#x0D; Keywords – Deep Learning, Voice Recognition, Audio Classification, CNN, Gender

Effects of different medical masks on acoustic and aerodynamic voice assessment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of the surgical masks and N95 masks on the acoustic and aerodynamic parameters of voice assessment during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. The challenge of the study was to enable each inexperienced participant to perform a number of acoustic and aerodynamic voice assessment in a qualified and homogeneous manner without and with medical masks, and to minimize the individual differences. There were 32 healthy participants recruited in the study, including 16 males and 16 females. The acoustic parameters analyzed included fundamental frequency, standard deviation of fundamental frequency (fundamental frequency standard deviation), percentage of jitter (%), percentage of shimmer (%), glottal-to-noise excitation ratio (GNE), and the parameters of irregularity, noise and overall severity. The aerodynamic parameters included s time, z time, s/z ratio and maximum phonation time. When wearing surgical masks, the GNE ratio (P = .043) significantly increased, whereas noise (P = .039) and s time (P = .018) significantly decreased. When wearing N95 masks, the percentage of shimmer (P = .049), s time (P = .037) and s/z ratio (P = .048) significantly decrease. In general, performing voice assessment with a medical mask proved to be reliable for most of the acoustic and aerodynamic parameters. It is worth noting that the shimmer (%), could be slightly impacted when wearing N95 masks. Wearing surgical masks might slightly influence the measurement of noise and higher GNE ratio. The s/z ratio could be affected when wearing N95 masks. The contribution of the study is to explore acoustic and aerodynamic parameters that might be easily affected by wearing masks during the voice assessment, and provide references for clinical evaluation of voice disorders during the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019.

Investigating the Impact of Visual Input on Voice Production in Virtual Reality

This study explored the independent effects of visual input on voice production using virtual reality. Specifically, its effects on acoustic voice parameters and vocal status ratings, with the hypothesis that larger (a virtual lecture hall and theater compared to an office) and more full virtual rooms (75% of the capacity compared to 45%) would result in changes to the voice parameters and vocal status ratings. Voice production from 30 vocally healthy participants was recorded in six virtual reality conditions. After each condition, the participants provided vocal status ratings. The voice recordings were processed to calculate mean and standard deviation of sound pressure level and fundamental frequency, mean pitch strength, time dose, and cepstral peak prominence smoothed. The effects of the virtual reality conditions on these voice acoustic parameters and the vocal status ratings were analyzed. The full virtual reality rooms resulted in significantly higher vocal fatigue and vocal discomfort ratings. The larger virtual reality rooms were significantly related to increases in mean and the standard deviation of sound pressure level, mean pitch strength, and cepstral peak prominence smoothed. This study demonstrated that visual size and visual fullness input during speech tasks have distinct effects on voice production and self-reported vocal status. Visual size is related to voice acoustic outcomes, while visual fullness is related to self-reported outcomes.

Group size and mating system predict sex differences in vocal fundamental frequency in anthropoid primates

Vocalizations differ substantially between the sexes in many primates, and low-frequency male vocalizations may be favored by sexual selection because they intimidate rivals and/or attract mates. Sexual dimorphism in fundamental frequency may be more pronounced in species with more intense male mating competition and in those with large group size, where social knowledge is limited and efficient judgment of potential mates and competitors is crucial. These non-mutually exclusive explanations have not been tested simultaneously across primate species. In a sample of vocalizations (n = 1914 recordings) across 37 anthropoid species, we investigated whether fundamental frequency dimorphism evolved in association with increased intensity of mating competition (H1), large group size (H2), multilevel social organization (H3), a trade-off against the intensity of sperm competition (H4), and/or poor acoustic habitats (H5), controlling for phylogeny and body size dimorphism. We show that fundamental frequency dimorphism increased in evolutionary transitions towards larger group size and polygyny. Findings suggest that low-frequency male vocalizations in primates may have been driven by selection to win mating opportunities by avoiding costly fights and may be more important in larger groups, where limited social knowledge affords advantages to rapid assessment of status and threat potential via conspicuous secondary sexual characteristics.

The Role of Average Fundamental Frequency Difference on the Intelligibility of Real-Life Competing Sentences.

The average fundamental frequency separation (∆fo) between two competing voices has been shown to provide an important cue for target-speech intelligibility. However, some of the previous investigations used speech materials with linguistic properties and fo characteristics that may not be typical of realistic acoustic scenarios. This study investigated to what extent the effect of ∆fo generalizes to more real-life speech. Real-life sentences and a well-controlled method for manipulating the acoustic stimuli were employed. Fifteen young normal-hearing native Danish listeners were tested in a two-competing-voices sentence recognition task at several target-to-masker ratios (TMRs) and ∆fos. Compared to previous studies that addressed the same experimental scenario with less realistic speech materials, the present results showed only a moderate effect of ∆fo at negative TMRs and a negligible effect at positive TMRs. An analysis of the employed stimuli showed that a large ∆fo effect on the target speech intelligibility is only observed when the competing sentences have highly synchronous fo trajectories, which is typical of the artificial speech materials employed in previous studies. Overall, the present results suggest a relatively small effect of ∆fo on the intelligibility of real-life speech, as compared to previously employed artificial speech, in two-competing-sentences conditions.

HW-DFT-Based Measurement Method of Frequency-Coupling Characteristics Considering Fundamental Frequency Deviation for Stability Analysis

Impedance measurement is an effective method to obtain the impedance characteristic of the renewable power generator (RPG). Discrete Fourier transformation (DFT) is commonly used to extract measurement signals. However, when there is slight fundamental frequency deviation (FFD), the frequency resolution of DFT may be insufficient due to spectral leakage (SL). Under this circumstance, the measurement signals will be overlapped with the fake spectra caused by the SL and unable to be extracted precisely. Besides, when frequency coupling characteristic exists, FFD will also lead to the change of coupling frequencies. Thus SL will also happen at the coupling frequencies which make it more difficult to extract measurement signals. Targeting this issue, this paper analyzes the mechanism of SL and grasps the characteristics of fake spectra caused by SL. Accordingly, a Hann-window (HW)-based method is proposed to accurately extract the measurement signals during FFD. The superiority of proposed method is none of the requirement to extend the original measurement time. Finally, the experiments based on Control-hardware-in-loop (CHIL) are carried out to verify the effectiveness of proposed method.

An acoustic study of Cantonese alaryngeal speech in different speaking conditions.

Esophageal (ES) speech, tracheoesophageal (TE) speech, and the electrolarynx (EL) are common methods of communication following the removal of the larynx. Our recent study demonstrated that intelligibility may increase for Cantonese alaryngeal speakers using clear speech (CS) compared to their everyday "habitual speech" (HS), but the reasoning is still unclear [Hui, Cox, Huang, Chen, and Ng (2022). Folia Phoniatr. Logop. 74, 103-111]. The purpose of this study was to assess the acoustic characteristics of vowels and tones produced by Cantonese alaryngeal speakers using HS and CS. Thirty-one alaryngeal speakers (9 EL, 10 ES, and 12 TE speakers) read The North Wind and the Sun passage in HS and CS. Vowel formants, vowel space area (VSA), speaking rate, pitch, and intensity were examined, and their relationship to intelligibility were evaluated. Statistical models suggest that larger VSAs significantly improved intelligibility, but slower speaking rate did not. Vowel and tonal contrasts did not differ between HS and CS for all three groups, but the amount of information encoded in fundamental frequency and intensity differences between high and low tones positively correlated with intelligibility for TE and ES groups, respectively. Continued research is needed to understand the effects of different speaking conditions toward improving acoustic and perceptual characteristics of Cantonese alaryngeal speech.

Voice production in virtual reality: Effects of room size and fullness

This study explores the influence of visual input on voice production in virtual reality with healthy participants. The effects of the size and fullness of various virtual rooms on acoustic voice parameters and self-reported vocal status ratings are examined. Speech samples from healthy participants were recorded in six virtual conditions. After each condition, the participants provided subjective vocal status ratings on visual analog scales. The voice recordings were processed to calculate objective voice acoustic parameters including sound pressure level, standard deviation of fundamental frequency, mean pitch strength, time dose, and cepstral peak prominence smoothed. The effects of the virtual reality conditions on these acoustic parameters and the vocal status ratings were analyzed. The largest virtual room resulted in significantly higher (worse) vocal status ratings. The size of the virtual rooms had statistically significant effects on mean pitch strength and cepstral peak prominence smoothed, among associations with other objective voice acoustic parameters. This study provides evidence that larger and more full virtual rooms contribute to higher (worse) vocal status ratings and changes in objective voice parameters in healthy speakers.

The German hearing in noise test with a female talker: development and comparison with German male speech test

PurposeThe aim of the study was to develop the German Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) with female speaker by fulfilling the recommendations by International Collegium of Rehabilitative Audiology (ICRA) for using a female speaker to create new multilingual speech tests and to determine norms and to compare these norms with German male speech tests—the male speakers HINT and the Oldenburg Sentence Test (OLSA).MethodsThe HINT with a female speaker consists of the same speech material as the male speaking HINT. After recording the speech material, 10 normal hearing subjects were included to determine the performance–intensity function (PI function). 24 subjects were part of the measurements to determine the norms and compare them with the norms of male HINT and OLSA. Comparably, adaptive, open-set methods under headphones (HINT) and sound field (OLSA) were used.ResultsAcoustic phonetic analysis demonstrated significant difference in mean fundamental frequency, its range and mean speaking rate between both HINT speakers. The calculated norms by three of the tested four conditions of the HINT with a female speaker are not significantly different from the norms with a male speaker. No significant effect of the speaker’s gender of the first HINT measurement and no significant correlation between the threshold results of the HINT and the OLSA were determined.ConclusionsThe Norms for German HINT with a female speaker are comparable to the norms of the HINT with a male speaker. The speech intelligibility score of the HINT does not depend on the speakers’ gender despite significant difference of acoustic–phonetic parameters between the female and male HINT speaker’s voice. Instead, the speech intelligibility rating must be seen as a function of the used speech material.

A Preliminary Investigation of the Reliability of Acoustic Parameters of Voice through Smartphone Recordings in Individuals with Dysphonia.

Telepractice offers the opportunity to receive care at home without risk of exposure to healthcare acquired infections, especially during a pandemic. Hence, establishing the reliability of the diagnosis of dysphonia via a smartphone is fundamental to providing an alternative service delivery model. A total of 20 participants participated in the study. Recordings of sentence-based voice samples were done using a standardized microphone and the software used in labs and on smartphones. Comparisons were made of acoustic and perceptual voice in real-time and recorded samples speech in persons with typical vs pathological voice. Results revealed no significant differences perceptually between real-time voice and recorded voice in individuals with typical and pathological voices. In acoustic analysis, there was no significant difference in Fundamental frequency (F0) and Auditory Voice Quality Index (AVQI) between real-time voice and recorded voice in individuals with typical and pathological voice.

Predicting Level-Dependent Changes in Concurrent Vowel Scores Using the 2D-CNN Models

Differences in fundamental frequencies (F0s) are an important cue for segregating multiple speakers. However, the ability to avail this cue for identification varies with sound levels. For different-and same-F0 conditions, the identification scores of both vowels increased from low- to mid-levels and then reduced at higher levels for younger adults with normal hearing (YNH). These subjects benefited from the F0 difference; however, this benefit varied across the levels. The current study aims to develop a deep-neural-network (DNN) model that can predict the level-dependent changes in concurrent-vowel scores for YNH subjects. This DNN-model includes two-dimensional convolutional neural networks (2D-CNNs) in parallel, with the same architecture, to predict the concurrent-vowel scores. The input layer was neural responses of the auditory-nerve model to concurrent vowels. The 2D-CNN models were trained and validated using the subsets of the concurrent vowels from 50, 65, and 75 dB SPL for both F0 conditions, using the batch gradient descent algorithm. The trained model was then fine-tuned with a single epoch. The 2D-CNN models were evaluated against vowel levels (25 to 85 dB SPL) and F0 conditions. Compared with previous models, the current model accurately predicts the level-dependent changes in concurrent vowel scores for different-and same-F0 conditions.

Effects of Target and Masker Fundamental Frequency Contour Depth on School-Age Children's Speech Recognition in a Two-Talker Masker.

Maturation of the ability to recognize target speech in the presence of a two-talker speech masker extends into early adolescence. This study evaluated whether children benefit from differences in fundamental frequency (f o) contour depth between the target and masker speech, a cue that has been shown to improve recognition in adults. Speech stimuli were recorded from talkers using three speaking styles, with f o contour depths that were Flat, Normal, or Exaggerated. Targets were open-set, declarative sentences produced by a female talker, and maskers were two streams of concatenated sentences produced by a second female talker. Listeners were children (ages 5-17 years) and adults (ages 18-24 years) with normal hearing. Each listener was tested in one of the three masker styles paired with all three target styles. Speech recognition thresholds (SRTs) corresponding to 50% correct were estimated by fitting psychometric functions to adaptive track data. For adults, performance did not differ significantly across conditions with matched speaking styles. A mismatch benefit was observed when combining Flat targets with the Exaggerated masker and Exaggerated targets with the Flat masker, and for both Flat and Exaggerated targets paired with the Normal masker. For children, there was a significant effect of age in all conditions. Flat targets in the Flat masker were associated with lower SRTs than the other two matched conditions, and a mismatch benefit was observed for young children only when the target f o contour was less variable than the masker f o contour. Whereas child-directed speech often has exaggerated pitch contours, young children were better able to recognize speech with less variable f o. Age effects were observed in the benefit of mismatched speaking styles for some conditions, which could be related to differences in baseline SRTs rather than differences in segregation abilities.