Individual Voice Research Articles

Subaltern Voices and Strategic Essentialism in Silko’s The Man to Send Rain Clouds

This article studies the Subaltern voices and Strategic Essentialism in Leslie Marmon Silko’s The Man to Send Rain Clouds. These concepts unveil individual voices raised against the power structures and the Pueblo characters strategically respond towards the Western’s hegemony and syncretism. There is depiction of rebellion and adaptation through Subalternity and Strategic Essentialism respectively, by the Native Americans in the short story. Leon’s effort towards securing his traditional values and cultural practices, highlights struggle towards autonomy and preservation in the text. The story depicts the uncertainty of preservation and adaptation, as characters suggest to quench the thirst of the old man through Catholic’s Holy water. This paper discloses the harms committed by the Euro-Americans to the Native American culture and the Natives' efforts to preserve their culture and to survive under the oppressive regime.

Advances in Deepfake Generation and Detection Technologies: Challenges and Opportunities

In recent years, deep learning technology has been exploited to create fake videos, leading to the widespread presence of deepfake content on the Internet. This technology facilitates the production of counterfeit content, including pornographic films, fabricated news, and political misinformation, by altering or substituting the facial data, expressions, and body movements in original videos, as well as synthesizing voices of specific individuals. Various generative tools, such as generative adversarial networks (GANs), are employed in deep forgery, introducing significant risk challenges. Detection technology serves as a crucial countermeasure to mitigate the adverse effects, with methods based on spatial and frequency domain information playing a pivotal role. This paper delves into the generative tools and detection techniques of deepfake technology, examining their principles and applications, and thoroughly discusses the risk challenges encountered. The aim is to furnish references for further research and practical measures, enhancing understanding and management of this technology and its impacts, thereby fostering the advancement and refinement of the field.

Analysis of Voice Quality in Children With Smith-Magenis Syndrome

The production of phonation involves very complex processes, linked to the physical, clinical, and emotional state of the speaker. Thus, in populations with neurological diseases, it is possible to find the imprint in the voice signal left by the deterioration of certain cortical areas or part of the neurocognitive mechanisms that are involved in speech. In previous works, the authors determined the relationship between the pathological characteristics of the voice of the speakers with Smith-Magenis syndrome (SMS) and a lower value in the Cepstral Peak Prominence (CPP) with respect to normative speakers. They also described the presence of subharmonics in their voices. ObjectivesThe present study aims to verify whether both characteristics can be used simultaneously to differentiate SMS voices from neurotypical voices. It will also be analyzed if there is variation in the trajectory of the formants coinciding with the subharmonics. MethodsTo do this, the effect of subharmonics in the voices of 12 SMS individuals was isolated to see if they were responsible for the lower CPP values. An evaluation of the CPP was also carried out in the areas of subharmonic presence, from the peak that reflected the value of f0, rather than using the most prominent peak. This offered us a baseline for the CPP value in the presence of subharmonics. It was checked if changes in the formants occurred synchronously to the appearance of those subharmonics. If so, the muscles that control the position of the jaw and tongue would be affected at the same time as the larynx. The latter was difficult to observe since the samples were very short. A comparison of phonatory performance of a sustained /a/ between a normotypical group and non-normotypical group of children was carried out. These groups were balanced and matched in age and gender. The Spanish Association of Smith-Magenis Syndrome (ASME) provides almost 20% of the population in Spain. ResultsThe CPP allows differentiating between normative speakers and those wit SMS, even when isolating the effect of subharmonics. ConclusionsThe CPP is a robust index for determining the degree of dysphonia. It makes possible to differentiate pathological voices from healthy voices even when subharmonics are present. The presence of subharmonics is a characteristic of voices of SMS individuals and is not present in healthy ones. Both indexes can be used simultaneously to differentiate SMS voices from neurotypical voices.

The plurivocal university: Typologizing the diverse voices of a research university on social media.

Science communication has diversified in the wake of the digital transformation of communication and media ecosystems. Social media enable universities, but also academics and institutions affiliated with them, to expand their communication. This leads to increasing plurivocality of universities, yet the many different voices remain largely unexplored. This study develops a typology to conceptually distinguish eight voices by their representational role, hierarchical embeddedness, type, and affiliation. Based on a quantitative content and social network analysis of more than 600 Twitter accounts linked to a research university, it identifies six types of voices empirically. The study compares interactions among these voices, showing differences between central and decentral, as well as institutional and individual voices, and highlighting closer exchanges between voices within the same disciplinary communities. It also examines topics and tonality, revealing that decentral institutional voices engage most in science-related topics, and that only current and former students express critical views.

Do not ignore heterogeneity and heterophily: Multi-network collaborative telecom fraud detection

The development of mobile communication technologies has enriched human interaction and inevitably led to the proliferation of telecom fraud. While recent studies have paid attention to collaborative fraud in telecom networks, they have examined only voice networks and neglected the collaborative fraud phenomenon in Short Message Service (SMS) networks and across voice and SMS networks. To address this issue, we investigated a telecom dataset with 5.01 million call records and 6.84 million SMS records between 6,106 users and 2.02 million recipients over eight months. On the one hand, we find differences in the evolution pattern of SMS behaviour between fraudsters and normal users. On the other hand, we also confirm the existence of intra-network collaborative fraud in voice networks and SMS networks and inter-network collaborative fraud across voice and SMS networks. To this end, we propose a novel telecom fraud detector, MLCG-FD, which models dynamic individual behaviours and multi-network collaborative relationships. First, a multi-network latent collaborative network (LGC) extractor is designed to extract two intra-network LCGs and one inter-network LCG from voice and SMS networks. Then, we design two behavioural encoders to encode individual voice and SMS behaviour patterns. Finally, a network-based hybrid-pass filter aggregates higher-order neighbour features from different networks. Experiments conducted on two real telecom datasets show that MLCG-FD significantly improves over state-of-the-art methods.

Da Pacem Domine by Arvo Pärt. The Stylistic and Interpretative Analysis – Conductor’s Guide

The piece “Da pacem Domine” (Give us peace, O Lord), by Arvo Pärt was inspired by a Gregorian antiphon from the 9th century. Written in the original tintinnabuli style, the piece uses numerous compositional techniques belonging to the early Renaissance period called Cantus firmus, parallel organum, faux bourdon, Landini cadence or anticipations, but also and even a modern way of vocal scoring: the “pointillistic polyphony”. The work is divided into four sections, corresponding to the four verses of the prayer and the gravitational centre of the music is D. To impart expressive meaning to the musical performance, the interprets, both the conductor or singers can consider the following elements: homogeneity in individual voices and ensemble performance, different singing modalities (legato/non-legato) alternating between moments of cadence and the rest of the piece, the technique of attack and sound placement, finding and maintaining an appropriate inner state reflecting the ideas of the text and the general character of the piece. Keywords: Da pacem Domine, Arvo Pärt, style, interpretation, analyse, conductor, guide

Perceptions of a Youth-Serving Training Program: A case study

Capturing the voices of individuals working in youth-serving systems is invaluable to understanding what makes for a meaningful and beneficial training experience. One such training program, Youth Thrive, was developed by the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) to promote the health and well-being of youth (ages 9-26) by introducing research on youth development, neuroscience, trauma, and resilience to youth-serving agencies. The culmination of these components inspired Youth Thrive’s use of protective and promotive factors to understand and advocate with and for youths. These factors included youth resilience, social connections, knowledge of adolescent development, concrete support in times of need, and cognitive and socialemotional competence. Recognizing that the effectiveness of youth-based trainings is contingent upon the perceptions and experiences it offers participants. This qualitative and illustrative case study sought to answer the following questions: (1) How do participants perceive the training? and (2) How has the experience helped participants in their youth-serving roles? In turn, these responses can provide us with greater understanding of what successful youth-serving intervention trainings might embody. Interviews were conducted with 17 participants with varying levels of experience in the deployment of youth services. The following themes were uncovered at the conclusion of the analysis stage: (1) Bond over common language; (2) Youth-centered focus; (3) Reaffirming practitioner’s approaches in practice; and (4) Building a community of learners. In addition, internal training material were collected and reviewed. Discussion of strategies, including a feedback loop, are explored.

'How Your Spirit Is Travelling'-Understanding First Nations Peoples' Experiences of Living Well with and after Cancer.

As the number of people living with cancer increases, it is important to understand how people can live well with and after cancer. First Nations people diagnosed with cancer in Australia experience survival disparities relating to health service accessibility and a lack of understanding of cultural needs and lived experiences. This study aimed to amplify the voices of First Nations individuals impacted by cancer and advance the development of a culturally informed care pathway. Indigenist research methodology guided the relational and transformative approach of this study. Participants included varied cancer experts, including First Nations people living well with and after cancer, health professionals, researchers, and policy makers. Data were collected through online Yarning circles and analysed according to an inductive thematic approach. The experience of First Nations people living well with and after cancer is inextricably connected with family. The overall themes encompass hope, family, and culture and the four priority areas included the following: strength-based understanding of cancer, cancer information, access to healthcare and support, and holistic cancer services. Respect for culture is interwoven throughout. Models of survivorship care need to integrate family-centred cancer care to holistically support First Nations people throughout and beyond their cancer journey.

The roles of team collective voice and team autonomy in promoting team innovative performance through routine changes

PurposeThe team collective voice (TCV) concept has received limited attention in existing research despite its potential significance, particularly within Eastern cultural contexts. Hence, this paper aims to extend the employee voice literature by conducting a comprehensive exploration of the role of TCV as opposed to individual voice (IV) in promoting team innovative performance (TIP).Design/methodology/approachThe theoretical model is tested with survey data collected among ICT employees who work in large telecommunication organizations in Vietnam.FindingsTCV was used more by participants than IV. Both IV and TCV exhibited noteworthy influences on TIP explained by the role of routine changes, with TCV serving as a full mediator for the relationship between IV and TIP. In addition, team autonomy (TA) also significantly enhanced TIP.Originality/valueBy measuring TCV as shared and consensus team voice, this study makes significant contributions to employee voice literature. It not only confirms the prevalence but also offers insightful explanations for why Vietnamese employees tend to favor TCV over IV. Additionally, the findings enrich the innovation literature by presenting a novel perspective on how employee voice can enhance TIP through the introduction of exogenous routine changes. It introduces a unique perspective on employee voice as a form of a search routine, distinct from Nelson and Winter's (1982) conceptualization of search, generating changes in lower-order routines, ultimately contributing to enhanced team innovation and performance.

The Elementary Classroom as a Site for Creative Ritual, Student Voice, and Meaningful Learning

During my time as an elementary school teacher, the students in the classroom were given a significant degree of agency, autonomy, and voice in how they went about their learning process. In this choice-based democratic learning environment, the students gravitated towards self-initiated creative engagement and chose to employ creativity as a central function of their learning process. The daily creative rituals which the students enacted fostered feelings of wellbeing and at the same time opened up additional creative pathways (Rufo, 2016). These findings reflect the research literature that shows children who feel comfortable and safe in a classroom environment engage more deeply and meaningfully in academic content (Gude, 2010; Nickerson, 1999; Richards, 2010). Furthermore, according to Wright (2015), the affective filter “refers to factors, such as fear, anxiety, shyness, and lack of motivation” (p. 319) that can impede learning, whereas, a “safe and enjoyable classroom environment…helps to lower the affective filter” (p. 61). When students in the author’s classroom engaged in creative rituals of their own choosing, it lowered their affective filters which consequently opened up new channels and entry points into their learning (Rufo, 2017). The ritualized creativity of the students was made manifest in myriad ways that included drawings, paintings, 3D objects, installations, game design, and the production of short films. This narrative demonstrates how student agency allows members of a classroom community to express their individual and collective voices, while providing ample opportunities to learn in creative, meaningful, and relevant ways.

“I Don’t Feel Like It Is ‘Mine’ at All”: Assessing Wikipedia Editors’ Sense of Individual and Community Ownership

Given Wikipedia’s breadth of coverage, social impact, and longevity as an impactful open knowledge resource, the encyclopedia has been the subject of considerable interdisciplinary research. Building on scholarship related to collaboration, authorship, ownership, and editing in Wikipedia, this study sought to better understand Wikipedians as writers, paying specific attention to their sense of ownership. While previous research has shown that editors engage in individualist editing practices at times, often ignoring community-mediated policy regarding ownership, findings from a mixed-method survey of 117 editors demonstrate the existence of both “individual” and “community” notions of ownership that often reinforce, or mutually inform, each other. This study adds clarity to these issues by demonstrating how feelings of individual ownership, voice, and pride in writing often occur in collaborative circumstances. This research ultimately extends our understanding of collaborative writing in what is one of the most well-known collaborative websites. Despite contemporary theoretical strides advocating for relinquishing ownership concepts in favor of distributed or ecological frameworks, the concept of ownership remains prevalent within digital writing communities, exemplified by Wikipedia.

Learning sustainability at the Barefoot College: local and global community values in action

This article investigates learning sustainability at the Barefoot College, identifying potential replicability and relevance for other contexts.BackgroundGovernment statistics in India, suggest that some 32 million children have no access to education, especially in rural areas. Despite initiatives, 80% mainly from lower castes and deprived backgrounds, have never attended school. Operating across many villages, the ‘Barefoot College’ (BFC) is a mature non-government organisation (NGO) centred on Tilonia, in Northern Rajasthan. Here, poverty is so extreme that children can be sold into textile factories because parents cannot afford to feed them. However, skills learned at BFC such as conserving fossil fuels and water, how to vote, literacy and health practices, improve local lives immeasurably and benefit the planet. The research question (RQ) examines the key characteristics and impact of learning sustainability in this environment. The lead author was astonished by the depth and beauty of how teachings of semi-literate women, teachers and children have generated a living, breathing sustainable community.MethodThis research used an education case study methodology comprising multiple nested cases. Narratives of three key BFC project cases, the solar panel mamas, the Barefoot health and social workers and the children’s Night Schools, contextualise participant interviews that enable individual voices and experiences to emerge. Strategies aligned with a feminist standpoint approach enhance rigour and trustworthiness, systematically comparing qualitative data initiated in 2012 across semi-structured interviews, observations, and photographs. We found two key themes: dealing with on-the-ground inequality and practices of teaching and learning, together with five subthemes. These are in turn examined within a global sustainability-based framework to evaluate and characterise of BFC learning sustainability and sustainable leadership.ResultsThe research finds that learning sustainability at BFC contains novel key elements that are scalable and transferable. Meticulous joined-up-thinking underpins the BFC projects. Participants’ words confirm local and global relevance. Mapping learning sustainability in practice confirms individual self-actualisation and community agency through transformative education with impact. Individual and organisational adaptability are evidenced through individuals’ transformation into community leaders.ConclusionThe Global North has a lot to learn from the BFC, where learning sustainability is deeply embedded in belonging to the community. Bottom-up leadership through active participation and democracy empowers all community members, instilling pride in the Barefoot ethos. In this difficult environment, locally rooted projects nurture the ecological commons including rainwater harvesting and reducing fossil fuels. Projects enable traditions and clean technologies to flourish, whilst strengthening individual and community belonging and identity.

Personal scoping review: A novel review type with a personal touch.

The importance of incorporating patient and medical professional perspectives in medical research is increasingly recognized. However, formal platforms for these voices are limited. To address this gap, this study proposes a novel manuscript type, the Personal Scoping Review, within the Journal of Oral Rehabilitation. Personal Scoping Reviews utilize a qualitative design with semi-structured interviews to gather patient and professional perspectives. This approach offers flexibility and depth, allowing authors to explore diverse insights. The reviews focus on care, education and research agendas related to the topic, using the voices of individuals as primary evidence. Personal Scoping Reviews highlight concerns in patient care, educational needs and research gaps, offering a comprehensive view. By integrating diverse perspectives, these reviews provide valuable insights for improving medical research and practice. They facilitate the formulation of agendas to address key issues in care, education and research. By amplifying individual perspectives, these reviews aim to enhance the relevance and impact of research, ultimately benefiting patients and healthcare providers alike.

Effects on Voice Quality of Thyroidectomy: A Qualitative and Quantitative Study Using Voice Maps

ObjectivesThis study aims to explore the effects of thyroidectomy - a surgical intervention involving the removal of the thyroid gland—on voice quality, as represented by acoustic and electroglottographic measures. Given the thyroid gland's proximity to the inferior and superior laryngeal nerves, thyroidectomy carries a potential risk of affecting vocal function. While earlier studies have documented effects on the voice range, few studies have looked at voice quality after thyroidectomy. Since voice quality effects could manifest in many ways, that a priori are unknown, we wish to apply an exploratory approach that collects many data points from several metrics. MethodsA voice-mapping analysis paradigm was applied retrospectively on a corpus of spoken and sung sentences produced by patients who had had thyroid surgery. Voice quality changes were assessed objectively for 57 patients prior to surgery and two months after surgery, by making comparative voice maps, pre- and post-intervention, of six acoustic and electroglottographic (EGG) metrics. ResultsAfter thyroidectomy, statistically significant changes consistent with a worsening of voice quality were observed in most metrics. For all individual metrics, however, the effect sizes were too small to be clinically relevant. Statistical clustering of the metrics helped to clarify the nature of these changes. While partial thyroidectomy demonstrated greater uniformity than did total thyroidectomy, the type of perioperative damage had no discernible impact on voice quality. ConclusionsChanges in voice quality after thyroidectomy were related mostly to increased phonatory instability in both the acoustic and EGG metrics. Clustered voice metrics exhibited a higher correlation to voice complaints than did individual voice metrics.

‘The problem of other minds’: disappropriation and the limits of polyphony in Ben Lerner’s The Topeka School

ABSTRACT This essay argues that Ben Lerner’s The Topeka School (2019) complicates Mikhail Bakhtin’s dichotomy between monologism and polyphony through strategies resonating with Cristina Rivera Garza’s concept of disappropriation. In contrast to Bakhtinian polyphony, Lerner’s novel posits the necessity of exposing the author’s agency behind the characters’ voices to refrain from appropriating them; it thus embraces authorial fallibility and turns it into an ethical project. Despite comprising multiple narrators, The Topeka School is metafictionally presented as authored by an older version of its teenage protagonist Adam Gordon, serving as Lerner’s alter ego. Adam’s overarching authorial presence is suggested by the narrative’s frequent rejection of individuation and mimesis in its depiction of different characters’ speeches; yet, by presenting individual voices as interwoven, the novel also emphasises the collective nature of language. I discuss how this tension between authorial control and interconnectedness is reflected in textual interferences across different narrative perspectives, in the oscillation between authorial and figural narration in the interludes dedicated to the character Darren, and in the infiltration of various intra and intertextual references into Amber’s as well as Adam’s voice. Through these disappropriative techniques, Lerner’s novel avoids solipsism while also moving beyond the dialogic strategies of previous post-postmodern metafiction.

IMAR in Frequency Domain for Separating Speech Signals by STFT

Blind Source Separation is a statistical method for isolating signals coming from unidentified sources that have been picked up by a variety of sensors. In the fields of biological signal analysis and speech analysis technology, it is an active researcher. The quantity of noise that is present in the signal throughout the speech signal separation process is a disadvantage. This noise affects the signal that has been separated, and it is often loud melodic noise. For the purpose of separating speech signals from BSS, the suggested method makes use of a network that is configured with the parameters of Instantaneous Mixing in addition to an Auto Regressive model and a maximum-likelihood function. In order to separate the individual voice signal from the input mixed signals, the Back Propagation Network is put into operation. The Short Time Fourier Transform is then utilized for the purpose of dividing the spoken stream into extremely precise time periods. Next, Maximum-likelihood method is implemented to determine the optimum values of the IMAR model's W and G parameters. This step is done after the ideal values have been estimated. The suggested model was tested using a combination of voice signals and microphone signals, and the results demonstrated that it provided superior execution in comparison to other algorithms that are currently in use.

To Speak with the Other—To Let the Other Speak: Paul Celan’s Poetry and the Hermeneutical Challenge of Mitsprechen

This essay explores the notion of Mitsprechen or “with-speaking” in Paul Celan’s poetry. “With-speaking” supposes that voices in the poems actively participate and engage in a dialogue that goes beyond traditional hermeneutic frameworks. Celan’s notion of col-loquy, distinct from the conventional sense of dialogue, challenges the separation between author and interpreter, rendering the traditional concept of intertextuality inadequate. The poems, according to Celan, give voice to human destinies, making texts audible as the voices of others. This vocal dimension of Celan’s poetry has prompted extensive discussion among philosophers, particularly in France. Levinas, Blanchot, and Derrida, influenced by German phenomenology and hermeneutics, critically examine the ethical implications of speaking “about” the other. They challenge traditional hermeneutical practices, emphasizing the responsibility of interpreters to respect the unique and untranslatable character of individual voices. This critique extends to Protestant categories of interpretation, drawing on alternative Jewish perspectives on being-in-the-world and alterity. The text explores the tensions inherent in speaking “for” or “in the name of” others, especially in the context of interpreting Celan’s work, raising questions about maintaining the fundamental difference and distance that otherness implies. The discussion concludes by highlighting Werner Hamacher’s formulation of a new philology that disrupts hermeneutical violence, influenced by the critiques of Blanchot, Levinas, and Derrida, and offering an alternative way of addressing the particular challenges posed by Celan’s poetry.

Tapping on Collective National Trauma

Tapping on Collective National Trauma

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Audio

IMAR in Frequency Domain for Separating Speech Signals by STFT

Blind Source Separation is a statistical method for isolating signals coming from unidentified sources that have been picked up by a variety of sensors. In the fields of biological signal analysis and speech analysis technology, it is an active researcher. The quantity of noise that is present in the signal throughout the speech signal separation process is a disadvantage. This noise affects the signal that has been separated, and it is often loud melodic noise. For the purpose of separating speech signals from BSS, the suggested method makes use of a network that is configured with the parameters of Instantaneous Mixing in addition to an Auto Regressive model and a maximum-likelihood function. In order to separate the individual voice signal from the input mixed signals, the Back Propagation Network is put into operation. The Short Time Fourier Transform is then utilized for the purpose of dividing the spoken stream into extremely precise time periods. Next, Maximum-likelihood method is implemented to determine the optimum values of the IMAR model's W and G parameters. This step is done after the ideal values have been estimated. The suggested model was tested using a combination of voice signals and microphone signals, and the results demonstrated that it provided superior execution in comparison to other algorithms that are currently in use.