Tone Fusion Research Articles

Rule Ordering in Uvwie

One of the assumptions underlying theories of phonological derivation is that the phonological architecture of any language consists of, at least, an abstract underlying form, its surface form and conditions which derive the surface form from its underlying form. It is further assumed that the conditions are serially ordered in frameworks which subscribe to the rule ordering such as orthodox generative phonology and lexical phonology. In the present study, these issues are engaged in the case of Uvwie. In particular, the study seeks to investigate the conditions (processes and rules) which derive surface forms from their corresponding underlying forms, and the order in which they apply. Thus the study will examine the different well-motivated phonological rules attested in the derivation of Uvwie formatives, and provide evidence for the order in which the processes apply. The study employe data documented in Ekiugbo (2016), and couched its analysis within rule ordering principle of generative phonology. The study identifies six rules, which are ordered thus: nasal assimilation > glide formation > vowel elision > tone fusion > vowel lengthening > consonant elision.

An Alternative Explanation for Difficulties with Speech in Background Talkers: Abnormal Fusion of Vowels Across Fundamental Frequency and Ears.

Normal-hearing (NH) listeners use frequency cues, such as fundamental frequency (voice pitch), to segregate sounds into discrete auditory streams. However, many hearing-impaired (HI) individuals have abnormally broad binaural pitch fusion which leads to fusion and averaging of the original monaural pitches into the same stream instead of segregating the two streams (Oh and Reiss, 2017) and may similarly lead to fusion and averaging of speech streams across ears. In this study, using dichotic speech stimuli, we examined the relationship between speech fusion and vowel identification. Dichotic vowel perception was measured in NH and HI listeners, with across-ear fundamental frequency differences varied. Synthetic vowels /i/, /u/, /a/, and /ae/ were generated with three fundamental frequencies (F0) of 106.9, 151.2, and 201.8Hz and presented dichotically through headphones. For HI listeners, stimuli were shaped according to NAL-NL2 prescriptive targets. Although the dichotic vowels presented were always different across ears, listeners were not informed that there were no single vowel trials and could identify one vowel or two different vowels on each trial. When there was no F0 difference between the ears, both NH and HI listeners were more likely to fuse the vowels and identify only one vowel. As ΔF0 increased, NH listeners increased the percentage of two-vowel responses, but HI listeners were more likely to continue to fuse vowels even with large ΔF0. Binaural tone fusion range was significantly correlated with vowel fusion rates in both NH and HI listeners. Confusion patterns with dichotic vowels differed from those seen with concurrent monaural vowels, suggesting different mechanisms behind the errors. Together, the findings suggest that broad fusion leads to spectral blending across ears, even for different ΔF0, and may hinder the stream segregation and understanding of speech in the presence of competing talkers.

Generation of high dynamic range illumination from a single image for the enhancement of undesirably illuminated images

This paper presents an algorithm that enhances undesirably illuminated images by generating and fusing multi-level illuminations from a single image. The input image is first decomposed into illumination and reflectance components by using an edge-preserving smoothing filter. Then the reflectance component is scaled up to improve the image details in bright areas. The illumination component is scaled up and down to generate several illumination images that correspond to certain camera exposure values different from the original. The virtual multi-exposure illuminations are blended into an enhanced illumination, where we also propose a method to generate appropriate weight maps for the tone fusion. Finally, an enhanced image is obtained by multiplying the equalized illumination and enhanced reflectance. Experiments show that the proposed algorithm produces visually pleasing output and also yields comparable objective results to the conventional enhancement methods, while requiring modest computational loads.

Pseudo-Multiple-Exposure-based Tone Fusion and Visual-Salience-based Tone Mapping for High Dynamic Range Images: A Review

This paper presents an introduction to novel saliency-aware weighting and edge-aware weighting for HDR images. These techniques are incorporated into an existing guided image filter to form a perceptually guided image filter. The saliencyaware weighting and the new filter are applied to design a new local tone-mapping algorithm for HDR images such that both extreme light and shadow regions can be reproduced on conventional low dynamic range displays. The VisualSalience-Based Tone Mapping (VSBTM) filter preserves sharp edges in the base layer better than the existing guided filter. Halo artifacts are thus significantly reduced in the tonemapped image. Moreover, the visual quality of the tonemapped image, especially attention-salient regions, is improved by the saliency-aware weighting. Pseudo-MultipleExposure-Based Tone Fusion (PMEBTF) gives a regionbased enhancement on the pseudo-exposures to boost details in the most distinct region. Thereby the region-enhanced pseudo-exposures are fused into an HDR image. The fused image thus enhances details in the bright region of the dark image and the dark region of the bright image.

Pseudo-Multiple-Exposure-Based Tone Fusion With Local Region Adjustment

New generations of display technologies provide a significantly improved dynamic range compared to conventional display devices. Inverse tone mapping methods have been proposed to convert low dynamic range (LDR) images to HDR ones, and several of them require multiple exposure LDR images of the same scene as inputs. However, the vast majority of LDR images and videos available have only one single exposure. In this paper, we propose a region-based enhancement of the pseudo-exposures to generate an HDR image. First, we present an exposure dependent $S$ curve to convert one LDR image to the pseudo-multiple-exposures. Only certain regions of the pseudo-exposures contain noticeable detail information. We propose a region-based enhancement on the pseudo-exposures to boost details in the most distinct region. Thereby the region-enhanced pseudo-exposures are fused into an HDR image. The fused image thus enhances details in the bright region of the dark image and the dark region of the bright image. Compared with other inverse tone mapped methods, our method generates lower total contrast error measured under the dynamic range independent image quality assessment method in .

The effect of exogenous spatial attention on auditory information processing

This study investigated the effect of exogenous spatial attention on auditory information processing. In Experiments 1, 2 and 3, temporal order judgment tasks were performed to examine the effect. In Experiment 1 and 2, a cue tone was presented to either the left or right ear, followed by sequential presentation of two target tones. The subjects judged the order of presentation of the target tones. The results showed that subjects heard both tones simultaneously when the target tone, which was presented on the same side as the cue tone, was presented after the target tone on the opposite side. This indicates that spatial exogenous attention was aroused by the cue tone, and facilitated subsequent auditory information processing. Experiment 3 examined whether both cue position and frequency influence the resulting information processing. The same effect of spatial attention was observed, but the effect of attention to a certain frequency was only partially observed. In Experiment 4, a tone fusion judgment task was performed to examine whether the effect of spatial attention occurred in the initial stages of hearing. The result suggests that the effect occurred in the later stages of hearing.

The perception of microsound and its musical implications.

Sound particles or microsounds last only a few milliseconds, near the threshold of auditory perception. We can easily analyze the physical properties of sound particles either individually or in masses. However, correlating these properties with human perception remains complicated. One cannot speak of a single time frame, or a "time constant" for the auditory system. The hearing mechanism involves many different agents, each of which operates on its own timescale. The signals being sent by diverse hearing agents are integrated by the brain into a coherent auditory picture. The pioneer of "sound quanta," Dennis Gabor (1900-1979), suggested that at least two mechanisms are at work in microevent detection: one that isolates events, and another that ascertains their pitch. Human hearing imposes a certain minimum duration in order to establish a firm sense of pitch, amplitude, and timbre. This paper traces disparate strands of literature on the topic and summarizes their meaning. Specifically, we examine the perception of intensity and pitch of microsounds, the phenomena of tone fusion and fission, temporal auditory acuity, and preattentive perception. The final section examines the musical implications of microsonic analysis, synthesis, and transformation.

Fusion of auditory components: Effects of the frequency of amplitude modulation

The fusion of two amplitude-modulated (AM) tones presented simultaneously was studied. Subjects were presented with an AM tone (A) followed by a copy of itself (B) which was accompanied by another AM tone (C). In different experiments, the subjects were asked either to rate how clearly they could hear Tone B in the BC mixture or whether Tone B was present or not. The stronger the fusion of Tones B and C, the harder it was to "hear out" Tone B. It was found that fusion was strongest when Tones B and C were modulated at the same rate; segregation curves were obtained for the degree of mismatch of modulation frequency.

On the relation between Flicker Fusion values and Tone Fusion values and Fatigue degree

On the relation between Flicker Fusion values and Tone Fusion values and Fatigue degree

Pitch processing of nonharmonic tones: A search for an auditory mechanism that recognizes spectral patterns

Experiments on tone fusion [E. A. Cohen, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Suppl. 1 65, S123 (1979); 66, 530 (1980); K. T. Marcus, M. V. Mathews, and J. R. Pierce, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 66, 542 (1980)] suggested that tonal unity (fused pitch) is assured if the necessary and sufficient condition of a systematic overtone structure is met. The series fn′ = KAlog2nf1 was employed to insure the availability of structured harmonic and unharmonic partials. The 2nd partial of this series was deleted and a subject allowed to insert it by means of a tunable oscillator. If we are capable of recognizing nonharmonic systems then subjects should place the missing partial in the position called for by the mathematical order of the partials. Limited evidence for this ability was revealed (within ±5% of harmonic position). The results also show limited evidence for a subjective stretch of the octave when the 2nd partial is determined. It was observed that subjects (all trained musicians) experienced a remarkable, degree of difficulty even for placement of the truly harmonic partials.

The effect of envelope on fusion of tones with inharmonic partials

Temporal envelopes for tones with an inharmonic partial structure were generated using the Systems Concepts Digital synthesizer. [E. Cohen, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Suppl. 1, 65, S123(A) (1979)]. The reasons for choosing envelopes based on musical viability rather than a flat “psychoacoustically standard” pattern, will be discussed. Subjects were asked to make judgments on the degree of tone dispersion for single tones differing in degree of inharmonicity and temporal envelope. The importance of attack and decay times, as well as transients in the signal will be explained. A real‐time experiment on the determination of subjective interval size of dyads using two different envelope patterns also revealed that duration of the “steady state” portion of signal has an effect on tone fusion.