Fundamental Frequency Variation Research Articles

The Brief Research on the Pitch Pattern Comparison of Electroacoustic Disguised Voice

Camouflage voice is the common check material form in judicial voice testing field that brings about many difficulties to speaker identification. Aiming at the electroacoustic disguised voice, we get fundamental frequency variation rule before and after voice change of multiple corpuses by analyzing map and data. The results show that the fundamental frequency before and after voice change exists a linearity relationship, we can realize speaker identification in electroacoustic disguised speech field through comparing Chinese pitch pattern.

Molecular dynamics modeling and simulation of a graphene-based nanoelectromechanical resonator

A tunable graphene-resonator was investigated using classical molecular dynamics modeling and simulations. The fundamental resonance frequency variation of the graphene resonator was found to be very closely related to the average tension acting on both its edges. The initial stain-induced tension could be adjusted by using the mismatch between the negative thermal expansion coefficient of the graphene and the positive thermal expansion coefficient of the substrate, and the deflection-induced tension could be controlled by an electrostatic capacitive force due to the gate voltage. For very small initial axial-strains, the tunable range reached above several hundred gigahertz. As the initial axial-strain on the graphene-resonator increased, both the tunability and the tunable range decreased. The fundamental resonance frequency as a function of the calculated gate voltage was in good agreement with previous experiments. Considering the variables that affect the tension variation, this graphene-resonator is suitable for use as an ultra-sensitive accelerometer, thermo-sensor or weight scale, as well as many other types of sensor.

Advertisement call of species of the genus Frostius Cannatella 1986 (Anura: Bufonidae)

Frostius pernambucensis and F. erythrophthalmus are cryptic bufonid species recognized mainly by the iris color: yellow in F. permambucensis and red in F. erythrophthalmus . However, field studies showed that the iris color of F. erythrophthalmus could vary between yellow and red. To improve the recognition of these species we described the advertisement call of Frostius pernambucensis and Frostius erythrophthalmus and we tested if call characteristics are influenced by temperature, male size and perch height. We also report on a physical interaction between two males of F. pernambucensis and the associated vocalization, suggesting that F. pernambucensis has not a territorial call or encounter call. Comparing the advertisement calls, the call of F. pernambucensis was lower, shorter and with a smaller number of notes than the call of F . erythrophthalmus . Dominant frequency and fundamental frequency variation of the F. pernambucensis advertisement call were related to the male’s size, while the call emission rate was related to air temperature. However, we could not find relationship among the acoustic characteristic of F. erythrophthalmus and male size or temperature.

F0 Extrema Timing of HL and LH in North Kyungsang Korean: Evidence from a Mimicry Task

This paper describes the categorical effects of pitch accent contrasts in a mimicry task. It focuses, specifically, on examining how fundamental frequency (f0) variation reflects phonological contrasts from speakers of two distinct varieties of Korean (i.e., North Kyungsang and South Cholla). The results showed that, in a mimicry task using synthetic speech continua, there was a categorical effect in f0 peak timing for North Kyungsang speakers, but the timing of f0 peaks and valleys in the responses of South Cholla speakers was more variable, presenting a gradient or non-categorical effect. Evidence of categorical effects was represented as the shift of f0 peak times along an acoustic continuum for North Kyungsang speakers. The range for the shift of f0 valley times was much narrower, compared to that of f0 peak times. The degree of a shift near the middle of the continuum showed variability across individual mimicry responses. However, the categorical structure in mimicry responses regarding the clustering of f0 peak points was more significant for North Kyungsang speakers than for South Cholla speakers. Additionally, the finding of the current study implies that the location of f0 peak times depends on individuals' imitative (or cognitive) abilities.

The role of respiratory/phonatory training and acoustic analysis in normalizing speaking rate in a case of scanning speech

In this single case study, we report the role of respiratory/phonatory training in normalizing speaking rate in a patient with significant ataxic dysarthria, specifically, scanning speech, two years post a closed head injury from an MVA. The patient passed bilateral hearing screening, and scored 30/30 on the Mini-Mental State Exam, AQ of 97.2 on the Western Aphasia Battery-Revised and 58/60 on the Boston Naming Test. The initial speech analysis revealed the following: perceptually, the speech was slow with equal and excess stress and significant phonatory-prosodic insufficiency. Acoustically, the syllable duration was increased and equalized with very little variation in fundamental frequency or intensity. The phonatory-prosodic insufficiency was identified as the underlying deficit and targeted, which resulted in significant improvement in both overall speech intelligibility and naturalness of speech in seven weeks. Both self-rating and acoustic analyses were used throughout as means of feedback which contributed to the success of the treatment. The final acoustic analysis indicated normal syllable duration and speech prosody in spontaneous speech. The pre- and post-treatment audio clips will be used to accompany the acoustic analysis. The role of acoustic analysis in treatment of phonatory-prosodic insufficiency and its implication in dysarthria management in general will be discussed.

Atypical Cry Acoustics in 6‐Month‐Old Infants at Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder

This study examined differences in acoustic characteristics of infant cries in a sample of babies at risk for autism and a low-risk comparison group. Cry samples derived from vocal recordings of 6-month-old infants at risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD; n = 21) and low-risk infants (n = 18) were subjected to acoustic analyses using analysis software designed for this purpose. Cries were categorized as either pain-related or non-pain-related based on videotape coding. At-risk infants produced pain-related cries with higher and more variable fundamental frequency (F (0) ) than low-risk infants. At-risk infants later classified with ASD at 36 months had among the highest F (0) values for both types of cries and produced cries that were more poorly phonated than those of nonautistic infants, reflecting cries that were less likely to be produced in a voiced mode. These results provide preliminary evidence that disruptions in cry acoustics may be part of an atypical vocal signature of autism in early life.

Effects of Fundamental Frequency and Duration Variation on the Perception of South Kyungsang Korean Tones

The perception of lexical tones is addressed through research on South Kyungsang Korean, spoken in the southeastern part of Korea. Based on an earlier production study (Chang, 2008a, 2008b), a categorization experiment was conducted to determine the perceptually salient aspects of the perceptual nature of a high tone and a rising tone. The experiment tested the perception of isolated synthetic stimuli, in which the crucial acoustic parameters (i.e., timing of F0 peak, initial F0, and syllable duration) were systematically manipulated. The results are generally consistent with the previous production data, showing that these acoustic cues contribute to the perception of two tones, a high tone and a rising tone. The stimulus tends to be identified as a rising tone if the F0 peak is late in the syllable, the initial F0 is low, and the syllable is long, while the stimulus tends to be identified as a high tone if the F0 peak is early in the syllable, the initial F0 is high, and the duration is short. Each of these three parameters, although necessary, did not contribute equally to the perception of tone contrast. Between-subject variation, according to the participant's gender and language background, is also discussed.

Extension of the Operating Speed for Vector-Controlled Induction Machine Drives in the Overmodulation Range

This paper proposes a novel current control scheme for vector-controlled induction machine (IM) drives in the overmodulation (OVM) range, with which the voltage utilization of the voltage-source inverter (VSI) can be maximized. In the OVM region, the original voltage reference is modified by changing its magnitude and angle, which causes the motor current to be distorted, resulting in a deterioration of the current control performance. To meet with this situation, the harmonic components in the feedback currents should be eliminated before being input to the PI current controllers. For this, a composite observer is applied to extract the fundamental and harmonic components from the distorted currents, which gives a good performance without a delay and the effect of a fundamental frequency variation. In addition, through a detailed analysis of the response of the PI current controllers in the OVM range, the effectiveness of using the composite observer is demonstrated. Simulation and experimental results for a 3-kW induction motor drive are shown to verify the validity of the proposed method.

ACOUSTIC STRUCTURE OF THE VOICE IN CHILDREN CONSIDERED FOR PARTIAL DEAFNESS TREATMENT

BackgroundPartial deafness (PD) is a condition in which normal hearing is preserved in the low frequency range, while severe to profound hearing loss is observed in the middle and high frequency ranges. The aim of this study was to assess the acoustic structure of the voice in children considered for partial deafness treatment (PDT).Material and MethodsThe material included 127 children aged from 5 to 12 years old. The study group included children with partial deafness (PD). Depending on age, patients in the study group were divided into 2 groups. The first included 40 children aged 5–6 years, and the second consisted of 44 school-age children aged 7–12 years. The control group included 20 healthy normally hearing children aged 5–6 years and 23 healthy, normally hearing children with clear voices, aged 7–12 years. Children’s voices were assessed subjectively by the physician and objectively with the use of a digital CSL KAY Multidimensional Voice Profile analyser (MDVP). The sustained vowel “a” was used for analysis.ResultsAcoustic features of PD vs. normally hearing children were different. Statistically significant parameters differentiating voices in the group of younger children were fundamental frequency (Fo); shimmer, a parameter describing changes in amplitude (ShdB); and noise-to-harmonic-ratio (NHR). In the group of older children more acoustic parameters characterizing voices of PD children were defined. They included fundamental frequency (Fo); fundamental frequency variation (vFo); amplitude change (vAm, sAPQ); noise-to-harmonic-ratio (NHR); and voice tremor (FTRI).ConclusionsThe acoustic structure of the voice in children with partial deafness is different from that in children with normal hearing.

The role of vowel and consonant fundamental frequency, envelope, and temporal fine structure cues to the intelligibility of words and sentences.

The speech signal contains many acoustic properties that may contribute differently to spoken word recognition. Previous studies have demonstrated that the importance of properties present during consonants or vowels is dependent upon the linguistic context (i.e., words versus sentences). The current study investigated three potentially informative acoustic properties that are present during consonants and vowels for monosyllabic words and sentences. Natural variations in fundamental frequency were either flattened or removed. The speech envelope and temporal fine structure were also investigated by limiting the availability of these cues via noisy signal extraction. Thus, this study investigated the contribution of these acoustic properties, present during either consonants or vowels, to overall word and sentence intelligibility. Results demonstrated that all processing conditions displayed better performance for vowel-only sentences. Greater performance with vowel-only sentences remained, despite removing dynamic cues of the fundamental frequency. Word and sentence comparisons suggest that the speech envelope may be at least partially responsible for additional vowel contributions in sentences. Results suggest that speech information transmitted by the envelope is responsible, in part, for greater vowel contributions in sentences, but is not predictive for isolated words.

Transoral robotic surgery for hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma: 3-Year oncologic and functional analysis

The recent trend in treatment of hypopharyngeal cancer is organ preservation in order to maintain swallowing and speech function as well as improve quality of life. Transoral robotic surgery (TORS) can remove hypopharyngeal lesions successfully without an external incision, preserving physiologic functions of affected organs. However, studies have yet to assess the oncologic and functional results of TORS for the treatment of hypopharyngeal cancer. This prospective study evaluated the oncologic and functional results of TORS for the treatment of hypopharyngeal cancer obtained at our institution over a period of 3 years and confirmed the validity of TORS as a surgical organ-preserving strategy. Between April 2008 and September 2011, 23 patients who were diagnosed with hypopharyngeal cancer underwent TORS for removal of a primary lesion. The da Vinci Robotic system (Intuitive Surgical Inc., Sunnyvale, California) was used to remove the lesion. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to analyze overall survival and disease-free survival. Videopharyngogram study (VEF) was performed and functional outcome swallowing scale (FOSS) was utilized to measure and evaluate swallowing function. Acoustic wave form analysis was conducted to evaluate voice status. Overall survival at 3 years was 89% and disease-free survival was 84%. On the VEF study, serious aspiration or delay of swallowing was not observed during the pharyngeal stage of the swallowing process. Overall, 96% of the patients showed favorable swallowing abilities with an FOSS score ranging from 0 to 2. The fundamental frequency variation (vF0) and jitter were increased upon acoustic waveform analysis (vF0=2.71 ± 0.063, Jitter=2.01 ± 0.034), but the harmonic-to-noise ratio (HNR) and shimmer were maintained close to the normal range (HNR=1.28 ± 0.001, Shim=1.74 ± 0.036). The oncologic and functional results of TORS were quite acceptable for the treatment of hypopharyngeal cancer. TORS is a valid treatment option as a surgical, organ-preserving strategy for select patients with hypopharyngeal cancer.

Convergence and divergence in Diana monkey vocalizations.

Individually distinct vocalizations are widespread among social animals, presumably caused by variation in vocal tract anatomy. A less-explored source of individual variation is due to learned movement patterns of the vocal tract, which can lead to vocal convergence or divergence in social groups. We studied patterns of acoustic similarity in a social call produced by 14 female Diana monkeys (Cercopithecus diana) in two free-ranging groups. Calls showed variability in fundamental frequency contours owing to individual identity and external context. Vocal divergence increased significantly between females during poor visibility and tended to increase in the presence of neighbours. In contrast, vocal convergence increased significantly between females during vocal interactions, because females matched the frequency contour of their own call with another female's preceding call. Our findings demonstrate that these primates have some control over the acoustic fine structure of their most important social vocalization. Vocal convergence and divergence are two opposing processes that enable callers to ensure spatial proximity and social cohesion with other group members.

Evaluation of fundamental frequency in individuals with normal voice and those with vocal nodules

Introduction: Vocal nodules are non-malignant lesions of vocal cords caused by vocal misuse and abuse. Nodules can be viewed as the reaction of vocal tissue to a constant stress induced by frequent and severe movements. Acoustic signs of people with vocal fold nodules somehow differ from those with normal voice. However, there is no universal agreement on the exact amount difference between acoustics of normal voice and pathologic voice heard at the presence of vocal nodule and this, in turn, has resulted in different reported acoustic measurements. In this study, we used the standardized Rangin Kaman passage for vocal assessment of normal people and patients with voice nodule. Materials and Methods: In a cross-sectional descriptive– analytical study, 20 people with normal voice (10 males and 10 females) and 20 patients with vocal nodules (10 males and 10 females) with an age range of 40 to 59 years were randomly assigned into two age groups of 40 to 59 and 50 to 59 years. Each of these age groups included 10 subjects with normal voice (5 males and 5 females) and 10 ones with bilateral vocal nodules (5 males and 5 females). Thus, 20 voice samples were obtained from each age group. These voice samples were acoustically compared to each other on the basis of fundamental frequency and fundamental frequency variation range. Results: Results showed that the differences in fundamental frequencies was significant when all samples were considered (P = 0.043). For detecting local differences, repeated analysis of variance was performed for men and women separately. In men, significant differences of fundamental frequency were neither observed between normal and pathological samples nor between two age groups as a whole (P = 0.59). In women, differences of mean in fundamental frequency between two age groups were significant (P = 0.007). Conclusion: Mean fundamental frequency analysis can discriminates between normal voice and voice with nodules only in 50 to 59-year age group. Although nodules were recognizable through stroboscope, acoustic signs varied depending on the amount of influence exerted by the nodule on the voice. Keywords: Speech fundamental frequency, Fundamental frequency variation range, Voice, Nodules

Objective measurement of motor speech characteristics in the healthy pediatric population

Objective To obtain objective measurements of motor speech characteristics in normal children, using a computer-based motor speech software program. Methods Cross-sectional, observational design in a university-based ambulatory pediatric otolaryngology clinic. Participants included 112 subjects (54 females and 58 males) aged 4–18 years. Participants with previously diagnosed hearing loss, voice and motor disorders, and children unable to repeat a passage in English were excluded. Voice samples were recorded and analysed using the Motor Speech Profile (MSP) software (KayPENTAX, Lincoln Park, NJ). The MSP produced measures of diadochokinetics, second formant transition, intonation, and syllabic rates. Results Demographic data, including sex, age, and cigarette smoke exposure were obtained. Normative data for several motor speech characteristics were derived for children ranging from age 4 to 18 years. A number of age-dependent changes were indentified, including an increase in average diadochokinetic rate ( p < 0.001) and standard syllabic duration ( p < 0.001) with age. There were no identified differences in motor speech characteristics between males and females across the measured age range. Variations in fundamental frequency (Fo) during speech did not change significantly with age for both males and females. Conclusions To our knowledge, this is the first pediatric normative database for the MSP progam. The MSP is suitable for testing children and can be used to study developmental changes in motor speech. The analysis demonstrated that males and females behave similarly and show the same relationship with age for the motor speech characteristics studied. This normative database will provide essential comparative data for future studies exploring alterations in motor speech that may occur with hearing, voice, and motor disorders and to assess the results of targeted therapies.

Acoustic cues to prominence in children's speech

Previous work indicates that phrasal prominence patterns are not yet adult-like in 6-year-old children's speech. Perception of prominence in English is influenced by temporal patterning, amplitude changes, and fundamental frequency variations across the phrase. This study examined the relative weightings of these cues to prominence in adult judgments of 6-year-old children and college-aged adults' speech. Eleven adult judges listened to two—word phrases produced by 25 children and 25 adults in a counting task designed to induce stress shift (thirtéen banana versus thirtéen barbeque). The judges decided which word was most prominent in the phrase: number, noun, or equal prominence. Although the number word was always judged to be prominent regardless of speakers' ages or context, initial results indicate that agreement between judges varied systematically with different cues in children and adults' speech. More judges agreed that the number word was prominent in children's speech when the first syllable of this word was produced with an especially high F0 and long duration, but only the relative intensity of the initial syllable predicted inter-judge agreement for adult speech. The results have implications for understanding the development of cue integration in the prominence production. [Work supported by NIH/R01HD061458.]

Do women's voices provide cues of the likelihood of ovulation? The importance of sampling regime.

The human voice provides a rich source of information about individual attributes such as body size, developmental stability and emotional state. Moreover, there is evidence that female voice characteristics change across the menstrual cycle. A previous study reported that women speak with higher fundamental frequency (F0) in the high-fertility compared to the low-fertility phase. To gain further insights into the mechanisms underlying this variation in perceived attractiveness and the relationship between vocal quality and the timing of ovulation, we combined hormone measurements and acoustic analyses, to characterize voice changes on a day-to-day basis throughout the menstrual cycle. Voice characteristics were measured from free speech as well as sustained vowels. In addition, we asked men to rate vocal attractiveness from selected samples. The free speech samples revealed marginally significant variation in F0 with an increase prior to and a distinct drop during ovulation. Overall variation throughout the cycle, however, precluded unequivocal identification of the period with the highest conception risk. The analysis of vowel samples revealed a significant increase in degree of unvoiceness and noise-to-harmonic ratio during menstruation, possibly related to an increase in tissue water content. Neither estrogen nor progestogen levels predicted the observed changes in acoustic characteristics. The perceptual experiments revealed a preference by males for voice samples recorded during the pre-ovulatory period compared to other periods in the cycle. While overall we confirm earlier findings in that women speak with a higher and more variable fundamental frequency just prior to ovulation, the present study highlights the importance of taking the full range of variation into account before drawing conclusions about the value of these cues for the detection of ovulation.

Subglottal pressure, tracheal airflow, and intrinsic laryngeal muscle activity during rat ultrasound vocalization

Vocal production requires complex planning and coordination of respiratory, laryngeal, and vocal tract movements, which are incompletely understood in most mammals. Rats produce a variety of whistles in the ultrasonic range that are of communicative relevance and of importance as a model system, but the sources of acoustic variability were mostly unknown. The goal was to identify sources of fundamental frequency variability. Subglottal pressure, tracheal airflow, and electromyographic (EMG) data from two intrinsic laryngeal muscles were measured during 22-kHz and 50-kHz call production in awake, spontaneously behaving adult male rats. During ultrasound vocalization, subglottal pressure ranged between 0.8 and 1.9 kPa. Pressure differences between call types were not significant. The relation between fundamental frequency and subglottal pressure within call types was inconsistent. Experimental manipulations of subglottal pressure had only small effects on fundamental frequency. Tracheal airflow patterns were also inconsistently associated with frequency. Pressure and flow seem to play a small role in regulation of fundamental frequency. Muscle activity, however, is precisely regulated and very sensitive to alterations, presumably because of effects on resonance properties in the vocal tract. EMG activity of cricothyroid and thyroarytenoid muscle was tonic in calls with slow or no fundamental frequency modulations, like 22-kHz and flat 50-kHz calls. Both muscles showed brief high-amplitude, alternating bursts at rates up to 150 Hz during production of frequency-modulated 50-kHz calls. A differentiated and fine regulation of intrinsic laryngeal muscles is critical for normal ultrasound vocalization. Many features of the laryngeal muscle activation pattern during ultrasound vocalization in rats are shared with other mammals.

Reduction in Tonal Discriminations Predicts Receptive Emotion Processing Deficits in Schizophrenia and Schizoaffective Disorder

Schizophrenia patients show decreased ability to identify emotion based upon tone of voice (voice emotion recognition), along with deficits in basic auditory processing. Interrelationship among these measures is poorly understood. Forty-one patients with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder and 41 controls were asked to identify the emotional valence (happy, sad, angry, fear, or neutral) of 38 synthesized frequency-modulated (FM) tones designed to mimic key acoustic features of human vocal expressions. The mean (F0M) and variability (F0SD) of fundamental frequency (pitch) and absence or presence of high frequency energy (HF500) of the tones were independently manipulated to assess contributions on emotion identification. Forty patients and 39 controls also completed tone-matching and voice emotion recognition tasks. Both groups showed a nonrandom response pattern (P < .0001). Stimuli with highest and lowest F0M/F0SD were preferentially identified as happy and sad, respectively. Stimuli with low F0M and midrange F0SD values were identified as angry. Addition of HF500 increased rates of angry and decreased rates of sad identifications. Patients showed less differentiation of response across frequency changes, leading to a highly significant between-group difference in response pattern to maximally identifiable stimuli (d = 1.4). The differential identification pattern for FM tones correlated with deficits in basic tone-matching ability (P = .01), voice emotion recognition (P < .001), and negative symptoms (P < .001). Specific FM tones conveyed reliable emotional percepts in both patients and controls and correlated highly with deficits in ability to recognize information based upon tone of voice, suggesting significant bottom-up contributions to social cognition and negative symptom impairments in schizophrenia.

Quantitative voice quality analyses of a soprano singing early music in three different performance styles

This paper considers the measurement of voice quality variations relating to three different performance styles of early music singing by a trained soprano. In particular, the various outputs available following the collection of electrolaryngographic data are presented along with acoustic analyses based on the acoustic pressure waveform to enable a comparison of the three different singing styles. Voice quality analysis is based on the output from the electrolaryngograph, that enables a measurement of fundamental period to 1 μs accuracy to be made, enabling fundamental frequency variations including vibrato to be explored. In addition, the percentage of each cycle for which the vocal folds are in contact is measured and varies between the three voice qualities providing insights into the nature of vocal fold vibration in each case. Acoustic output spectral measures are made that are not only based on traditional wide- and narrow-band but also hearing modelling spectrography. These provide a clear indication as to which portions of the spectrum are most prominent in terms of perception of the three different voice qualities. A number of features resulting from the various analyses distinguish the singing styles, thereby providing evidence that the methods used are appropriate for objective characterisation and differentiation of singing styles in early music.

Stochastic nonlinear free vibration analysis of elastically supported functionally graded materials plate with system randomness in thermal environment

This paper presents the stochastic nonlinear free vibration response of elastically supported functionally graded materials (FGMs) plate resting on two parameter Pasternak foundation having Winkler cubic nonlinearity with random system properties subjected to uniform and nonuniform temperature changes with temperature independent (TID) and dependent (TD) material properties. System properties such as material properties of each constituent’s material, volume fraction index and foundation parameters are taken as independent random input variables. The basic formulation is based on higher order shear deformation theory (HSDT) with von-Karman nonlinear strains using modified C 0 continuity. A direct iterative based nonlinear finite element method in conjunction with first order perturbation technique (FOPT) developed by last two authors for the composite plate is extended for FGM plate to compute the second order statistics (mean and coefficient of variation) of the nonlinear fundamental frequency. The present outlined approach has been validated with those results available in the literature and independent Monte Carlo simulation (MCS).