Vocal Characteristics Research Articles

High-Speed Videoendoscopic and Acoustic Characteristics of Inspiratory Phonation.

Given the importance of inspiratory phonation for assessment of vocal fold structure, the aim of this investigation was to evaluate and describe the vocal fold vibratory characteristics of inspiratory phonation using high-speed videoendoscopy in healthy volunteers. The study also examined the empirical relationship between cepstral peak prominence (CPP) and glottal area waveform measurements derived from simultaneous high-speed videoendoscopy and audio recordings. Vocally healthy adults (33 women, 28 men) volunteered for this investigation and completed high-speed videoendoscopic assessment of vocal fold function for two trials of an expiratory/inspiratory phonation task at normal pitch and normal loudness. Twelve glottal area waveform measures and acoustic CPP values were extracted for analyses. Inspiratory phonation resulted in shorter closing time, longer duration of the opening phase, and faster closing phase velocity compared to expiratory phonation. Sex differences were elucidated. CPP changes for inspiratory phonation were predicted by changes in the glottal area index and waveform symmetry index, whereas changes in CPP during expiratory phonation were predicted by changes in asymmetry quotient, glottal area index, and amplitude periodicity. Vocal fold vibratory differences were identified for inspiratory phonation when compared to expiratory phonation, the latter of which has been studied more extensively. This investigation provides important basic inspiratory phonation data to better understand laryngeal physiology in vivo and provides a basic model from which to further study inspiratory phonation in a larger population representing a broader age range. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.22223812.

Varied performance of picture description task as a screening tool across MCI subtypes.

A picture description task is a component of Miro Health's platform for self-administration of neurobehavioral assessments. Picture description has been used as a screening tool for identification of individuals with Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), but currently requires in-person administration and scoring by someone with access to and familiarity with a scoring rubric. The Miro Health implementation allows broader use of this assessment through self-administration and automated processing, analysis, and scoring to deliver clinically useful quantifications of the users' speech production, vocal characteristics, and language. Picture description responses were collected from 62 healthy controls (HC), and 33 participants with MCI: 18 with amnestic MCI (aMCI) and 15 with non-amnestic MCI (naMCI). Speech and language features and contrasts between pairs of features were evaluated for differences in their distributions in the participant subgroups. Picture description features were selected and combined using penalized logistic regression to form risk scores for classification of HC versus MCI as well as HC versus specific MCI subtypes. A picture-description based risk score distinguishes MCI and HC with an area under the receiver operator curve (AUROC) of 0.74. When contrasting specific subtypes of MCI and HC, the classifiers have an AUROC of 0.88 for aMCI versus HC and and AUROC of 0.61 for naMCI versus HC. Tests of association of individual features or contrasts of pairs of features with HC versus aMCI identified 20 features with p-values below 5e-3 and False Discovery Rates (FDRs) at or below 0.113, and 61 contrasts with p-values below 5e-4 and FDRs at or below 0.132. Findings suggest that performance of picture description as a screening tool for MCI detection will vary greatly by MCI subtype or by the proportion of various subtypes in an undifferentiated MCI population.

Perceived conscientiousness and openness to experience mediate the relationship between vocal and visual features and hiring decision in the interview

This study used the theory of dispositional attribution and an adapted version of Brunswik's lens model to examine whether the relationship between vocal and visual cues and hiring recommendation is mediated by raters' judgments of speakers' personality traits. The results of mediation analyses suggest that for most of the vocal and visual cues examined, perceptions of interviewees' conscientiousness and openness to experience mediated the relationship between cues and interview performance. This suggests that the vocal and visual cues an interviewee displays convey important information about his or her personality traits to an interviewer.

Voice acoustics and effort of three different communication scenarios presented in an anechoic baseline

While vocal pathology can elevate vocal effort, communication situations also have an effect. Previous work on vocal effort and communication situations have relied on listener ratings of effort rather than talker-centric vocal effort. Towards that end, in this study, talker-centric vocal effort was related to different communication demands. Additionally, vocal performance was measured to investigate potential relationships between effort, production, and communication demand. In an anechoic chamber, participants described to an interlocutor various maps. The communication demands were communication distance (1, 2, 4 m), loudness goal (54, 60, 66 dB), and background noise (53, 62, 71 dBA). Talkers rated their vocal effort after each task with a Borg CR100 scale and were recorded with a calibrated head-worn microphone. There were significant increases in ratings of vocal effort, fundamental frequency, intensity, and cepstral-peak prominence (CPP) from the control condition to the extremes of the distance and loudness goal vocal demands which are consistent with previously observed Lombard responses. This study shows that communication demands that exceed typical conditions (such as talking at 4 m) result in increases in vocal effort and a Lombard-like response. Therefore, considerations to potential communication barriers are important for the reduction of vocal effort.

Vocal level and vocal effort variability across phrase types

Vocal effort is the most common symptom that in patients with voice disorders and decreasing vocal effort is often a therapeutic goal. Previous studies indicate that a vocal effort goal can elicit voice production with very similar acoustic parameters. The purpose of this study is to clarify the effort and acoustic parameter dependencies on different types of phrases elicited with different goals. Three types of speech (automatic, read, structured spontaneous) were elicited at using three communication goals (confidential, conversational, raised) with vocal effort quantified using a Borg CR100 scale. Participants’ vocal level reliably changed between the three elicited communication goals. Further, there was some trending differences depending on the length and type of speech. Further details will be presented. The results indicate the utility of the Borg CR100 in tracking effort in voice production that is repeatable with respect to vocal level (dB). Additional acoustic parameters as well as speech differences will be discussed.

Pitch elevation and vocal loudness are related to swallowing safety. A proposal to improve their performance

The ability to perform high-pitched and loud tasks have been associated with lower risks of penetration and aspiration in people with oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD). Previous studies suggest that these two vocal tasks may improve swallowing-related kinematics; laryngeal elevation and glottic closure. This study aims to identify which types of vocal exercises can maximize pitch elevation and vocal loudness. This ongoing project involved five subjects with OD who were asked to perform three vocal exercises: effortful pitch glide, straw phonation, and water resistance therapy (WRT). Fundamental frequency (fo) and maximum dB SLP were obtained during their performance; moreover, the vocal effort was quantified using a Borg CR100 scale. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the differences between the three proposed exercises. WRT was the exercise that allowed toobtain higher pitch elevation values with less vocal effort (median fo = 603Hz), over EPG(594 Hz), and then straw phonation (512 Hz). Furthermore, EPG allowed reaching a higher vocal loudness during its performance. These preliminary results indicate that WRT could be a potential therapeutic adjunct to improve swallowing-related biomechanics. Further details will be presented. Future studies could incorporate accelerometry to obtain more accurate fo and dB SPL measures during vocal exercise performance.

Group conversation assessment in realistic acoustic scenes

Successful communication in background noise is a continuous interaction between conversation partners. They continuously exchange conscious, unconscious, verbal, and non-verbal information regarding how well the other person is understood. Human communication is not limited to one-on-one interactions but can also happen in group conversation situations. The complexity of taking an active part in a group conversation is much higher though, since the continuous interaction happens with more than one conversation partner at the same time. To investigate human communication behavior, real conversations between groups of six people were observed in the Sonova Real Life Lab. All participants were allowed to move around freely within the lab space. The head position and orientation of all six participants was continuously monitored with an optical motion capturing system. The voices of all participants were recorded with wireless headset microphones, which allowed to assess individual vocal effort. During the conversation situation, background noise was played from all four directions simultaneously and systematically varied in overall level. The individual position data and vocal effort were used to estimate perceived communication difficulty and signal to noise ratios. The head orientation data was analyzed to estimate which individuals the participants were talking and listening to.

Effect of a portable sound-booth on teachers’ voice acoustic parameters

Background: College professors expose themselves to different vocal demands during teaching. During the COVID-19 pandemic, college professors were exposed to extra working loads associated with working from home, with less-than-optimal acoustic conditions. This is the reason why it was needed to think of easy-to-implement and low-cost solutions for online teaching from home. Objective: To evaluate the effect of an insulating cabin prototype on the voice acoustic parameters of college professors during homeworking. Methodology: Longitudinal study with the participation of 32 (thirty-two) full-time college professors. Participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire before reading a paragraph of around 30 seconds of duration with and without the portable sound booth. A type I sound level meter was used to measure the background noise in professors' teaching environments with and without the cabin prototype. Results: Voice acoustic parameters changed when voice production was performed with the portable sound booth. Therefore, this low-cost solution is a good alternative to prevent vocal effort and vocal fatigue among teachers.

Multi-Source Ensemble Learning With Acoustic Spectrum Analysis for Fault Perception of Direct-Buried Transformer Substations

The tremendous growth of electrical loads results in the capacity increase and underground installation of power distribution infrastructures due to the shortage of urban land resources. However, the closed and narrow underground space of direct-buried transformer substation (DBTS) brings great challenges to its fault perception. This article proposes an adaptive acoustic spectrum analysis method with refined composite multiscale dispersion entropy to extract informative fault-related time-frequency vocal features using the singular-value thresholded variable mode decomposition for facilitating fault diagnosis of DBTS. Then, a time-series generative adversarial network based fault data augmentation model is presented to enrich the training dataset while preserving temporal dynamics of the original fault data for boosting the generalization ability of DBTS fault perception. Furthermore, a multi-source ensemble learning strategy is developed to integrate heterogeneous sub-classifiers based on the dynamic weighted fusion of electrical monitoring data and acoustic signals for promoting fault diagnosis accuracy of DBTS. Comparative studies have been investigated to demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed multi-source ensemble learning strategy in improving the fault diagnosis accuracy of DBTS.

Extra-Auditory Effects from Noise Exposure in Schools: Results of Nine Italian Case Studies

Noise exposure may cause auditory and extra-auditory effects. School teachers and students are exposed to high noise levels which have an impact on perceptual-cognitive and neurobehavioral aspects. The latter influence teaching conditions and student school performance. A Protocol was defined and parameters to be investigated were identified for acoustic characterization of unoccupied and occupied school environments, assessment of users by means of questionnaires completed by teachers and students, and vocal effort evaluation. Classrooms, laboratories, auditoriums, gymnasiums, common areas, canteens and outdoor areas were analysed in terms of acoustic features and identification of the origin of noise. The Protocol was tested in three kindergartens, three primary schools and three secondary schools placed in Rome, Florence and Perugia. Results of nine case studies are presented, including comparisons of objective and subjective investigations. Generally, the acoustic performances of the spaces under investigation do not meet the requirements of current Italian legislation. In particular, student activity determines high noise levels in laboratories, gymnasiums, and canteens. Students notice that noise mainly causes loss of concentration, fatigue, boredom, and headache. The outcomes of this research will be the starting point to define strategies and solutions for noise control and mitigation in schools and to draft guidelines for the acoustical school design.

Contribution of the ventral pouch in the production of mouse ultrasonic vocalizations.

Mouse ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) are of communicative significance and can serve as one of the major tools for behavioral phenotyping in mouse models of neurological disorders with social communication deficits. Understanding and identifying the mechanisms and role of laryngeal structures in generating USVs is crucial to understanding neural control of its production, which is likely dysfunctional in communication disorders. Although mouse USV production is accepted to be a whistle-based phenomenon, the class of whistle is debatable. Contradictory accounts exist on the role of a specific rodent intralaryngeal structure-the ventral pouch (VP), an air-sac-like cavity, and its cartilaginous edge. Also, inconsistencies in the spectral content of fictive USVs and real USVs in models without the VP points us to re-examine the role of the VP. We use an idealized structure, based on previous studies, to simulate a two-dimensional model of the mouse vocalization apparatus with the VP and without the VP. Our simulations were performed using comsol Multiphysics to examine characteristics of vocalizations beyond the peak frequency (f_{p}), like pitch jumps, harmonics, and frequency modulations, important in context-specific USVs. We successfully reproduced some of the crucial aspects of mouse USVs mentioned above, as observed through the spectrograms of simulated fictive USVs. Conclusions about the lack of a role of the mouse VP were previously made in studies primarily examining f_{p}. We investigated the impact of the intralaryngeal cavity and the alar edge on the simulated USV features beyond f_{p}. For the same combinations of parameters, removing the ventral pouch resulted in an alteration of the call characteristics, dramatically removing the variety of calls observed otherwise. Our results thus provide evidence supporting the hole-edge mechanism and the possible role of the VP in mouse USV production.

Female preferences for high vocal effort in singing mice

Abstract Although vocalizations are essential to mammalian sociosexual behaviours, little is known about female preferences for male vocal displays in non-model mammalian species. Here, we characterized female preferences for the advertisement songs of male Alston’s singing mice (Scotinomys teguina). We developed procedures for inducing oestrus, using vaginal perforation as a morphological indicator of oestrus. We then broadcasted ‘high-effort’ and ‘low-effort’ songs recorded from wild-caught males to virgin laboratory-reared females, using a two-choice experiment. Our results indicate that females spent more time investigating speakers playing high-effort songs; surprisingly, this phonotactic response is independent of oestrus status. In wild singing mice, acoustic characteristics of high-effort male songs positively correlate with body condition. Our data suggest that females could use acoustic cues to select mates in good condition, thus providing preliminary support for adaptive mate choice hypotheses. More generally, our results support the hypothesis that elaborate Scotinomys song may be shaped by female choice.

Detecting Vocal Fatigue with Neural Embeddings.

Vocal fatigue refers to the feeling of tiredness and weakness of voice due to extended utilization. This paper investigates the effectiveness of neural embeddings for the detection of vocal fatigue. We compare x-vectors, ECAPA-TDNN, and wav2vec 2.0 embeddings on a corpus of academic spoken English. Low-dimensional mappings of the data reveal that neural embeddings capture information about the change in vocal characteristics of a speaker during prolonged voice usage. We show that vocal fatigue can be reliably predicted using all three types of neural embeddings after 40 minutes of continuous speaking when temporal smoothing and normalization are applied to the extracted embeddings. We employ support vector machines for classification and achieve accuracy scores of 81% using x-vectors, 85% using ECAPA-TDNN embeddings, and 82% using wav2vec 2.0 embeddings as input features. We obtain an accuracy score of 76%, when the trained system is applied to a different speaker and recording environment without any adaptation.

Vocal features and guidelines for some arias from the oratorio "Triumph of time and truth" by Georg Friedrich Handel

In this paper, the authors analyze the unique vocal characteristics of selected arias from "Triumph of Time and Truth," an oratorio by George Frideric Handel. The material presented is particularly relevant due to the identified performance difficulties that contemporary vocalists may face while studying and performing these arias, as well as the specific methodological recommendations provided to enhance professionalism and quality in performances. The authors provide a thorough analysis of the primary performance challenges, which include breathing, tempo, expression, and overall character.

Simulating vocal learning of spoken language: Beyond imitation

Computational approaches have an important role to play in understanding the complex process of speech acquisition, in general, and have recently been popular in studies of vocal learning in particular. In this article we suggest that two significant problems associated with imitative vocal learning of spoken language, the speaker normalisation and phonological correspondence problems, can be addressed by linguistically grounded auditory perception. In particular, we show how the articulation of consonant–vowel syllables may be learnt from auditory percepts that can represent either individual utterances by speakers with different vocal tract characteristics or ideal phonetic realisations. The result is an optimisation-based implementation of vocal exploration – incorporating semantic, auditory, and articulatory signals – that can serve as a basis for simulating vocal learning beyond imitation.

Acoustic characterization and machine prediction of perceived masculinity and femininity in adults

Previous research has found that human voice can provide reliable information to be used for gender identification with a high level of accuracy. In social psychology, perceived masculinity and femininity (masculinity and femininity rated by humans) has often been considered an important feature when investigating the influence of vocal features on social behaviours. While previous studies have characterized the acoustic features that contributed to perceivers’ judgements of speakers’ masculinity or femininity, there is limited research on developing a machine masculinity/femininity scoring model and characterizing the independent acoustic factors that contribute to perceivers’ masculinity and femininity judgements. In this work, we first propose a machine scoring model of perceived masculinity/femininity based on the Extreme Random Forest and then characterize the independent and meaningful acoustic factors that contribute to perceivers’ judgements by using a correlation matrix based hierarchical clustering method. Our results show that the machine ratings of masculinity and femininity strongly correlated with the human ratings of masculinity and femininity when we used an optimal speech duration of 7 s, with a correlation coefficient of up to .63 for females and .77 for males. Nine independent clusters of acoustic measures were generated from our modelling of femininity judgements for female voices and eight clusters were found for masculinity judgements for male voices. The results revealed that, for both genders, the F0 mean is the most important acoustic measure affecting the judgement of acoustic-related masculinity and femininity. The F3 mean, F4 mean and VTL estimators were found to be highly inter-correlated and appeared in the same cluster, forming the second most significant factor in influencing the assessment of acoustic-related masculinity and femininity. Next, F1 mean, F2 mean and F0 standard deviation are independent factors that share similar importance. The voice perturbation measures, including HNR, jitter and shimmer, are of lesser importance in influencing masculinity/femininity judgements.

Fuzzy-Based Ensemble Feature Selection for Automated Estimation of Speaker Height and Age Using Vocal Characteristics

Fuzzy-Based Ensemble Feature Selection for Automated Estimation of Speaker Height and Age Using Vocal Characteristics

Variations in Function and Vocal Acoustic Characteristics After Orthognathic Surgery: Preliminary Results

Variations in Function and Vocal Acoustic Characteristics After Orthognathic Surgery: Preliminary Results

VocalPrint: A mmWave-Based Unmediated Vocal Sensing System for Secure Authentication

With the continuing growth of voice-controlled devices, voice metrics have been widely used for user identification. However, voice biometrics is vulnerable to replay attacks and ambient noise. We identify that the fundamental vulnerability in voice biometrics is rooted in its indirect sensing modality (e.g., microphone). In this paper, we present <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">VocalPrint</i> , a resilient mmWave interrogation system which directly captures and analyzes the vocal vibrations for user authentication. Specifically, <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">VocalPrint</i> exploits the unique disturbance of the skin-reflect radio frequency (RF) signals around the near-throat region of the user, caused by the vocal vibrations. The complex ambient noise is isolated from the RF signal using a novel resilience-aware clutter suppression approach for preserving fine-grained vocal biometric properties. Afterward, we extract the vocal tract and vocal source features and input them into an ensemble classifier for authentication. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">VocalPrint</i> is practical as it allows the effortless transition to a smartphone while having sufficient usability due to its non-contact nature. Our experimental results from 41 participants with different interrogation distances, orientations, and body motions show that <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">VocalPrint</i> achieves over 96 percent authentication accuracy even under unfavorable conditions. We demonstrate the resilience of our system against complex noise interference and spoof attacks of various threat levels.

Retracted: Design of the Vocal Music Feature Recognition System Based on the Internet of Things Technology

Retracted: Design of the Vocal Music Feature Recognition System Based on the Internet of Things Technology