The Analysis of Voice Quality in Speech Processing

2005 ◽  
pp. 54-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Keller
Keyword(s):  
Speech Processing ◽  
Voice Quality

Regression-Based Noise Modeling for Speech Signal Processing

2021 ◽  
pp. 2150022
Author(s):  
Caio Cesar Enside de Abreu ◽  
Marco Aparecido Queiroz Duarte ◽  
Bruno Rodrigues de Oliveira ◽  
Jozue Vieira Filho ◽  
Francisco Villarreal
Keyword(s):  
Speech Enhancement ◽  
Speech Processing ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Voice Quality ◽  
Wiener Filter ◽  
Processing System ◽  
Speech Quality ◽  
Speech Signals ◽  
Speech Signal Processing ◽  
Acoustic Environment

Speech processing systems are very important in different applications involving speech and voice quality such as automatic speech recognition, forensic phonetics and speech enhancement, among others. In most of them, the acoustic environmental noise is added to the original signal, decreasing the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the speech quality by consequence. Therefore, estimating noise is one of the most important steps in speech processing whether to reduce it before processing or to design robust algorithms. In this paper, a new approach to estimate noise from speech signals is presented and its effectiveness is tested in the speech enhancement context. For this purpose, partial least squares (PLS) regression is used to model the acoustic environment (AE) and a Wiener filter based on a priori SNR estimation is implemented to evaluate the proposed approach. Six noise types are used to create seven acoustically modeled noises. The basic idea is to consider the AE model to identify the noise type and estimate its power to be used in a speech processing system. Speech signals processed using the proposed method and classical noise estimators are evaluated through objective measures. Results show that the proposed method produces better speech quality than state-of-the-art noise estimators, enabling it to be used in real-time applications in the field of robotic, telecommunications and acoustic analysis.

scholarly journals Emotional Speech Processing in 3- to 12-Month-Old Infants: Influences of Emotion Categories and Acoustic Parameters

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Chieh Kao ◽  
Maria D. Sera ◽  
Yang Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Speech Processing ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Voice Quality ◽  
Intensity Variation ◽  
Acoustic Properties ◽  
Emotional Speech ◽  
Spectral Centroid ◽  
Acoustic Correlates ◽  
Spoken Words ◽  
Word Duration

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate infants' listening preference for emotional prosodies in spoken words and identify their acoustic correlates. Method: Forty-six 3- to-12-month-old infants ( M age = 7.6 months) completed a central fixation (or look-to-listen) paradigm in which four emotional prosodies (happy, sad, angry, and neutral) were presented. Infants' looking time to the string of words was recorded as a proxy of their listening attention. Five acoustic variables—mean fundamental frequency (F0), word duration, intensity variation, harmonics-to-noise ratio (HNR), and spectral centroid—were also analyzed to account for infants' attentiveness to each emotion. Results: Infants generally preferred affective over neutral prosody, with more listening attention to the happy and sad voices. Happy sounds with breathy voice quality (low HNR) and less brightness (low spectral centroid) maintained infants' attention more. Sad speech with shorter word duration (i.e., faster speech rate), less breathiness, and more brightness gained infants' attention more than happy speech did. Infants listened less to angry than to happy and sad prosodies, and none of the acoustic variables were associated with infants' listening interests in angry voices. Neutral words with a lower F0 attracted infants' attention more than those with a higher F0. Neither age nor sex effects were observed. Conclusions: This study provides evidence for infants' sensitivity to the prosodic patterns for the basic emotion categories in spoken words and how the acoustic properties of emotional speech may guide their attention. The results point to the need to study the interplay between early socioaffective and language development.

scholarly journals Simulated cochlear-implant processing reveals major loss of acoustic information relevant to talkers’ voice quality differencesa

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meisam K. Arjmandi ◽  
Hamzeh Ghasemzadeh ◽  
Laura C. Dilley
Keyword(s):  
Cochlear Implant ◽  
Speech Processing ◽  
Voice Quality ◽  
Channel Noise ◽  
Support Vector ◽  
Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients ◽  
Acoustic Information ◽  
Major Loss ◽  
Quality Distinction ◽  
Robust Speech Processing

ABSTRACTThe ability to discern variations in talkers’ voice quality is important for effective talker identification and robust speech processing; yet, little is known about how faithfully acoustic information relevant to variations in talkers’ voice quality is transmitted through cochlear implant (CI) speech processing. This study analyzed unprocessed and CI-simulated versions of sustained vowel sounds /a/ from two groups of individuals with normal and disordered voice qualities to investigate the effects of CI speech processing on acoustic information relevant to the talkers’ voice quality distinction. The CI-simulated stimuli were created by processing the vowel sounds using 4-, 8-, 12-, 16-, 22-, and 32-channel noise-vocoders. The voice quality for each stimulus was characterized by calculating mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs). Then, the effects of CI speech processing on the acoustic distinctiveness between normal and disordered voices was measured by calculating the Mahalanobis distance and classification accuracy of support vector machines (SVMs) on their MFCC features. The results showed that CI noise vocoding is substantially detrimental to acoustic information involved in voice quality distinction, suggesting that CI listeners likely experience difficulties in perceiving voice quality variations. The results underscore challenges CI users may face for effective recognition of talkers and processing their speech.

scholarly journals Effects of Noise and a Speaker's Impaired Voice Quality on Spoken Language Processing in School-Aged Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
Isabel S. Schiller ◽  
Angélique Remacle ◽  
Nancy Durieux ◽  
Dominique Morsomme
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Speech Processing ◽  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Voice Quality ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Spoken Language Processing ◽  
The Impact

Purpose: Background noise and voice problems among teachers can degrade listening conditions in classrooms. The aim of this literature review is to understand how these acoustic degradations affect spoken language processing in 6- to 18-year-old children. Method: In a narrative report and meta-analysis, we systematically review studies that examined the effects of noise and/or impaired voice on children's response accuracy and response time (RT) in listening tasks. We propose the Speech Processing under Acoustic DEgradations (SPADE) framework to classify relevant findings according to three processing dimensions—speech perception, listening comprehension, and auditory working memory—and highlight potential moderators. Results: Thirty-one studies are included in this systematic review. Our meta-analysis shows that noise can impede children's accuracy in listening tasks across all processing dimensions (Cohen's d between −0.67 and −2.65, depending on signal-to-noise ratio) and that impaired voice lowers children's accuracy in listening comprehension tasks ( d = −0.35). A handful of studies assessed RT, but results are inconclusive. The impact of noise and impaired voice can be moderated by listener, task, environmental, and exposure factors. The interaction between noise and impaired voice remains underinvestigated. Conclusions: Overall, this review suggests that children have more trouble perceiving speech, processing verbal messages, and recalling verbal information when listening to speech in noise or to a speaker with dysphonia. Impoverished speech input could impede pupils' motivation and academic performance at school. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.17139377

Age Norms for Auditory-Perceptual Neurophonetic Parameters: A Prerequisite for the Assessment of Childhood Dysarthria

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 1071-1082
Author(s):  
Theresa Schölderle ◽  
Elisabet Haas ◽  
Wolfram Ziegler
Keyword(s):  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Developmental Trajectories ◽  
Voice Quality ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Age Norms ◽  
Elementary School Age ◽  
Speech Characteristics ◽  
Substantial Progress ◽  
Computer Based

Purpose The aim of this study was to collect auditory-perceptual data on established symptom categories of dysarthria from typically developing children between 3 and 9 years of age, for the purpose of creating age norms for dysarthria assessment. Method One hundred forty-four typically developing children (3;0–9;11 [years;months], 72 girls and 72 boys) participated. We used a computer-based game specifically designed for this study to elicit sentence repetitions and spontaneous speech samples. Speech recordings were analyzed using the auditory-perceptual criteria of the Bogenhausen Dysarthria Scales, a standardized German assessment tool for dysarthria in adults. The Bogenhausen Dysarthria Scales (scales and features) cover clinically relevant dimensions of speech and allow for an evaluation of well-established symptom categories of dysarthria. Results The typically developing children exhibited a number of speech characteristics overlapping with established symptom categories of dysarthria (e.g., breathy voice, frequent inspirations, reduced articulatory precision, decreased articulation rate). Substantial progress was observed between 3 and 9 years of age, but with different developmental trajectories across different dimensions. In several areas (e.g., respiration, voice quality), 9-year-olds still presented with salient developmental speech characteristics, while in other dimensions (e.g., prosodic modulation), features typically associated with dysarthria occurred only exceptionally, even in the 3-year-olds. Conclusions The acquisition of speech motor functions is a prolonged process not yet completed with 9 years. Various developmental influences (e.g., anatomic–physiological changes) shape children's speech specifically. Our findings are a first step toward establishing auditory-perceptual norms for dysarthria in children of kindergarten and elementary school age. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12133380

Evaluation of Acoustic Analyses of Voice in Nonoptimized Conditions

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (12) ◽  
pp. 3991-3999
Author(s):  
Benjamin van der Woerd ◽  
Min Wu ◽  
Vijay Parsa ◽  
Philip C. Doyle ◽  
Kevin Fung
Keyword(s):  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Voice Quality ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Acoustic Measurements ◽  
Sample Collection ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Environment Analysis ◽  
Acoustic Measures ◽  
Recording Conditions ◽  
Cepstral Peak Prominence

Objectives This study aimed to evaluate the fidelity and accuracy of a smartphone microphone and recording environment on acoustic measurements of voice. Method A prospective cohort proof-of-concept study. Two sets of prerecorded samples (a) sustained vowels (/a/) and (b) Rainbow Passage sentence were played for recording via the internal iPhone microphone and the Blue Yeti USB microphone in two recording environments: a sound-treated booth and quiet office setting. Recordings were presented using a calibrated mannequin speaker with a fixed signal intensity (69 dBA), at a fixed distance (15 in.). Each set of recordings (iPhone—audio booth, Blue Yeti—audio booth, iPhone—office, and Blue Yeti—office), was time-windowed to ensure the same signal was evaluated for each condition. Acoustic measures of voice including fundamental frequency ( f o ), jitter, shimmer, harmonic-to-noise ratio (HNR), and cepstral peak prominence (CPP), were generated using a widely used analysis program (Praat Version 6.0.50). The data gathered were compared using a repeated measures analysis of variance. Two separate data sets were used. The set of vowel samples included both pathologic ( n = 10) and normal ( n = 10), male ( n = 5) and female ( n = 15) speakers. The set of sentence stimuli ranged in perceived voice quality from normal to severely disordered with an equal number of male ( n = 12) and female ( n = 12) speakers evaluated. Results The vowel analyses indicated that the jitter, shimmer, HNR, and CPP were significantly different based on microphone choice and shimmer, HNR, and CPP were significantly different based on the recording environment. Analysis of sentences revealed a statistically significant impact of recording environment and microphone type on HNR and CPP. While statistically significant, the differences across the experimental conditions for a subset of the acoustic measures (viz., jitter and CPP) have shown differences that fell within their respective normative ranges. Conclusions Both microphone and recording setting resulted in significant differences across several acoustic measurements. However, a subset of the acoustic measures that were statistically significant across the recording conditions showed small overall differences that are unlikely to have clinical significance in interpretation. For these acoustic measures, the present data suggest that, although a sound-treated setting is ideal for voice sample collection, a smartphone microphone can capture acceptable recordings for acoustic signal analysis.

Cultural and Linguistic Adaptation of the Consensus Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Voice (CAPE-V) Into Hindi

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (12) ◽  
pp. 3974-3981
Author(s):  
Ashwini Joshi ◽  
Isha Baheti ◽  
Vrushali Angadi
Keyword(s):  
Strong Correlation ◽  
Concurrent Validity ◽  
Interrater Reliability ◽  
Voice Quality ◽  
Weak Correlation ◽  
Voice Assessment ◽  
Perceptual Evaluation ◽  
Severity Grade ◽  
Normal Voice ◽  
Group A

Aim The purpose of this study was to develop and assess the reliability of a Hindi version of the Consensus Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Voice (CAPE-V). Reliability was assessed by comparing Hindi CAPE-V ratings with English CAPE-V ratings and by the Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia and Strain (GRBAS) scale. Method Hindi sentences were created to match the phonemic load of the corresponding English CAPE-V sentences. The Hindi sentences were adapted for linguistic content. The original English and adapted Hindi CAPE-V and GRBAS were completed for 33 bilingual individuals with normal voice quality. Additionally, the Hindi CAPE-V and GRBAS were completed for 13 Hindi speakers with disordered voice quality. The agreement of CAPE-V ratings was assessed between language versions, GRBAS ratings, and two rater pairs (three raters in total). Pearson product–moment correlation was completed for all comparisons. Results A strong correlation ( r > .8, p < .01) was found between the Hindi CAPE-V scores and the English CAPE-V scores for most variables in normal voice participants. A weak correlation was found for the variable of strain ( r < .2, p = .400) in the normative group. A strong correlation ( r > .6, p < .01) was found between the overall severity/grade, roughness, and breathiness scores in the GRBAS scale and the CAPE-V scale in normal and disordered voice samples. Significant interrater reliability ( r > .75) was present in overall severity and breathiness. Conclusions The Hindi version of the CAPE-V demonstrates good interrater reliability and concurrent validity with the English CAPE-V and the GRBAS. The Hindi CAPE-V can be used for the auditory-perceptual voice assessment of Hindi speakers.

Adolescent Voice Quality Aberrations: Personality and Social Status

1968 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 576-582 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Muma ◽  
Ronald L. Laeder ◽  
Clarence E. Webb
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Voice Quality ◽  
Personality Characteristics ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Peer Evaluations ◽  
Adolescent Voice

Seventy-eight subjects, identified as possessing voice quality aberrations for six months, constituted four experimental groups: breathiness, harshness, hoarseness, and nasality. A control group included 38 subjects. The four experimental groups were compared with the control group according to personality characteristics and peer evaluations. The results of these comparisons indicated that there was no relationship between voice quality aberration and either personality characteristics or peer evaluations.

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