NDLI: On Short-Time Estimation of Vocal Tract Length from Formant Frequencies

Content Provider	PubMed Central
Author	Lammert, Adam C. Narayanan, Shrikanth S.
Editor	Larson, Charles R.
Copyright Year	2015
Abstract	Vocal tract length is highly variable across speakers and determines many aspects of the acoustic speech signal, making it an essential parameter to consider for explaining behavioral variability. A method for accurate estimation of vocal tract length from formant frequencies would afford normalization of interspeaker variability and facilitate acoustic comparisons across speakers. A framework for considering estimation methods is developed from the basic principles of vocal tract acoustics, and an estimation method is proposed that follows naturally from this framework. The proposed method is evaluated using acoustic characteristics of simulated vocal tracts ranging from 14 to 19 cm in length, as well as real-time magnetic resonance imaging data with synchronous audio from five speakers whose vocal tracts range from 14.5 to 18.0 cm in length. Evaluations show improvements in accuracy over previously proposed methods, with 0.631 and 1.277 cm root mean square error on simulated and human speech data, respectively. Empirical results show that the effectiveness of the proposed method is based on emphasizing higher formant frequencies, which seem less affected by speech articulation. Theoretical predictions of formant sensitivity reinforce this empirical finding. Moreover, theoretical insights are explained regarding the reason for differences in formant sensitivity.
Related Links	http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0132193
Starting Page	132193
File Format	PDF
ISSN	19326203
e-ISSN	19326203
Journal	PLoS ONE
Issue Number	7
Volume Number	10
Language	English
Publisher	Public Library of Science
Publisher Date	2015-07-01
Access Restriction	Open
Rights Holder	Public Library of Science
Subject Keyword	Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all) Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all) Medicine(all) Research in Higher Education
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Multidisciplinary

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Neural Resolution of Formant Frequencies in the Primary Auditory Cortex of Rats

Women use voice parameters to assess men's characteristics

Free-Ranging Male Koalas Use Size-Related Variation in Formant Frequencies to Assess Rival Males

On the Time Course of Vocal Emotion Recognition

Anticipatory Posturing of the Vocal Tract Reveals Dissociation of Speech Movement Plans from Linguistic Units

Neural Processing of Short-Term Recurrence in Songbird Vocal Communication

Morphometric Differences of Vocal Tract Articulators in Different Loudness Conditions in Singing

Correction: Lower Vocal Tract Morphologic Adjustments Are Relevant for Voice Timbre in Singing

Addressing the Path-Length-Dependency Confound in White Matter Tract Segmentation

On Short-Time Estimation of Vocal Tract Length from Formant Frequencies

Similar Documents

Neural Resolution of Formant Frequencies in the Primary Auditory Cortex of Rats

Women use voice parameters to assess men's characteristics

Free-Ranging Male Koalas Use Size-Related Variation in Formant Frequencies to Assess Rival Males

On the Time Course of Vocal Emotion Recognition

Anticipatory Posturing of the Vocal Tract Reveals Dissociation of Speech Movement Plans from Linguistic Units

Neural Processing of Short-Term Recurrence in Songbird Vocal Communication

Morphometric Differences of Vocal Tract Articulators in Different Loudness Conditions in Singing

Correction: Lower Vocal Tract Morphologic Adjustments Are Relevant for Voice Timbre in Singing

Addressing the Path-Length-Dependency Confound in White Matter Tract Segmentation

On Short-Time Estimation of Vocal Tract Length from Formant Frequencies