bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
New opera house in Astana: A recent opportunity to use a room acoustic scale model
Authors: Cairoli Maria , Moretti Enrico , Gade Anders
Published: May 2013

The acoustic design of the New Opera House in Astana (Kazakhstan) currently under construction was carried out by Biobyte in Milan, Italy (Enrico Moretti and Maria Cairoli) assisted by Gade & Mortensen Akustik, Denmark (Anders Gade). In order to predict the acoustic consequences of the room geometry and decide on details in the design such as diffusion treatment of curved surfaces, it was decided to build a 1:20 scale model, in which several room acoustical parameters were measured. However, the scale model also provided an opportunity to compare the performance of scale model testing and room acoustic predictions by two computer simulation programs, which were also used for predictions in the design process. Therefore, besides information about the adequacy of the diffusion treatment to avoid focusing from concave surfaces (an aspect which is not well described by computer simulation) we obtained data on measurement accuracy—or rather deviations—between the results from the scale model (DIRAC) and the two different room acoustic prediction programs (CATT and ODEON). These results will be presented and discussed in the paper.
Acoustical archaeology—Recreating the soundscape of John Donne's 1622 gunpowder plot sermon at Paul's Cross
Authors: Markham Benjamin , Azevedo Matthew , Wall John
Published: May 2013

Auralization has become a valuable tool to explore the acoustics of spaces and activities that no longer exist. Generally, acoustical archaeology has explored a fairly limited number of sources in a space to determine specific acoustical aspects of the sound of the spaces and to separate intentionally designed acoustical phenomena from the often unintended effects of the architecture. We have expanded this technique to recreate the entire soundscape of a specific event, in this case John Donne’s 1622 Gunpowder Plot sermon at Paul’s Cross, outside St. Paul’s Cathedral in London as it was prior to the fire of 1666. This work augments ambisonic auralization techniques with techniques borrowed from computer-aided music composition and audio production to create an immersive acoustical environment for the purpose of exploring the experience of listeners at many positions in a crowd that can be varied in size in real time. The paper outlines the role of geometric acoustics modeling, real-time convolution, randomized and statistically derived sound event triggers, and other techniques employed to auralize a soundscape that includes the sermon, crowd response, and the ambient sounds of pre-Industrial London.
Characterizing tumor heterogeneous response to chemotherapy using low-frequency ultrasonic spectroscopy
Authors: Sadeghi-Naini Ali , Falou Omar , Czarnota Gregory J.
Published: May 2013

Textural analysis techniques in conjunction with low-frequency ultrasonic spectroscopy have been proposed for characterization of heterogeneous responses developed within tumors undergoing chemotherapy. Such characterization can be beneficial for early appraisal of tumor responses to the cancer therapy. Breast xenograft tumor-bearing animals were treated with chemotherapy. Animals were assessed with low-frequency ultrasound data acquired at different times after chemotherapy exposure. Following imaging, tumors underwent standard histological analysis for detecting cell-death effects. Several average and texture-based parameters were derived from normalized ultrasonic spectral parametric maps. Statistically significant differences were revealed between parameters extracted from treated and untreated tumors 12–24 h after exposure. Regression analyses were also performed in order to assess levels of correlation between non-invasive ultrasonic surrogates of therapy response and standard histological findings, where strong correlations were obtained with a maximum r2 value of 0.98. Obtained results demonstrate that ultrasound-based textural properties of tissue can be used for characterizing the micro-structure alterations and heterogeneous responses within tumors early on during treatment. This is an important observation which can be applied clinically for treatment response monitoring and predicting patient responses to therapy early after therapy initiation.
Ultrasound-equipped colonoscope for point-of-procedure colorectal preparation and examination
Authors: Hernanez Lyndon , Ton Martin , Fleshman Shane , Lewis George
Published: May 2013

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cancer killer in the United States. Poor colon preparation occurs in 20–40% of colonoscopies in the community, which increases the duration of the colonoscopy by at least 10% and the cost of the procedure by up to 22% due to repeat visits. The goal of this research was to develop and preliminarily evaluate the first ultrasound-cavitation equipped colonoscope as an innovative approach to liquefy fecal matter with water/cavitation and improve colonoscope utility. Two ultrasound-equipped colonoscopes were developed. The first consisted of a 30 element 235 kHz array that was mounted as a cap on the tip of a commercial colonoscope (Olympus). The second consisted of a Time-Reversal Acoustic extroporeal 32 channel 100 kHz array that was electrically steered to the commercial colonoscope using PVDF detectors to acquire and monitor the TRA focusing routines. Both systems were evaluated in a series of bench tests for fecal liquification, as well as in the porcine cadaver. Results show that ultrasound exposure assists the liquification of fecal matter and 50 kPa exposure to ultrasound increases liquification by greater than 50 times. Blinded histological reports on excised tissues showed no significant different findings between control and ultrasound experiments.
Determination of the transfer matrix of an automotive compressor under realistic flow conditions
Authors: Rousselet Benoit , Gibiat Vincent , Lefebvre Alain , Guilain Stephane
Published: May 2013

Waves propagating into air intake pipes of automotive engines have been widely studied and are commonly used to obtain high volumetric efficiency. Nowadays, most of modern engines have a centrifugal compressor in their intake line. If the acoustic of intakes lines for naturally aspirated engines is well known, it is not the case for lines comprising a compressor, where both the geometry and the flow effects are of primary interest. As it is quite difficult to experimentally determine the acoustical behavior of a complete line comprising a compressor, a new system has been developed for determining acoustical transfer matrices of each separated element of the line with flow. This new method is based on the two loads method; a derivative of the Two Measurements Three Calibrations calibration method has been introduced. The basics of the determination of transfer matrices with flow with our method are presented. Experimental results on cylindrical tubes and parts of intake lines are then discussed. Finally, an example of a transfer matrix of centrifugal compressor is presented.
Investigation of hysteresis effect in the impinging jet using acoustic data
Authors: Dhamanekar Abhijit , Srinivasan K.
Published: May 2013

Experimental acoustic investigation of underexpanded free and impinging jet is carried out for various nozzle-plate spacing. The reservoir pressure is slowly increased from atmospheric pressure to 6 bar and than decreased from 6 bar to atmospheric pressure. The free jet acoustic radiation remains same for both paths, but it is observed that for impinging jet the acoustic radiations differ in some regions. The hysteresis effect observed in acoustic characteristics may be due to the presence of hysteresis effects in the recirculation zone of the impinging jet. This variation is significant for nozzle-plate spacing of 2 to 4 times jet diameter. It is also seen that the acoustic staging occurs for low pressure and high pressure for small and large nozzle-plate spacing, respectively.
Acoustic analysis of turbine generator to predict overall noise using statistical energy analysis methodology
Authors: Nilajkar Vasudev S. , Ramtahal Sadeo , Tolpadi Anil K.
Published: May 2013

In the growing regions across the globe, products are being differentiated not only by their performance but also on characteristics like noise, aesthetics, ergonomics, etc. Noise norms are getting more and more stringent and customers are looking for quieter products. Engineers and technicians now face the challenge of developing effective products for lower noise emissions in addition to enhanced performance. As generators are a major noise source in a power plant, it is essential to contain generator noise well within the limit to meet statutory requirements. The major contributors to generator noise include cooling fan, rotor jet, electromagnetic excitation, and vibrations. These sources should be configured properly for reducing the overall noise. Therefore, it is essential to establish a robust process to predict the generator noise accurately. This paper describes the process for predicting generator noise by using Statistical Energy Analysis methodology. Correlation of the predictions with test data is also discussed.
Comparison of direct measurement methods for headset noise exposure in the workplace
Authors: Nassrallah Flora , Giguère Christian , Dajani Hilmi R.
Published: May 2013

Specialized equipment and techniques are required to carry out direct sound measurements under occluded ears for the purpose of assessing the noise exposure from communication headsets. Standard ISO 11904 describes two procedures: (1) the microphone in a real ear (MIRE) and (2) the acoustic manikin technique using an occluded ear simulator IEC 60318-4. Methods using simpler artificial ears, such as IEC 60318-1, have also been proposed in occupational noise measurement standards such as CAN/CSA Z107.56. Such devices are more practical to use and more easily accessible. However, they have not been designed specifically for noise measurements under communication headsets and there is little comparative data to the manikin technique, which is considered the gold standard for simulated in-situ acoustic measurements. Furthermore, little is known about measurement reliability for the purpose of standardization. Fit-refit measurements were obtained under laboratory conditions with four different types of artificial ears (type 1, type 2, type 3.3, manikin), three communication headset types (circum-aural, supra-aural, intra-aural) and six different communication signals. Data was transformed into equivalent-diffuse sound levels using third-octave procedures as well as single number corrections. Results illustrate that methods using single number corrections as well as fit-refit standard deviations vary according to measurement conditions.
Experience with developing a room to meet the requirements of the joint Australian/New Zealand standard 1270
Authors: Scott Ben , Pearse John
Published: May 2013

Hearing protectors are used as a “last line of defence” to protect people in high noise exposure environments from noise induced hearing loss. The assessment of hearing protector performance has been standardized to ensure a minimum level of performance for the end user. In New Zealand, the standard AS/NZS 1270 specifies a REAT based test method to rate a hearing protector’s performance. The rating is used to calculate appropriate exposure times for end users. This paper describes the modification of an existing audiology booth, to meet the sound field requirements specified in AS/NZS 1270. Current status of the facility will be reported; followed by a general discussion on future uses of the facility and related projects at the University of Canterbury.
Differentiating between loudness and preference in the case of multi-tone stimuli
Authors: Toepken Stephan , Weber Reinhard
Published: May 2013

When exploring sound quality, often a high correlation between pleasantness and loudness can be observed. However, sometimes it is desirable to know to which extent other sound characteristics than loudness are responsible for a preference evaluation. In this respect multi-tone sounds with rich perceptual aspects are interesting test sounds. This talk will present a separate determination of preference and loudness by comparing a test sound of interest with a reference sound. Using an adaptive paired comparison the points of subjective equality (PSEs) for preference and loudness between test and reference sound are separately measured—“Which sound is louder?” and ”Which sound do you prefer?”—by varying the test sound level in an adaptive staircase manner. The level changes affect both loudness and preference evaluation of the test sound. The results of these experiments are level differences ΔL between the test and the reference sound at which equal preference and equal loudness are reached between them. (Similar procedures have been employed to determine equal loudness contours.) It will be shown, with multi-tone sounds as examples, how this method reliably differentiates between loudness and preference.
Suprathreshold perception under a masking release condition using categorical scaling
Authors: Verhey Jesko L. , Heeren Wiebke
Published: May 2013

Masking experiments provide important information on how the auditory system processes sounds. For example, a tone is less masked by a modulated sound than by an unmodulated sound with the same long-term spectrum, indicating the ability of the auditory system to use modulation as a cue. In general, studies on this modulated-unmodulated difference (MUD) focus on the thresholds, whereas little is known about suprathreshold perception under these conditions of masking release. In the present study, loudness growth functions of a masked 1000-Hz tone are measured for two different masker types: (i) amplitude modulated broadband noise with a square-wave modulator and (ii) an unmodulated noise with the same spectral content and level. A categorical loudness scaling procedure (ISO 16832) is used to measure loudness of the masked tone over a large level range. The accuracy of the procedure is quantified by comparing the scaling results with loudness matching data for the same masker types. It is investigated (i) up to which suprathreshold level a masking release is still observed and (ii) whether the effect of the reduced masking for the modulated masker is equivalent to a condition where the unmodulated masker is reduced in level by the magnitude of the MUD.
Fluctuation strength on real sound: Motorbike exhaust and marimba tremolo
Authors: Miura Masanobu , Yasui Nozomiko
Published: May 2013

Psychoacoustics research has been contributed on evaluating the timbre of acoustic signals. The fluctuation strength (FS) has been respected as the important index which describes the sensory fluctuation of the acoustic signal based on its amplitude, frequency and the combination of them as well. Although FS has been calculated by tremor components on acoustic signals, here points out not only the inappropriateness of the calculation when simply based on literatures but also a method which focuses on the shape of the waveform in order to extract parameters from it, so that the FS is newly calculated by our original method with estimation results of the subjective scores of sensory fluctuation. Signals dealt with are motorbike exhaust sounds and tremolo played by marimba. The developed method is then applied to the design of an electric vehicle approaching sound for pedestrians in order to let pedestrians notice the approaching car without rising up the sensory loudness, on which designed sounds have a fluctuation with irregular pulses proven to give us the sensory fluctuation so that it is expected to be noticeable for pedestrians. This paper discusses the possibility to apply the prestigious psychoacoustic indexes to industrial and artistic sounds.
Splitting up resonances of elastic elliptical disc
Authors: Bazzali Emmanuelle , Ancey Stéphane , Gabrielli Paul , Mercier-Finidori Michaël
Published: May 2013

The elastodynamic resonances of two-dimensional elliptical objects are studied from a modal formalism by emphasizing the role of the symmetries as the circumference is deformed from circular to elliptical geometry. More precisely, as the symmetry is broken in the transition from the circular disc to the ellipse, resonance splittings and level crossings are observed. This observation can be mathematically explained by the broken invariance of the continuous O(2) symmetry group of the circular disc. However, the ellipse remains invariant under the finite C2v group. The main difficulty comes from the application of the group theory in elastodynamics since the vectorial formalism is used to express the physical quantities involved in the boundary conditions. This method significantly simplifies numerical computations and provides a full classification of the resonances. The vibrational normal modes are computed. We focus on the resonance splittings in the transition from the circular disc to the elliptical one. Then, the resonances are tagged and tracked as the eccentricity of the ellipse increases. A series of experiment on three-dimensional objects are also carried out to emphasize the physical effects described above, although no quantitative comparison can be done between theory and experiment. We expect that those effects in 2D appear also in 3D when the sphere is deformed to the spheroid.
Simulating sound radiation using the energy-finite-element-method
Authors: Karger Marius , von Estorff Otto , Zaleski Olgierd
Published: May 2013

The most established numerical methods for calculation of sound radiation are the boundary-element-method (BEM) and the finite-element-method (FEM). For large-scale geometries and high-frequency ranges these methods are limited by enormous numerical costs. The applicability of the energy-finite-element-method (EFEM) in these cases is analyzed within the research project EPES, sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology. Under certain assumptions, the equations describing structure-borne sound and sound radiation can be condensed to the static heat conduction equation, transforming the pressure and velocities in energy densities. Using EFEM, the structure geometry and acoustic cavities are separately modeled and coupled by transmission coefficients for energy flow interactions. An important value calculating the coefficients is the radiation efficiency. This paper focuses on the analysis of the radiation efficiency for EFEM calculations. This contribution presents the EFEM approach, calculations of radiation efficiency, transmission coefficients and energy densities of different fluid-structure interactions. Based on those calculations, the applicability of the EFEM is discussed.
Multi-component power transmission from structure-borne sound sources into lightweight structures
Authors: Mathiowetz Sebastian , Bonhoff Hannes A.
Published: May 2013

The power transmission between structure-borne sound sources and adjacent structures is generally of complex nature. For an accurate description, the interaction between multiple contact points and several directional components must be taken into account. While calculation methods to predict the transmitted power are generally available, the main problem is the acquisition of extensive source and receiver data. This is especially true with regard to lightweight structures where source and receiver mobilities exhibit matched conditions and when rotational components of motion are involved. Therefore, the description needs to be simplified while at the same time a sufficient accuracy has to be retained. This work investigates the power transmission of a fan unit source that is mounted to a rib-stiffened aluminium plate at several contact points. Full data sets of source and receiver have been measured using a finite difference technique, including translational motion perpendicular to the structure as well as moment excitation around the in-plane axes of the plate. Both a rigid connection as well as a connection using resilient mounts is considered. Contributions of different components of motion are discussed and possible simplifications are deduced.
A low density, high stiffness flat loudspeaker with combined feedback-feedforward response correction
Authors: Ho Jen-Hsuan , Berkhoff Arthur
Published: May 2013

This paper presents a novel perforated flat loudspeaker with improved sound frequency response by applying velocity feedback control. Flat loudspeakers provide advantages of compact dimensions and high durability. Known flat loudspeaker technology is based on high model density. However, the resonances in the panel are complex and difficult to control, which often leads to complicated computations and insufficient low frequency response. The flat loudspeaker in this paper comprises a novel panel structure, which offers low density, high stiffness, and efficient space utilization. Direct velocity feedback control provides a simple and stable control loop. We apply the multiple direct velocity feedback control method to obtain flat sound frequency response. Furthermore, a Linkwitz filter is applied to our system to increase response at very low frequencies. Experimental results show that a multiple combined feedback-feedforward control method effectively improves the performance of the flat loudspeaker with extended low-frequency response.
Relationship between divergence angle and skewing of the volumetric flow rate in an excised canine larynx model without a vocal tract
Authors: Khosla Sid M. , Oren Liran , Gutmark Ephraim
Published: May 2013

Until now, skewing of the volumetric flow rate (Q) curve was thought to be due to the inertance effects produced by the vocal tract. The goal of these experiments is to measure the volumetric flow rate at the entrance and exit of the glottis during the closing phase in a 1 mm thick coronal section halfway between the anterior commissure and the vocal process. The velocity fields and the intraglottal geometry are measured using modified particle imagining velocimetry (PIV) methodology. In these experiments, five excised canine larynges were used, and in all of them it is shown that the flow rate is greater at the glottal exit than at the glottal entrance when the glottis is divergent and an intraglottal vortex is formed at the superior aspect of the fold. In addition, flow skewing is seen at the glottal exit but not at the glottal entrance. In this talk, we will show that this flow skewing without a vocal tract is due to the entrainment effects of the intraglottal vortex.
Determination of the stresses and strain on the superior surface of excised porcine larynges during phonation using digital image correlation
Authors: Backshaei Hani , Yang Chan Woo , Miri Amir K. , Mongeau Luc
Published: May 2013

The stresses and strains acting over the superior surface of excised porcine vocal folds during self-excited, flow-induced vibrations were investigated. Digital image correlation analysis of stereoscopic high speed video data was used. The pre-strain resulting from the initial deformation of the tissue before phonation onset was estimated in four larynges. The kinematics of the vocal folds were also measured with a high temporal resolution using a laser Doppler vibrometer. Chaotic jumps between different vibration modes was observed. Impact stresses were estimated from a model based on Hertzian theory, and isotropic constitutive laws. The results yielded values of compressional stresses near the vocal fold edges that were larger than previously reported data. Comparisons were made with similar data previously obtained for a synthetic silicone replica of the human larynx.
Nonlinearities in block-type reduced-order vocal fold models with asymmetric tissue properties
Authors: Erath Byron D. , Sommer David E. , Zañartu Matías , Peterson Sean D.
Published: May 2013

Modeling the vocal fold structure as a reduced-order system is an attractive approach for exploring the dynamics of both normal and pathological phonation. This approach has been used ubiquitously in scientific speech investigations due to its relatively high order of accuracy and low computational cost. In addition, good agreement can also be found between model and clinical data. In the case of pathological speech complex vocal fold dynamics may exist, exhibiting phenomenon such as bifurcation and chaos. The ability to capture these features in reduced-order vocal fold models is a much celebrated feature. However, the question has arisen whether these nonlinearities arise due to the physics, or if they are merely an artifact of the model and its sensitivity to initial and boundary conditions. We explore the sensitivity of commonly-employed reduced-order vocal fold models to both contact mechanics, and the geometric prescription of the vocal fold model. Nonlinearities arising from asymmetric vocal fold tensioning are investigated. Nonlinearity in the vocal fold dynamics is identified by determining the predictive capability of linear and nonlinear Volterra-Weiner-Korenberg series. Nonlinearities in the vocal fold oscillations are shown to be highly dependent upon model formulation and implementation, as opposed to physical features of speech.
Acoustic and articulatory evidence for the phonological status of liaison consonants
Authors: L'Esperance Marie-Josee , Tilsen Sam
Published: May 2013

French liaison consonants (LC) are a special class of word-final segments whose realization depends on a combination of phonological, lexical, and syntactic factors. Most previous analyses viewed LCs as coda consonants realized only before vowel-initial words. Because of their special status as syntactically and lexically conditioned, an interesting question is whether LCs exhibit typical acoustic and articulatory characteristics of word-final consonants. This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation of LCs in adjective+noun pairings in Quebec French, using electromagnetic articulography to collect kinematic data. Compared to typical coda and onset consonants, liaison consonants were found to exhibit smaller magnitude release gestures, and in some cases, LC closure gestures were more similar to those of onsets than codas. Unlike coda consonants, LCs did not induce gestural shortening or laxing (F1 raising) of the preceding vowel. Hence our results indicate that, although LCs have been analyzed as word-final consonants, they exhibit neither typical coda- or onset-like acoustic and articulatory properties. These results are important because they show that syntactically conditioned lexical phonology can result in non-canonical articulatory patterns, and hence speak to the need for models of production to incorporate both lexical representations and syntactic context as factors.
Assimilation of word-final nasals to following word-initial place of articulation in United Kingdom English
Authors: Renwick Margaret E. , Baghai-Ravary Ladan , Temple Rosalind , Coleman John S.
Published: May 2013

Using very large speech corpora, we can study rare but systematic pronunciation patterns in spontaneous speech. Previous studies have established that word-final alveolar consonants in English (/t/, /d/, /n/, /s/ and /z/) vary their place of articulation to match a following word-initial consonant, e.g., “ran quickly” → “ra[ŋ] quickly.” Assimilation of bilabial or velar nasals, e.g., “alar[ŋ] clock” for “alarm clock,” is unexpected according to linguistic frameworks such as underspecification theory. The existence of systematic counterexamples would challenge that theory, but these might have been previously overlooked because they are infrequent. From the c. 8-million word Audio BNC (http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/AudioBNC) we extracted more than 4,000 tokens of relevant word pairs, to determine whether non-alveolar assimilations occur and with what distribution. Word and segment boundaries were obtained by forced alignment, and F1–F3 formant frequencies were estimated using Praat. Formant frequencies in assimilation environments were compared to non-assimilating controls (e.g., them down vs. them back/then down). We also examined patterns of variability in different contexts. We will present evidence that velar and bilabial nasals sometimes do assimilate, though less frequently than alveolars.
Acoustic correlates of flaps in North American English
Authors: Derrick Donald , Schultz Ben
Published: May 2013

Using Brightness and Motion mode ultrasound, Derrick and Gick (2011, CJL) identified four categorical variations of flap (rapid “d”-like) tongue movements produced in North American English (that is, up-flaps, down-flaps, alveolar taps, and postalveolar taps). These variants can be used to test hypotheses about constraints on speech articulation, such as local context, gravity and elasticity, speech rate, and longer distance anticipatory coarticulation. The present study examines acoustic correlates of flap and rhotic (“r”-like) vowel variations in order to facilitate the understanding of articulatory mechanisms that underlie acoustic outputs. Understanding the relationship between articulatory mechanisms and acoustic outputs may allow us to draw inferences about articulatory mechanisms from pre-existing and future acoustic databases. Preliminary results identify significant differences in f0, F1, F2, F3, F4, and F5 values between these flap variants. In addition, we used supervised hierarchical clustering to aid in identification of flap variants based on both vocalic context and acoustic parameters. Unsupervised hierarchical clusters will also be used to identify whether the four flap variants that were previously identified in our articulatory studies are enough to capture the actual categorical variation that occurs and, if not, to identify currently unknown categories of flap variation in North American English.
Phonological structure, non-native phoneme discrimination, working memory, and word learning
Authors: Silbert Noah H. , Smith Benjamin K. , Jackson Scott R.
Published: May 2013

It is well known that perception of non-native speech sounds is influenced by exposure and the mapping between non-native and native phonological categories. However, very little is known about the relationships between phonological structure, individual differences in non-native phoneme discrimination ability, and non-native word learning. These relationships are important in the design of tests for personnel selection for second language training. Two experiments were conducted to probe the generality of phoneme discrimination ability and the role of phonological structure and discrimination ability in word learning. In one experiment, 169 participants discriminated non-native contrasts from nine languages—three voicing/laryngeal contrasts, three place contrasts, and three tone/intonation contrasts. Confirmatory factor analysis model comparisons show that correlations between discrimination accuracies across contrasts are driven by low-level phonological structure (featural and segmental/super-segmental properties). In a second experiment, phonological working memory and voicing, place, and tone discrimination were measured for 167 participants and used to predict learning of pairs of non-native words differing in voicing, place, and tone. Consistent with the results from the first experiment, discrimination ability predicts accuracy in word learning above and beyond the ability of phonological working memory and according to feature-specific differences.
Effect of syllable onset, coda, and nucleus on degree of skin stretching over the mandible
Authors: Wilson Ian L. , Erickson Donna
Published: May 2013

Movements of the mandible have been shown to correlate with English speech rhythm, and significant differences have been found between native speakers’ mandible movements and those of second-language speakers. A simple, inexpensive method of inferring movements of the mandible is to use video tracking of a chin marker during speech. However, since the skin is free to stretch over the mandible, inferences using the chin marker may not always be accurate. This study examines the degree of skin stretching during onset stop consonant, coda stop consonant, and vowel in CVC syllables spoken as the middle word in a 3-word utterance. We made electromagnetic articulometer (EMA) recordings of two North American English speakers (1 male, 1 female). Measurements were made from coils placed on the lower incisor (LI) and on the skin of the mental protruberance (chin). Preliminary results show that both speakers have significant differences during the syllable nucleus between the LI and chin coils due to onset consonant, but not coda consonant. These results need to be taken into account as we continue to develop a method for video recording jaw displacement patterns in running speech.
Anatomical considerations on the extrinsic tongue muscles for articulatory modeling
Authors: Honda Kiyoshi , Murano Emi Z. , Takano Sayoko , Masaki Shinobu , Dang Jianwu
Published: May 2013

Physiological articulatory models have evolved from simpler forms to complex ones, while recent models preserve traits of oversimplification and anatomical unreality. This work combines MRI observations at ATR-BAIC and Johns Hopkins University to point to the issue for advancing extrinsic tongue muscle modeling. The genioglossus, previously thought to arise from the genial tubercle of the mandible, has direct fiber attachments on the short tendon of the tongue. The posterior genioglossus, being regarded as a functional division of the muscle, can be given anatomical definition to the horizontal bundle arising from the inferior aspect of the short tendon. The styloglossus has been modeled as linear strings traveling “free in air” before inserting into the tongue, but the extralingual part is actually restrained by the surrounding soft tissues to lack mobility. The intralingual styloglossus forms anterior and posterior slings in the tongue tissue, possibly with the distal fibers of the hyoglossus. Combined styloglossus and hyoglossus shortening via the slings may be a factor shaping the tongue into various forms. [Work supported by WQ20111200010, 2013CB329301, and NIDCD K99/R00-DC009279.]
Pharyngeal constriction in English diphthong production
Authors: Hsieh Fang-Ying , Goldstein Louis , Byrd Dani , Narayanan Shrikanth
Published: May 2013

This study tests the hypothesis that the acoustic difference between [a] in English diphthongs (e.g., [a] in “pie’d”) and its corresponding monophthong (e.g., [a] in “pod”) results from the same pharyngeal gesture being truncated by the following palatal glide in the diphthongal environment. Production data were collected with real-time MRI and have been analyzed using the direct image analysis (DIA) technique, which infers tissue movement by tracking pixel intensity change over time in regions of interest. Preliminary results show that (1) DIA is capable of capturing the timing and magnitude of the pharyngeal constriction gesture that produces [a], and (2) the proposed hypothesis is supported; the formation time of the pharyngeal constriction in diphthongs is generally shorter than that in like monophthongs. Further, the pharyngeal component of the diphthong is shortened in phrase-medial as opposed to phrase-final position or when followed by a voiceless as opposed to a voiced coda consonant, and the duration of this interval strongly correlates with the resulting constriction degree as predicted by the truncation analysis. [Work supported by NIH.]
An electromagnetic articulography investigation of the Czech trill-fricative
Authors: Howson Phil , Neufeld Chris , Kochetov Alexei
Published: May 2013

Previous studies have found that the degree of tongue grooving during production of fricatives correlates with their place of articulation. Czech has a cross-linguistically rare alveolar trill-fricative <ř>, which would be expected to pattern with alveolar fricatives in terms of the tongue grooving. The current study employs electromagnetic articulography (EMA) to investigate differences in tongue grooving between the trill-fricative and alveolar/post-alveolar fricatives. Czech native speakers produced words with target consonants in word-initial, intervocalic, and word-final positions, with sensors being attached to both the midline and the sides of the tongue. An angle between these sensors was calculated, and taken as a measure of the degree of grooving. The results (currently based on the data obtained from one speaker) showed that, contrary to the prediction, the degree of grooving for the trill-fricative was closer to the post-alveolar fricatives than to the alveolar fricatives, yet unique in its distribution. While the degree of grooving remained relatively stable temporally for the fricatives, it tended to gradually decrease for the trill-fricative. Furthermore, <ř> differed from the post-alveolar fricatives in having a significantly lower tongue body. The results thus suggest a unique articulatory configuration for the Czech trill-fricative. [Work supported by SSHRC.]
Modeling of vowel-inherent spectral change in spontaneous and elicited speech
Authors: Kiefte Michael , Nearey Terrance M.
Published: May 2013

A database of speech samples was collected to examining vowel formant patterns in spontaneous and read speech. Recordings were made from 220 long-time residents of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island in two separate tasks: Participants read a series of sentences in several phonetic contexts and also provided a monologue of at least 10 min duration resulting in approximately 36 h of spontaneous speech. Vowel formant frequencies were measured for all stressed vowels in non-function words surrounded by obstruents. Speakers were divided among eight geographic regions. Consonant contexts were modelled via nonlinear regression based on a model inspired by Broad and Clermont (J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 81,155). Spontaneous speech was characterized by retraction of front vowels, fronting of /u/, backing of /æ/, and greater diphthongization of /ɒ/. Older speakers were less likely to show a merger between /ɒ/ and /ɔ/. There was also some evidence of a partial Canadian Shift whereby /æ/ and /ɛ/ are lowered following merger of /ɒ/ and /ɔ/. Results from alternate models currently under development, which may better accommodate vowel-inherent formant movement, will be discussed. [Work supported by SSHRC.]
Formant-based articulatory normalization and its application to vowel restoration
Authors: Ueda Yuichi , Tominaga Kosuke , Sakata Tadashi
Published: May 2013

Visual feedback of spontaneous speech is effective for articulatory training of deaf children and for speech rehabilitation of dysarthric patients. Especially, the visual representations of vowel formant frequencies have been used directly or indirectly for those purposes, because those acoustical parameters reflect the articulatory behavior. However, since not only the shape of the vocal tract but its size also affect the formant frequencies, minimization of the effect due to the differences in size is required. In such a speaker normalization, we defined a color space consisting of three circular ratios of formant frequencies and applied it to the color visualization of vowel sound. In this paper, we proposed a normalized articulation space as an expansion of the color space, where we assumed that neutral vowels of any speaker are mapped into a unique point. In addition, since the proposed articulatory space was regarded as the speaker independent representation of vocal tract shape, we also proposed a method to convert the modified articulation shape into the real formant space and applied it to the vowel restorations of disarthric speech.
C-V coarticulation in velar plosives
Authors: Krebs Vicki L. , Sedarous Yourdanis E. , Miller Amanda L.
Published: May 2013

We present 114 fps lingual ultrasound data of three speakers’ productions of words containing the initial velar plosive, and the following [a] and [i] vowels, in Mangetti Dune !Xung (N = 95 for [k] in the [a] context, N = 36 for [k] in the [i] context). We traced the midsaggital tongue edge at the frame just prior to the [k] release, and measured the tongue dorsum (TD) and tongue root (TR) constriction locations (CL’s). The TRCL was measured 1 cm below the [k] peak. Results show that [k] in the [i] context has a 1.1 cm further forward TDCL than [k] in the [a] context for one speaker, and 1.2 cm further forward for the second speaker. The results are similar to those found for English by Stevens and House (1963). The TRCL is retracted 0.3 cm in [k] in the [a] context compared with [k] in the [i] context for the first speaker, and 0.6 cm more retracted for the second speaker. A third speaker had a retracted TDCL and TRCL in both vowel contexts. These results confirm that [k] is less resistant to coarticulation. Results show that the tongue root is involved in dorsal-front vowel coarticulation.
The “panphonic” text of “The North Wind and the Sun” for the illustration of the International Phonetic Alphabet of Japanese consonants and its use in the phonetic analysis of Japanese speech
Authors: Hiki Shizuo , Kakita Kuniko
Published: May 2013

A “panphonic” version of the text of “The North Wind and the Sun” for the illustration of the IPA of Japanese (Tokyo dialect) consonants has previously been devised by the present authors [Hiki et al., Proc. 17th Int’l. Cong. on Phonetic Sciences, Hong Kong, 871–873 (2011)]. The present paper describes the main characteristics of this panphonic text in relation to its use in the phonetic analysis of Japanese speech utterances, providing examples of the result of the analysis of sample recitations. The panphonic text embraces all 16 consonant phonemes, their 11 major positional allophones, and 5 free variants in a short, simple text that consists of 8 sentences (113 words, 294 syllables). The relation among consonant phonemes and their allophones is shown effectively by a new arrangement of rows and columns in the IPA consonant chart. Possible pause locations are systematically indicated using appropriate pause symbols. The text is useful in examining the phonetic properties of Japanese utterances, for example, the effect of consonants on vowel devoicing, and large-scale segmentation of utterances by pauses of different durations.
Analysis of stop consonants in Devanagari alphabet
Authors: Singh Kushagra , Tiwari Nachiketa
Published: May 2013

The Devanagari alphabet, which is used by several Indian languages including Sanskrit and Hindi, has vowels and consonants are placed in tabular format, which are arranged according to how they originate. A part of this table is a 5 x 5 matrix and comprises of stop consonants, where different rows corresponding to velar, palatal, retro-flex, dental and labial consonants. In this paper, we have explored patterns that exist between different consonant sounds belonging to different rows and columns of this table. Toward this end, four sound samples from individuals have been recorded, and analyzed. Our analysis shows the existence of many interesting relationships, which exist between sounds populating different rows and columns of 5 X 5 matrix. One interesting observation which has been made is that the fundamental differences between 1st and 2nd/ 3rd or 4th member of each row are essentially the same in all the rows, but a few exceptions in the 5th row. For example, in all rows the 3rd member is a combination of a short-duration signal and the 1st member. Similarly, the 2nd member is 1st member with a nonzero mean pressure line. Further, the 4th member is found to be the combination of the other two (1–2 and 1–3) variations. In this paper, we present several such interesting relationships. These relationships may be potentially useful in several sound processing algorithms.
Simulation of neural mechanism for Chinese vowel perception with neural network model
Authors: Wu Chao-Min , Li Ming-Hong , Wang Tao-Wei
Published: May 2013

Based on the results of psycholinguistic experiments, the perceptual magnet effect is the important factor in speech development. This effect produced a warped auditory space to the corresponding phoneme. The purpose of this study was to develop a neural network model in simulation of speech perception. The neural network model with unsupervised learning was used to determine the phonetic categories of phoneme according to the formant frequencies of the vowels. The modified self-organizing map (SOM) algorithm was proposed to produce the auditory perceptual space of English vowels. Simulated results were compared with findings from psycholinguistic experiments, such as categorization of English /r/ and /l/ and prototype and non-prototype vowels, to indicate the model’s ability to produce auditory perception space. In addition, this speech perception model was combined with the neural network model (Directions into Velocities Articulator, DIVA) to simulate categorization of ten English vowels and their productions to show the learning capability of speech perception and production. We further extended this modified DIVA model to show its capability to categorize six Chinese vowels (/a/, /i/, /u/, /e/, /o/, /y/) and their productions. Finally, this study proposed further development and related discussions for this speech perception model and its clinical application.
Vowel onset marker based objective evaluation of Japanese phonemic length contrast produced by non-native speakers
Authors: Sonu Mee , Zhang Yanlong , Kato Hiroaki , Sagisaka Yoshinori
Published: May 2013

Aiming at building up an objective evaluation of second language (L2) learner’s Japanese timing control characteristics, this study propose an objective measure to simulate a subjective measure of L2 speakers’ production given by Japanese native evaluators from the view point of goodness of production. The focus here is on phonemic length contrast, e.g., /kako/ “the past” versus /kakko/ “parentheses” and /kaze/ “wind” versus /kaze:/ “taxation” which is difficult for L2 learners particularly when incorporated with speaking rates. The proposed objective measure uses a vowel onset time marker as a key perceptual and psychoacoustic marker to normalize speaking rate variations. The proposed new measure reflects tempo normalization between L2 learners by dividing the proficiency of mora-timing control in production. Results show that both vowel length contrast and consonant length contrast have a significantly higher correlation with the subjective evaluation score in which the coefficient was stable than using a simple duration difference measure. These results suggest that applying the psychoacoustic parameters would be effective to build up an objective evaluation of L2 learners. [Work supported by JSPS.]
One small step for (a) man: Function word reduction and acoustic ambiguity
Authors: Dilley Laura , Baese-Berk Melissa M. , Schmidt Stephanie , Nagel Jesse , Morrill Tuuli , Pitt Mark
Published: May 2013

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Neil Armstrong insisted for years that his famous quote upon landing on the moon was misheard, and that he had said “one small step for a man.” This controversy has continued, as examinations of the sound files of his transmission have yielded mixed opinions about whether he produced a. The disagreement stems partly from the fact that function words like a can be acoustically fleeting in casual speech, consist of just a few pitch periods, and be spectrally indistinguishable from the preceding context. As a result, they can be perceptually fragile, and easily disappear if the rate of surrounding speech varies [Dilley and Pitt, Psychological Science (2010)]. Here, we examine naturally produced, reduced tokens of for (spoken as “fer”), which were or were not followed by the word a from the Buckeye Speech Corpus, which consists of speakers from Mr. Armstrong’s home state of Ohio. Comparison of the acoustic properties of the two sets of tokens will provide an indication of how similar they can be. Inclusion of Mr. Armstrong’s production will assist in evaluating the likelihood of the function word being spoken. [Work supported by NSF Grant No. BCS-0847653.]