bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
An overview of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification and acoustical design: Conflicts and synergies
Authors: Bruck Daniel C. , Lubman David , Sutherland Louis C.
Published: October 2013

The LEED program for green building certification acknowledges the importance of acoustics in building quality and design, but currently does not provide for specific credits in acoustics other than in the Innovation in Design category. This paper presents an overview of the LEED approach to sustainable design and discusses the design categories for LEED certification. Conflicts and synergies between the LEED system and acoustical design are discussed, including specific areas in which acoustics can contribute to sustainable design goals, such as recycled materials, energy efficiency, and interior environmental quality. Steps toward integrating acoustics into the LEED system are proposed, which incorporate elements of the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) and ANSI S12.60, Acoustical Performance Criteria, Design Requirements, and Guidelines for Schools. The current direction of the U.S. Green Building Council with respect to incorporating acoustics into the LEED program is also presented.
Acoustical lessons from four green buildings
Authors: Richter Max , Hyde Rosamund , Hodgson Murray
Published: October 2013

Between 2002–2004, seven green buildings in British Columbia were studied during a Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) research effort led by Stantec (formerly KEEN Engineering). Using the occupant satisfaction were survey developed by the Center for the Building Environment at UC Berkeley, data on eight aspects of occupant satisfaction were collected, including acoustical satisfaction. The BC buildings generally followed the trends that can be observed in green building acoustical performance, but none of the buildings scored as satisfactory. This year, Stantec and UBC measured four of the building in the original study to determine the acoustical characteristics of the building spaces. From this subsequent study, conclusions can be drawn about the relative acoustical performance of specific green strategies.
An overview of sound environmental aspect of Japan’s comprehensive assessment system for building environmental efficiency (CASBEE) certifications
Authors: Sakuma Tetsuya , Yano Fumiko
Published: October 2013

In the worldwide trend towards sustainable buildings, a new system called the Comprehensive Assessment System for Building Environmental Efficiency (CASBEE) has been established in Japan, as well as other existing assessment systems such as BREEM, LEED, GB Tool, etc. In particular, CASBEE is intended to evaluate building performance by a single-number index BEE, which is the ratio of environmental qualities to loadings. Concerning sound environment, three items are included in indoor quality evaluation: (1) noise (background noise, equipment noise); (2) insulation (window opening, wall, heavy/light floor impact sound); and (3) absorption; in addition, one item on noise emission outside the building site is included in environmental loading evaluation. However, there are many unclear points on the settings of items, ratings, and weightings, which will make trouble in practical application. In the last 3 years, several large cities have started a certification system using CASBEE for new large-scale buildings. In this presentation, an overview of the assessment system and the statistics of the city of Yokohama will be presented focusing on sound environmental aspect.
Variable reflection acoustic wall system by active sound radiation
Authors: Yamauchi Genta , Omoto Akira
Published: October 2013

For acoustic design of special spaces such as studios, it might be necessary to realize a diffuse reflection from the specific wall surface. Moreover, this requirement often changes according to the time or situation. In this study, a new acoustic wall system is examined; it is a variable reflection acoustic wall system that can address such strict requirements. This system fundamentally comprises a loudspeaker, a pick-up microphone, and absorbent material. Varying the amplitude of the radiation sound that is picked up by the microphone and reradiated by the loudspeaker mounted behind the absorbing material therefore corresponds to varying the reflection performance of the wall system. Several models are proposed. The measurement results show that the proposed models can realize various absorption characteristics. Additionally, these models can realize various radiation characteristics: diffuse reflection and inclined reflection to a desired direction. Furthermore, the frequency characteristic of simulated radiation is changed, so the proposed system can generate reflection coefficient with intended frequency characteristics. The design of an effective feedback canceller between the pick-up microphones is the subject of ongoing research toward practical use of this proposed system.
Mosaic and multiple-step evolution of the anatomical foundations for human speech
Authors: Nishimura Takeshi
Published: October 2013

The human vocal tract develops to form a unique configuration with equally long horizontal and vertical cavities. This anatomy contributes greatly to the morphological foundations of human speech. It depends on the reduced growth of the facial length and on the major descent of the larynx relative to the palate. Anatomically, the laryngeal descent is accomplished through both the descent of the laryngeal skeleton relative to the hyoid and the descent of the hyoid relative to the palate. Here, the recent progresses are surveyed in the studies on the developments of the vocal tract anatomy in humans, chimpanzees, and macaques. They showed that humans and chimpanzees fully share the major descent of the larynx with the epiglottis descent. Macaques also show the hyoid descent, but this is not accompanied by the descent of the laryngeal skeleton and epiglottis. It is argued that the major descent of the larynx has probably evolved at least in two steps before the divergence of the human from the chimpanzee lineage, originally to confer an advantage via a function unrelated to speech. Thus, facial flattening has probably evolved only secondarily with anatomical consequences that facilitated speech in the human lineage. [Work supported by JSPS Grant-in-Aid (No. 16000326).]
Antiphonal exchanges in female African elephants
Authors: Leighty Katherine , Soltis Joseph , Savage Anne , Leong Kirsten
Published: October 2013

Female African elephants (Loxodonta africana) engage in antiphonal exchanges of rumble vocalizations. In this study, female African elephants (N=7) housed at Disney’s Animal Kingdom were outfitted with audio-recording collars and videotaped during 50 1-hour observation sessions (conducted in 2002). We found that production of the antiphonal response rumble reflected changes in herd affiliation that had taken place since our previous study (2000). Second, we examined response latency and found that females responded more quickly to the rumbles of affiliated partners than to those of a nonaffiliated female. Since affiliated partners spend more time in close proximity by definition, they may engage in higher rates of temporally associated calling simply because nearby stimuli impact them simultaneously or due to a social facilitation effect, not because they are true vocal exchanges. Therefore, we examined antiphonal rumble responses when female pairs were more than 25 m apart. We found that at these distances, affiliated females still exchanged rumbles more frequently, and responded at a decreased latency, than nonaffiliated pairs. Our results provide support for functional hypotheses of African elephant rumble vocalizations that require instances of temporally associated calling in order to be true communicative events. [Work supported by Grant No. NSF-IIS-0326395.]
Measuring amplitude in North American bison bellows: Environmental, social, and individual impacts
Authors: Wyman Megan , Hart Lynette , McCowan Brenda , Mooring Mike
Published: October 2013

Communication is a key aspect of any mating system and is a dramatic feature in the mating behavior of North American bison. During their reproductive season, bison bulls defend females from other males by establishing dominance through contests involving multiple signals, the most prominent being the bellow vocalization. While acknowledged that amplitude may be involved in sexual selection, it is rarely measured directly in the field (especially in large mammals) due to difficulties in accurately assessing this parameter. Using strict methodologies accounting for many sources of potential error, the impact that a variety of factors had on bellow amplitude was examined. Amplitude was measured in dB with Lamax and Lcpeak weighting. Parameters increasing amplitude (order of decreasing impact): Number of surrounding bulls bellowing, wind levels, and number of surrounding bulls. Parameters decreasing amplitude (order of decreasing impact): Distance, head orientation, days spent in rut, time of day, number of copulations, dominance level of bull, and temperature. Since amplitude is correlated with measures of bull quality, condition, and surrounding social environments (beyond physical impacts of distance, etc.), it is likely that amplitude plays a significant role in competition over mates. [Work supported by NSF.]
Classification of flow-limiting thrombus in acute coronary syndrome by acoustic microscopy
Authors: Sasaki Hidehiko , Saijo Yoshifumi , Kanno Takayuki , Tanaka Motonao
Published: October 2013

Virtual histology (VH), based on a power spectral analysis of radio-frequency signal from intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) with neural network, can detect an unstable plaque from all the regions of coronary atherosclerosis. However, it provides limited information on plaque vulnerability because the resolution is larger than 100 m and thrombus is not classified precisely. The objective of the present study is to measure the acoustic properties of flow-limiting thrombus responsible for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) at the microscopic level. A newly developed acoustic microscope with 100-MHz pulsed ultrasound was equipped to measure two-dimensional distribution of attenuation and sound speed. The tissues were obtained from coronary arteries of 26 patients with ACS by intracoronary aspiration catheter. They were sectioned at 5-mm thickness and mounted onto glass slides without cover slips or staining and used acoustic microscopy study. The values of attenuation and sound speed of the red thrombus were significantly higher than those of the platelets-rich thrombus. Both acoustic parameters of old red thrombus were significantly lower than those of the organized thrombus. The acoustic properties provided by acoustic microscopy can classify the flow-limiting thrombus at different pathological stages. The criteria will provide further information for development of a VH-IVUS algorithm.
Vibrational characteristics of the glassharp
Authors: Uchida Koichi , Kishi Kenshi
Published: October 2013

Using the finite-element method (FEM), glassharp vibration was analyzed. Results show that the glassharp pitch is controllable at the stage of manufacturing. First, the effects of several factors were studied, such as geometry approximation, element type, and the number of division on the accuracy of mode frequencies. Second, it was examined how each mode frequency changes by the fixed position and length of the glassharp stem. The results demonstrate that their influences were of no great importance. Third, the pitch was widely adjustable by changing the swell of the cup. Particularly, it was finely adjustable by cutting a small circular groove inside a bottom of the cup instead of a conventional method.
Field study of sound exposure by personal stereo
Authors: Ordoñez Rodrigo , Reuter Karen , Hammersho/i Dorte
Published: October 2013

A number of large scale studies suggest that the exposure level used with personal stereo systems should raise concern. High levels can be produced by most commercially available mp3 players, and they are generally used in high background noise levels (i.e., while in a bus or train). A field study on young people’s habitual sound exposure to personal stereos has been carried out using a measurement method according to principles of ISO 11904-2:2004. Additionally the state of their hearing has also been assessed. This presentation deals with the methodological aspects relating to the quantification of habitual use, estimation of listening levels and exposure levels, and assessment of their state of hearing, by either threshold determination or OAE measurement, with a special view to the general validity of the results (uncertainty factors and their magnitude).
Active control of free-field sound using near-field energy-based error signals
Authors: Chester Ryan T. , Leishman Timothy W.
Published: October 2013

Practical efforts to actively control sound often require error sensors located in the acoustic or geometric near field of primary and secondary sources. Unfortunately, when using conventional acoustic pressure sensors, control performance often becomes very sensitive to sensor position, and optimal sensor positions are difficult to ascertain or maintain with changing system conditions. Other types of error sensors or combinations of error sensors may produce fewer position-dependent complications, yielding excellent global sound-field control with greater ease and consistency. This paper compares the use of potential, kinetic, and total energy density error signals in the near field of a primary and secondary source in free space. It also discusses the distinct spatial and spectral uniformities of these quantities and their impact on the active control of sound.
Trends for prediction methods of heavyweight floor impact sound
Authors: Koga Takashi , Inoue Katsuo , Nakazawa Shinji
Published: October 2013

Trends of building structures of Japanese multifamily dwellings and prediction methods of heavyweight floor impact sound are introduced. Floor impact sound-reduction performance caused by human action like stepping and jumping is considered to be a vital function for Japanese apartment complexes. There are quite a few cases where the floor thickness shall be designed from 200 to 300 mm because of acoustical performance, to assure the required performance. The practical prediction method, the so-called impedance method, was been established in the 1970s, and it has been commonly used. Though there are many buildings that are out of the applicable scope of the ordinal impedance method with the rise of structural design technology, the outline shown is that of the revised practical prediction method that is under discussion by the working group of the Architectural Institute of Japan. And, examples of hybrid method are also introduced that substitute the impedances by numerical vibration calculation results using finite-element method for simplified calculation results of impedance method.
Partial differential equation (PDE)-based method of sound source localization
Authors: Ando Shigeru , Ono Nobutaka
Published: October 2013

We describe the problem of direction and distance estimate of sound sources in free 3-D space. We first derive a partial differential equation (PDE), ∇f(r,t)={(1/R)f(r,t)+(1/c)ḟ(r,t)}n(R≡|r|,n≡-r/R), what we call the sound source constraint (SSC). We show that the general solution of the SSC is a diverging spherical wave from a point sounce with arbitrary temporal waveform. The SSC enables the observer to determine the source location (distance R and direction n) from local measurements of the wave field. As the measurements of the wave field, we consider two methods: (1) the weighted temporal integral of arrayed microphone outputs in a finite duration and (2) the weighted spatial integral of pressure distribution in a rectangular or circular area. In both cases, we obtain exact formulas for localizing a single source from a single measurement and multiple sources from the combination of differently weighted measurements.
A background noise reduction technique for improving false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens) localization
Authors: McPherson Craig R. , Kenny Owen P. , Turner Phil , McPherson Geoff R.
Published: October 2013

The passive localization of false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens) in acoustic environments comprised of discontinuous ambient, anthropogenic, and animal sounds is a challenging problem. A background noise reduction technique is required to improve the quality of sampled recordings, which will assist localization using auditory modeling and signal correlation at extended ranges. The algorithm developed meets this requirement using a combination of adaptive percentile estimation, a median-based tracker, and Gaussian windowing. The results indicate successful improvement of the signal-to-noise ratio, and consequently a significant increase in the detection range of false killer whales in acoustically complex environments.
Sonoporation: Mechanisms of cell membrane perforation and rapid resealing
Authors: Kudo Nobuki , Yamamoto Katsuyuki
Published: October 2013

Sonoporation is a technique for making membrane perforation by exposure of cells to ultrasound, and it is an attractive method for realizing nonvirus gene transfection. A continuous or quasicontinuous wave is frequently used for this technique because a higher duty ratio gives higher efficiency of sonoporation. Addition of microbubbles during insonification greatly improves the efficiency of sonoporation, and, especially when microbubbles exist in the vicinity of the cells, ultrasound pulses from diagnostic ultrasound equipment can cause sonoporation. In this study, we examined sonoporation induced by single-shot pulsed ultrasound and the role of microbubbles in induction of cell membrane perforation. Bubble behavior and cell membrane damage were observed using a high-speed camera and light and scanning electron microscopes. Results of observation showed that mechanical stress induced by bubble motion could cause cell membrane perforation. We also studied repair of the perforation using a fluorescence microscope and found that the membrane of mammalian cells has the ability to reseal the perforation within several seconds. [Research partially supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, Japan.]
Mechanical properties of HeLa cells at different stages of cell cycle by time-resolved acoustic microscope
Authors: Zinin Pavel V. , Weiss Eike C. , Anastasiadis Pavlos , Lemor Robert M.
Published: October 2013

Scanning acoustic microscopy (SAM), particularly time-resolved acoustic microscopy, is one of the few techniques for study of the mechanical properties of only the cell’s interior, cytosol and nucleus. Unfortunately, time-resolved acoustic microscopes typically do not provide sufficient resolution to study the elasticity of single cells. We demonstrate that the high-frequency, time-resolved acoustic microscope developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Technology (IBMT), Germany, is capable of imaging and characterizing elastic properties of micron size structures in cell’s cytoskeleton with a theoretical resolution limit of 10 m/s for sound speed measurements. Measurements were performed on cells of the HeLa cell line derived from human cervics carcinoma. SAM measurements of the sound speed of adherent HeLa cells at different states of the cell cycle were conducted. They yielded an average value of 1540 m/s. B-Scan images of HeLa cells at different states of the cell cycle show distinct patterns inside the cell. A method for estimating sound attenuation inside HeLa cells is outlined as such a method is critical for the determination of a cell’s viscoelasticity. [Work supported by Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the European Framework Program 6, Project ‘‘CellProm.’’]
Two-wafer bulk-micromachined silicon microphones
Authors: Miao Jianmin , Tan Chee Wee
Published: October 2013

A two-wafer concept is proposed for silicon microphone manufacturing by using bulk-micromachining and wafer bonding technologies. Acoustical holes of the backplate in one wafer are micromachined by deep reactive ion etching and the diaphragm on another wafer is created by wet-chemical etching. The two wafers are then bonded together to form silicon condenser microphones. In order to minimize the mechanical-thermal noise and increase the sensitivity within the required bandwidth, an analytical model based on Zuckerwar’s equations has been developed to find the optimum location of the acoustical holes in the backplate of microphones. According to our study, this analytical modeling has shown excellent agreement between the simulated and measured results for the B&K MEMS microphone. Silicon condenser microphones have been further optimized in terms of the air gap, number and location of acoustical holes to achieve the best performance with a low polarization voltage, and easy fabrication for possible commercialization. Details of analytical modeling, fabrication, and measurement results will be presented.
Computational intelligence approach to archival musical recordings
Authors: Czyzewski Andrzej , Litwic Lukasz , Maziewski Przemyslaw
Published: October 2013

An algorithmic approach to wow defect estimation in archival musical recordings is presented. The wow estimation is based on the simultaneous analysis of many sinusoidal components, which are assumed to depict the defect. The rough determination of sinusoidal components in analyzed musical recording is performed by standard sinusoidal modeling procedures employing magnitude and phase spectra analysis. Since archival recordings tend to contain distorted tonal structure, the basic sinusoidal modeling approach is often found insufficient, resulting in audible distortions in the restored signal. It is found that the standard sinusoidal modeling approach is prone to errors, especially when strong frequency or amplitude variations of sinusoidal components occur. It may result in gaps or inappropriately matched components, leading to incorrect estimation of the wow distortion. Hence, some refinements to sinusoidal component analysis including interpolation and extrapolation of tonal components are proposed. As it was demonstrated in experiments, due to the nonlinear nature of wow distortion, the enhancement of sinusoidal analysis can be performed by means of a neural network. The paper demonstrates implemented algorithms for parasite frequency modulation in archival recordings together with obtained results. [Work supported by the Commission of the European Communities, within the Integrated Project No. FP6-507336: PRESTOSPACE.]
Music information retrieval seen from the communication technology perspective
Authors: Kostek Bozena
Published: October 2013

Music information retrieval (MIR) is a multidiscipline area. Within this domain one can see various approaches to musical instrument recognition, musical phrase classification, melody classification (e.g., query-by-humming systems), rhythm retrieval, high-level-based music retrieval such as looking for emotions in music or differences in expressiveness, and music search based on listeners’ preferences. One may also find research that tries to correlate low-level descriptor analysis to high-level human perception. Researchers from musical acoustics, musicology, and music domains on one side, and communication technology on the other side, work together within this area. This may foster a framework for broader and deeper comprehension of contributions from all these disciplines and, in addition, translate the automated access to music information, gathered in various forms around the World Wide Web, as a fully understandable process to all participants regardless of their background. The semantic description is becoming a basis of the next Web generation. Several important concepts have been introduced recently by the researchers associated with the MIR community with regard to semantic data processing including techniques for computing with words. In this presentation some aspects related to MIR are briefly reviewed in the context of possible and actual applications of ontology-based approach to this domain.
Design of an impression-based music retrieval system
Authors: Ohta Kimiko , Kumamoto Tadahiko , Isahara Hitoshi
Published: October 2013

Impression-based music retrieval helps users to find musical pieces that suit their preferences, feelings, or mental states from among a huge volume of a music database. Users are asked to select one or more pairs of impression words from among multiple pairs that are presented by the system and to estimate each selected pair on a seven-step scale to input their impressions into the system. For instance, if they want to locate musical pieces that will create a happy impression, they should check the radio button ‘‘Happy’’ in the impression scale: Very happy–Happy–A little happy–Neutral–A little sad–Sad–Very sad. A pair of impression words with a seven-step scale is called an impression scale in this paper. The system calculates the distance between the impressions of each musical piece in a user-specified music database and the impressions that are input by the user. Subsequently, it selects candidate musical pieces to be presented as retrieval results. The impressions of musical pieces are expressed numerically by vectors that are generated from a musical piece’s pitch, strength, and length of every tone using n-gram statistics.
Soundscape design in public spaces: Concept, method, and practice
Authors: Nakamura-Funaba Hisao , Iwamiya Shin-ichiro
Published: October 2013

Soundscape design of public spaces necessitates consideration of whether a space has important meaning for the user. It is essential to imagine an ideal sound environment of that space. We designed an actual soundscape from the viewpoint of the environment, information, and decoration. In many cases, producing some silence in an environment becomes the first step of soundscape design. There is neither a special technology nor a technique when designing. It merely requires use of a general technology and techniques concerning sound according to location. A key point is knowledge of know how to coordinate these technologies and techniques. For instance, silence was made first at the renewal project of Tokyo Tower observatory through cancellation of its commercial and call broadcasting functions and installation of sound-absorbing panels to the ceiling. Next, suitable and small sounds were added at various points. Guests can take time to enjoy viewing as a result.
Ecological explorations of soundscapes: From verbal analysis to experimental settings
Authors: Dubois Daniele , Guastavino Catherine
Published: October 2013

Scientific studies rely on rigorous methods that must be adapted to the object of study. Besides integrating acoustic features, soundscapes as complex cognitive representations also have the properties of being global, meaningful, multimodal, and categorical. Investigating these specificities, new paradigms were developed involving linguistics and ecological psychology to complement the psychophysical approach: cognitive linguistic analyses of discourse to address semantic properties of soundscapes, and categorization tasks and distances from prototypes to investigate their cognitive organization. As a methodological consequence, experimental settings must be designed to ensure the ecological validity of the stimuli processing, (the ‘‘realism’’ evaluated from a psychological point of view, stimuli being processed as in a real-life situation). This point will be illustrated with perceptual evaluations of spatial auditory displays for soundscape reproduction. Data processing techniques should also take into consideration the intrinsic properties of the representations they account for. Examples of free-sorting tasks will be presented with measurements in terms of family resemblance of sets of properties defining categories rather than dimensional scales. New ways of coupling physical measurement and psychological evaluations will be presented in order to simulate or reproduce soundscapes in both a realistic and controlled manner for experimental purposes.
The sound environmental education aided by automated bioacoustic identification in view of soundscape recognition
Authors: Oba Teruyo
Published: October 2013

From the 2003–2004 JST projects, where the automated bioacoustic identification device Kikimimi-Zukin was introduced to the nature observation and environmental studies, it was learned that the activities encouraged children to take notice of sounds, become aware of the sound environment, and gain an insight into the soundscape. Sounds are often riddles to us, and hearing is the process to find out the facts and causes. It is more important to let children obtain appropriate clues to differentiate sounds by hearing and thinking for themselves than give them an immediate answer. Program on the Strength of Hearing was formulated to challenge children and have them enjoy hearing to identify, sharing what they hear with others, and observing environment through sounds. Kikimimi-Zukin reinforced the program by a step- by-step guide through the hearing process of scanning, focusing, characterizing, associating with relevant factors, and judging the identity. The experience not only brought them confidence in hearing but incentive to study nature and environment. With Kikimimi-Zukin children collected recordings and relevant information. Using the sound database, the local singing map and three-dimensional sound map were prepared. They facilitated communication on the local sound environment among children and with adults, leading to realization of their inner soundscape.
The burden of cardiovascular diseases due to road traffic noise
Authors: Babisch Wolfgang , Kim Rokho
Published: October 2013

Epidemiological studies suggest a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases, including high blood pressure and myocardial infarction, in subjects chronically exposed to high levels of road or air traffic noise. A new meta-analysis was carried out to assess a dose-response curve, which can be used for a quantitative risk assessment and to estimate the burden of cardiovascular disease attributable to environmental noise in European regions. Noise exposure was grouped according to 5 dB(A)-categories for the daytime outdoor average A-weighted sound pressure level, (Lday, 16 h: 6–22 h), which was considered in most studies. Information on night-time exposure (Lnight, 8 h: 22–6 h or 23–7 h) was seldom available. However, approximations can be made with respect to Lden according to the European directive on the assessment and management of environmental noise. The strongest evidence of an association between community noise and cardiovascular endpoints was found for ischaemic heart diseases, including myocardial infarction and road traffic noise. The disability-adjusted life years lost for ischemic heart disease attributable to transport noise were estimated conservatively, assuming the same exposure patterns across the countries with an impact fraction 3% in the western European countries.
Socio-cultural soundscape concepts to support policies for managing the acoustic environment
Authors: Finegold Michiko So , Finegold Lawrence S. , Hiramatsu Kozo
Published: October 2013

In the past half-century, considerable effort has been invested in the academic, technological, and political arenas to achieve an adequate acoustic environment. Various national and international policy guidance documents have made reasonable progress in establishing a framework for a common approach to minimizing environmental noise, such as documents from various national Environmental Protection Agencies, the World Health Organization, and the European Union. Although these documents have provided useful information for global application, they only address minimizing the negative side of the acoustic environment (i.e., noise), they focus primarily on acoustics issues at the national or international level, and they still have not adequately considered implementation issues related to socio-cultural differences. To deal with the practical problems that exist in the acoustic environment in the context of different cultures, continuing research and new policy guidance are needed to address different local situations and in a variety of cultural contexts. The Soundscape approach has been developing tools for describing the acoustic environment at the local level to address both the positive and negative aspects of the acoustic environment. In this paper, the evolving interdisciplinary aspect of the Socio-Cultural Soundscape will be discussed and key topics for future work will be recommended.
Frequency variations of attenuation and velocity in cortical bone in vitro
Authors: Sasso Magali , Haiat Guillaume , Yamato Yu , Naili Salah , Matsukawa Mami
Published: October 2013

The development of ultrasonic characterization devices for cortical bone requires a better understanding of ultrasonic propagation in this heterogeneous medium. The aim of this work is to investigate the frequency dependence of the attenuation coefficient and of phase velocity and to relate them with bone microstructure and anatomical position. One hundred twenty parallelepipedic samples (4–11 mm side) have been cut from three bovine specimens and measured four times with repositioning in transmission with a pair of 8-MHz central frequency transducers. Phase velocity and BUA could be determined with acceptable precision: coefficients of variation of 0.8% and 13%, respectively. Velocity dispersion and BUA values are comprised between −13 and 40 m/s/MHz and 2 and 12 dB/MHz/cm, respectively. Negative dispersion values were measured (similarly to trabecular bone) for 2% of the measured samples. BUA values were found to be smaller in plexiform than in Haversian structure and higher for porotic structure. BUA values were found to be the greatest in the postero-lateral distal part and the smallest in the anterior-medial center part of the bone. The same tendency was found for velocity dispersion. Our results show the sensitivity of the frequency dependence of ultrasound to anatomical position and micro-architectural properties of bone.
Reliability and frequency specificity of auditory steady-state response
Authors: Aoyagi Masaru , Watanabe Tomoo , Ito Tsukasa , Abe Yasuhiro
Published: October 2013

The reliability and frequency specificity of 80-Hz auditory steady-state response (80-Hz ASSR) elicited by sinusoidally amplitude-modulated (SAM tones) tones and detected by phase coherence were evaluated as a measure of the hearing level in young children. The 80-Hz ASSR at a carrier frequency of 1000 Hz was monitored in 169 ears of 125 hearing-impaired children and auditory brainstem response (ABR) elicited by tone pips was examined in 93 ears. Both responses were examined during sleep, and the thresholds were compared with the behavioral hearing threshold, which was determined by standard pure-tone audiometry or play audiometry. In 24 ears with various patterns of audiogram, 80-Hz ASSRs were examined at different carrier frequencies, and the threshold patterns were compared with the audiograms to investigate the frequency specificity of ASSR. The correlation coefficient between the threshold of 80-Hz ASSR and pure-tone threshold (r=0.863) was higher than that for ABR (r=0.828). The threshold patterns of 80-Hz ASSR clearly followed the corresponding audiogram patterns in all types of hearing impairment. These findings suggest that 80-Hz ASSR elicited by SAM tones and detected by phase coherence is a useful audiometric device for the determination of hearing level in a frequency-specific manner in children.
Functional load of segments and features
Authors: Kitahara Mafuyu
Published: October 2013

The present paper proposes a new measure of functional load for segments and features. In a nut shell, it is based on word frequencies and the number of minimal pairs in which the relevant segment/feature is crucial in distinction. For example, minimal pairs distinguished only by /t/ are most frequent in English while those distinguished by /k/ are most frequent in Japanese. As for functional load of features, single-feature contrasts and multiple-feature contrasts are incorporated in the calculation. In Japanese, [high] alone distinguishes the largest number of minimal pairs while [voice] distinguishes words most frequently in cooperation with other features. Word frequency and familiarity database for English and Japanese are used to observe the commonalities and differences in both languages with respect to the proposed measure of functional load. This line of analysis suggests a better account for a certain phonological process being more typical in one language but not in the other. Functional load can be thought of as a part of the top-down information from the lexicon, which interacts with the bottom-up perceptual information in the process of spoken word recognition. Not only the ease of articulation and perceptual salience but also the functional load drives phonological processes.
Evaluating a model to estimate breathiness in vowels
Authors: Shrivastav Rahul , Camacho Arturo , Patel Sona
Published: October 2013

The perception of breathiness in vowels is cued by changes in aspiration noise (AH) and the open quotient (OQ) [Klatt and Klatt, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 87(2), 820–857 (1990)]. A loudness model can be used to determine the extent to which AH masks the harmonic components in voice. The resulting partial loudness (PL) and loudness of AH (noise loudness; NL) have been shown to be good predictors of perceived breathiness [Shrivastav and Sapienza, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 114(1), 2218–2224 (2005)]. The levels of AH and OQ were systematically manipulated for ten synthetic vowels. Perceptual judgments of breathiness were obtained and regression functions to predict breathiness from NL/PL were derived. Results show breathiness to be a power function of NL/PL when NL/PL is above a certain threshold. This threshold appears to be affected by the stimulus pitch. A second experiment was conducted to determine if the resulting power function could be used to estimate breathiness in natural voices. The breathiness of novel stimuli, both natural and synthetic, was determined in a listening test. For comparison, breathiness for the same stimuli was also estimated using the power function obtained previously. Results show the extent to which findings can be generalized. [Research supported by NIH/R21DC006690.]
Finding perceptual categories in multidimensional acoustic spaces
Authors: Oglesbee Eric , de Jong Kenneth
Published: October 2013

Examining phonetic categorization in multidimensional acoustic spaces poses a number of practical problems. The traditional method of forced identification of an entire stimulus space becomes prohibitive when the number and size of acoustic dimensions becomes increasingly large. In response to this, Iverson and Evans [ICPhS (2003)] proposed an adaptive tracking algorithm for finding best exemplars of vowels in a multidimensional acoustic space. Their algorithm converged on best exemplars in a relatively small number of trials; however, the search method took advantage of special properties of the vowel space in order to achieve rapid convergence. In this paper, a more general multidimensional search algorithm is proposed and analyzed for inherent biases. Then, using the algorithm, the phonetic categorization of /p/ and /b/ in a five-dimensional acoustic space by native speakers of English is tested. Results showed that (a) there were no substantial long-term biases in the search method and (b) the algorithm appeared to identify important acoustic dimensions in the identification of /p/ and /b/ using relatively few trials. [Work supported by NSF BCS-04406540.]
Study on nonaudible murmur speaker verification using multiple session data
Authors: Kojima Mariko , Kawanami Hiromichi , Saruwatari Hiroshi , Shikano Kiyohiro , Matsui Tomoko
Published: October 2013

A study on speaker verification with nonaudible murmur (NAM) segments using multiple session data was conducted. NAM is different from normal speech and is difficult for other people to catch. Therefore, a text-dependent verification strategy can be used in which each user utters her/his own keyword phrase so that not only speaker-specific but also keyword-specific acoustic information is utilized. A special device called a NAM microphone worn on the surface of the skin below the mastoid bone is used to catch NAM because it is too low to be recorded using ordinary microphones. However, it is tolerant to exterior noise. This strategy is expected to yield relatively high performance. NAM segments, which consist of multiple short-term feature vectors, are used as input vectors to capture keyword-specific acoustic information well. To handle segments with a large number of dimensions, a support vector machine (SVM) is used. In experiments using NAM data uttered by 19 male and 10 female speakers in several different sessions, robustness against session-to-session data variation is examined. The effect of segment length is also investigated. The proposed approach achieves equal error rates of 0.04% (male) and 1.1% (female) when using 145-ms-long NAM segments.
Acoustics and perception of coarticulation at a distance
Authors: Jesney Karen , Pruitt Kathryn , Kingston John
Published: October 2013

CVC syllables were recorded from two speakers of American English, in which the initial and final stops ranged over /b,d,g/ and the vowel ranged over /i,I,e,E,ae,u,U,o,O,a/. F2 locus equations differed systematically as a function of the place of articulation of the other stop. These equation’s slope and y intercepts were used to synthesize initial /g-b/ and /g-d/ continua in CVC syllables in which the final stop ranged over /b,d,g/ and the vowel over /e,o,a/, and the resulting stimuli were presented to listeners for identification. Listeners responded g significantly more often to both continua when the final stop was /d/ rather than /b/; the number of g responses fell between the /d/ and /b/ extremes for final /g/. This difference between final /d/ vs. /b/ is only observed when the intervening vowel is back /o,a/ and is actually reversed weakly when it is front /e/. Listeners also respond g significantly more often when the final stop is /g/ rather than /b/ and the vowel is /o,a/ but not [e]. Segments do coarticulate at a distance, listeners take this coarticulation into account, and perceptual adjustments depend on the segments through which the coarticulation is expressed. [Supported by NIH.]
Diphones, lexical access, and the verbal transformation effect
Authors: Bashford James A. , Warren Richard M. , Lenz Peter W.
Published: October 2013

When listeners are presented with a repeating verbal stimulus, adaptation occurs and perception of the stimulus is replaced by perception of a competitor. The present study examines the first of these verbal transformations reported by 180 listeners who were presented with lexical and nonlexical consonantvowel (CV) syllables that varied in frequency-weighted neighborhood density (FWND). These stimuli were produced by pairing the six English stop consonants with a set of three vowels. As expected, the majority of initial illusory forms (78%) were neighbors, differing from the stimulus by a single phoneme, and the proportion of lexical neighbors increased with stimulus FWND. Interestingly, FWND had opposite effects upon the lability of consonants and vowels: There was a strong positive correlation [r=0.79, F(17)=26.2, p<0.0001] between FWND and the number of consonant transformations, and in contrast, there was a strong negative correlation [r=−0.78, F(17)=24.9, p<0.0001] between FWND and the number of vowel transformations. The implications of these and other findings with these simple diphones will be discussed in relation to current activation-competition theories of spoken word recognition. [Work supported by NIH.]
Voicing of /h/ in the Texas Instrument MIT (TIMIT) database
Authors: Koenig Laura
Published: October 2013

Although English /h/ is traditionally described as voiceless, authors have long recognized that voiced allophones exist, especially in unstressed, intervocalic positions. In past work, we have suggested that fully voiced /h/ may be more common in men than women, but our subject population was limited in number and dialectal diversity. In this study, we use the TIMIT database to obtain measures of /h/ production in men and women speaking multiple dialects of American English. Our analysis focuses on the /h/ initiating the word ‘‘had’’ in a sentence produced by all speakers in the database: ‘‘She had your dark suit...’’ Each token of /h/ is coded for whether (a) the /h/ is deleted (i.e., auditorily imperceptible); and, if /h/ is present, whether (b) voicing continues unbroken and (c) there is visible aspiration noise in the speech signal. This analysis will provide baseline data on /h/ realization in a common sentence context. We will also carry out follow-up analyses on selected utterances to gain more insight into the effects of phonetic context, stress, and lexical type (e.g., content versus function word) on the characteristics of English /h/. [Work supported by NIH.]
On distinctions between stops and similar-place weak fricatives
Authors: Hillenbrand James M. , Houde Robert A.
Published: October 2013

There is an extensive body of literature on the acoustic properties of both stops and fricatives. However, little attention has been paid to the acoustic features that might distinguish these two sound categories. This is unsurprising in the case of stops versus strong fricatives since these sounds are rarely confused. Stops and weak fricatives, on the other hand, are frequently confused [G.A. Miller and P.E. Nicely, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 27, 338–352 (1955)]. The present study was undertaken in a search for acoustic features that might distinguish the stop/weak fricative pairs /b/–/v/ and /d/–/dh/ (i.e., /d/ vs voiced th). Speech material consisted of CV and VCV syllables spoken by five men and five women, using the vowels /a/, /i/, and /u/. A combination of two features reliably separated the stops from weak fricatives: (1) intensity during the consonant occlusion interval (typically greater for the fricatives), and (2) the rate of increase in mid- and high-frequency energy (above 1 kHz) associated with consonant release (typically greater for the stops).
Salience of virtual formants as a function of the frequency separation between spectral components
Authors: Fox Robert A. , Jacewicz Ewa , Chang Chiung-Yun , Fox Jason D.
Published: October 2013

The center-of-gravity (COG) hypothesis proposed by Chistovich and others for the perception of static vowels suggests that auditory spectral integration may occur when two or more formants fall within a 3.5 bark bandwidth. While several studies have examined the bandwidth limits of such integration, this study examines the extent to which spectral integration is uniform within this putative 3.5-bark range. We examine the perceptual salience of virtual formants produced by modifying the spectral COG of two closely spaced narrow-bandwidth resonances. Three different vowel series were created: [i-■], [■-■] and [■-■]. A second set of vowels was then created in which one of the formants (F1 in [i-■], F2 in [■-■] and F3 in [■-■]) was replaced by a virtual formant whose COG matched that of the formant that had been removed. The frequency separation between the two component resonances was then systematically varied between 1.5 and 3.5 barks and a singleinterval 2AFC vowel identification task was used to obtain estimates of vowel quality for each series step. Results will be discussed in terms of whether the spectral integration effects within the 3.5 bark decline as the frequency separation between the resonance components increases. [Work supported by NIDCD R01DC00679-01A1.]