bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Using CT to predict vocal tract resonances in mammal vocalizations: Are calls nasalized?
Authors: Reby David , Wyman Megan T. , Frey Roland , Gilbert Joel
Published: November 2016

Males of several species of deer have a descended larynx, which gives them an unusually long vocal tract (VT). They can extend their VT by further lowering their larynx during the production of their sexual loudcalls. Formant frequencies are lowered as the vocal tract is extended, as predicted when approximating the vocal tract as a uniform quarter wavelength resonator. However, formant frequencies in polygynous deer follow uneven distribution patterns, suggesting that the vocal tract shape is in fact rather complex. We CT-scanned the artificially extended vocal tract of two adult fallow deer, and measured the cross-sectional area of the supralyngeal vocal tract along the oral and nasal pathways. We used this data to model resonances patterns produced by these VT including the oral pathway, the nasal pathway, or both. We found that the combined oral/nasal VT produced a formant pattern that more closely matches that observed in fallow deer groans and enables a better estimation of VT length from formant patterns. This clear indication that the nasal cavity and oral cavity are both simultaneously involved in the vocal production of a nonhuman mammal suggest that the potential for partial nasalization of putative oral loud calls should be carefully considered.
Restoring dueting behavior in a mated pair of buffy cheeked gibbons after exposure to construction noise at a zoo through playbacks of their own sounds
Authors: Thomas Jeanette A. , Friel Brett , Yegge Sarah
Published: November 2016

There is concern about anthropogenic noise effecting zoo animals. Gibbons are known for duets exhibited by a mated pair. During a 6-month period in 2009, Niabi Zoo conducted construction (sewer/water lines, and paving) within 100 m of the buffy cheeked gibbon exhibit. Prior to construction, a male/female pair (plus their 4-year old son) performed loud, elaborate duets each day. Friel collected behavior data using focal animal and instantaneous scan-sampling for 10 days; 5 times per day prior to construction and for 20 days during construction. SEL measurements were taken during both periods. In general, the immature gibbon vocalized little; the female vocalized most. Gibbons vocalized less during construction noise. After construction, the subadult male became ill and was euthanized; thereafter the pair ceased vocalizing. Two years later, Yegge played back sounds to encourage dueting: 1) their own duet, 2) the duet of wild gibbons, 3) rock music, and 4) a silent control. Their behavior was collected for 3, 15-min playback sessions per day for 30 days. The pair’s own playback elicited a duet even during the first session. The female vocalized significantly more than the male, especially during the wild gibbon duet. Currently, the pair continues dueting on their own.
Baby's first words: Vocal behavior and ontogeny of Northern right whales in the southeast critical habitat
Authors: Gerstein Edmund R. , Tyrgonis Vasilis , Moir James
Published: November 2016

North Atlantic right whales are one of the most endangered of the great whales. A remnant population of ~500 inhabits the eastern seaboard of North America. A small fraction (2%) travels south to their critical calving habitat along the Florida and Georgia coast. By late November and through the winter, right whales give birth and nurse their calves in these shallow waters before departing in early spring to their northern habitats. In the southeast critical habitat mother-calf pairs remain generally isolated from other whales, presenting a unique platform to study vocal development and learning in large whales. Using small boats, GPS-instrumented, free-drifting autonomous acoustic buoys were deployed in close proximity to 44 photo-identified mother-calf pairs over 7 calving seasons. Surface video and synchronized underwater recordings documented their social and vocal behavior. With the exception of some low-energy gunshot sounds, mothers, and their calves, remained predominantly silent during the first 4 weeks. This might be due to calf maturation, and or a strategy to avoid harassment by other whales or potential predators. Over 100 calls have been analyzed from 15 different calves. Some of these calves were resampled at different stages at <1 week up to 12 weeks of age. Evidence of age-related variance and changes in call structure, complexity, power, rates, as well as vocal mimicry and learning are presented. [Funding: HBOI Florida PFW License Plate Fund, The Harry Richter Foundation and IBM, NOAA Permit #14233.]
Visual acoustic analysis techniques for North Atlantic right whale sounds
Authors: Theriault James A. , Inglis Gary , Moors-Murphy Hilary B.
Published: November 2016

Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) is becoming a more widely accepted tool in mitigating the potential impact of man-made noise on marine mammals. Many marine mammals, and in particular cetaceans (whales and dolphins), use sound to communicate, navigate, forage, and avoid predators. Automated vocalization detectors have been in development for many years. Validation is achieved through aural/visual verification by analysts examining acoustic data in both the time and frequency domains. However, many factors also influence the ability of the analyst to properly detect and classify marine mammal sounds. First, a priori knowledge of the acoustic signature and the analysts experience are critical factors. Assuming the a priori knowledge exists, the ability to correctly assess the presence of call is dependent on the signal processing and displays available. Frequency resolution, temporal integration, and normalization either enhance or inhibit the ability to make the assessment. The signal processing parameterization varies between species and vocalization types. Six types of vocalizations have been previously described for the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis); upcalls, gunshots, screams, downcalls, blows, and warbles. The parameterization required to optimally assess each of the vocalization types will be examined.
Song learning in humpback whales: Lessons from song hybridization events during revolutionary song change
Authors: Garland Ellen C. , Rendell Luke , Poole M. Michael , Noad Michael J.
Published: November 2016

Humpback whale songs are one of the most startling examples of transmission of a cultural trait and social learning in any non-human animal. Here, we investigate extremely rare cases of song hybridization, where parts of an existing song are spliced with a novel, revolutionary song, to understand how songs are learnt. Song unit sequences were extracted from over 800 phrases recorded during a song revolution (French Polynesia 2005), to allow fine-scale analysis of composition and sequencing. Clustering of song sequences (i.e., phrases) using the Levenshtein distance indicated songs clustered into three song types; a single hybrid phrase was identified representing the transition of one singer between two of these song types. A predictive model was fitted to the data and tested against the only other known recordings of humpback song hybridization: the eastern Australia 1996-97 song revolution. Songs change during revolutions through combining multiple complete phrases and themes from one song type, before transitioning through a hybrid phrase into the phrases and themes of a second song type. These extremely rare snapshots of song change represent the only known examples of song learning in over 20 years of data, spanning five populations of humpback whales were song revolutions occur.
Loud and clear: Characterization of particle motion in Humpback whale song and its potential role in communication
Authors: Mooney T. Aran , Kaplan Maxwell B. , Lammers Marc O.
Published: November 2016

Acoustic communication can rapidly transfer a substantial amount of information, yet emitted signals must be conveyed with enough clarity to allow appropriate responses. Many mysticete calls such as humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) song can be detected over large distances as a result of the propagating acoustic pressure wave, yet little is known regarding the particle motion component of these signals. To explore the particle velocity of humpback whale song, three singing whales were recorded from a vessel off Maui, HI in March 2015, using a sensor that contained a digital magnetometer, tri-axial accelerometer, and an omnidirectional hydrophone. The median magnitude of the acoustic particle velocity signal was substantial (64.5 dB re: 1m/s) for song components with a median pressure of 135.4 dB re: 1μPa. As vessel and sensor gradually drifted away or toward the whales, acoustic particle velocity and sound pressure correspondingly decreased or increased (range: 49.3-77.9 dB re: 1m/s and 118.4-148.1 dB re: 1μPa). The particle velocity signals were high even at 200m from the whale indicating this cue is substantial well into the far-field. There were predictable trends in the acoustic particle motion signal component and this component of song is a cue available to nearby animals.
Non-contact acoustic imaging using single element transducer applied by time reversal focusing
Authors: Nomura Hideyuki , Saitoh Hirotaka
Published: November 2016

A large number of transducers have been used for the Time reversal (TR) processing to focus sound at a specific position and a specific time. In this study, TR focusing of ultrasound in space and time domains was experimentally confirmed in air using sound waves radiated from single element transducer. Experiments were carried out using a piezoelectric transducer glued on inner wall of a cavity for the reverberations of sounds. A microphone indicated that time reversed ultrasounds at about 50 kHz radiated from the hole of the cavity were focused at a specific time and a specific position outside of the cavity. This proposed TR focusing was applied to acoustic imaging for a defect on a brass plate with 0.3 mm in thickness. Time reversed ultrasound was focused at arbitrary position on the plate, and the laser Doppler vibrometry measured the vibration of the plate. Two-dimensional distribution of the vibration obtained by TR focusing indicated the presence of added small brass piece on the plate as a defect. These results suggest that the feasibility of single element TR focusing of ultrasound and an application of that on non-contact acoustic imaging.
Ultrasound-based closed-loop control of implantable devices
Authors: Shcherbina Kostyantyn , Chitnis Parag V. , Sia Samuel
Published: November 2016

Implantable devices have a large potential to impact healthcare, but they are often made of biofouling materials that necessitate special coatings, rely on electrical connections for external communication, and require a continuous power source. We present an alternative platform, where an implanted biocompatible capsule can be wirelessly controlled by ultrasound to trigger the release of compounds. The capsule prototype was approximately 1 mm thick and consisted of a PDMS shell containing a co-polymer gel (NiPAAm-co-AAm). The co-polymer gel formulation was optimized so that it contracts when heated above body temperature (i.e., at 450C) to release compounds through an opening in the PDMS shell. This gel-containing capsule is free of toxic electronic or battery components. Ultrasound was employed for visualization (B-mode imaging), actuation (localized heating) and closed-loop control (ultrasound-based thermometry). This was achieved by integrating a diagnostic transducer coaxially within the central aperture of an spherically sectioned focused ultrasound (FUS) transducer. The combination of this gel-based capsule and compact ultrasound hardware can serve as a platform for triggering local release of compounds, including potentially in deep tissue, to achieve personalized and localized drug delivery. Illustrative results that show the ability to tailor release kinetics will be presented. [Work supported by NSF 1509748.]
Proposal of ultrasonic imaging of thermophysical property distribution in vivo by ultrasonic heating
Authors: Morimoto Mai , Tsujimoto Yukako , Akiyama Iwaki
Published: November 2016

This study proposes a novel ultrasonic imaging of sound velocity change distribution by a short time ultrasonic heating. According to the bio-heat transfer equation, the sound velocity change due to ultrasonic heating depends on the volumetric heat capacity, attenuation coefficient, and the temperature dependence of the sound velocity. Thus, the resultant image is correspondent to the thermophysical property distribution. The sound velocity change is estimated by the time difference of echoes from the tissue between before and after heating. The feasibility of the proposed technique was studied by using a block of porcine fat and muscle exposed to ultrasound. A concave circular transducer of 5.2 MHz in resonance frequency was used for the measurement of sound velocity change. Ultrasound waves of 3.2 MHz in frequency was transmitted from a coaxial arranged concave ring transducer for heating. As a result, the sound velocity change of the porcine muscle is 1.3 m / s and the porcine fat is -2.3 m/s. Therefore, it is possible to identify the region of porcine muscle and fat, respectively. [This study was supported by MEXT-Supported Program for the Strategic Research Foundation at Priviate Universities, 2013-2017.]
Color Doppler shear wave imaging and its application to breast imaging
Authors: Yamakoshi Yoshiki , Nakajima Takahito , Yamazaki Mayuko , Koda Ren , Sunaguchi Naoki
Published: November 2016

Imaging of continuous shear wave (CSW) induced by a small mechanical vibrator attached on tissue surface is low-cost and easy-to-use elastography. A problem of CSW is shear wave's reflection and refraction at tissue boundary, which degrade the accuracy of shear wave velocity estimation. We propose a novel shear wave elastography of CSW (Color Doppler Shear Wave Imaging: CD-SWI). Shear wave’s propagation in soft tissue is reconstructed directly without adding any function to conventional color flow imaging instrument. Two conditions for shear wave frequency and displacement amplitude are required to obtain maps. However, they are not severe restrictions because frequency is chosen among several frequencies suited for elastography and the required displacement amplitude is a few tens of microns. Both Fourier analysis along time axis and a directional filter on wave-number vector space improve image quality. Accuracy and image quality of CD-SWI are evaluated by comparing with ARFI method. CD-SWI is applied to breast in vivo and shear wave propagation in breast (f = 297 Hz) is observed. Inherent shear wave propagation in soft tissue reconstructed by CD-SWI, such as diffraction and refraction around tissue with different stiffness as well as shear wave velocity, may give novel information in tissue characterization by shear wave.
Experimental evaluation of noise damping performance of in-duct perforated orifices with different geometric shapes
Authors: Zhao Dan , Ji Chenzhen , Han Nuomin , Zhao He
Published: November 2016

In this work, 10 in-duct perforated plates are experimentally tested in a cold-flow pipe. These plates have the same porosities but different number N and geometric shaped orifices: 1) triangle, 2) square, 3) pentagon, 4) hexagon, and 5) star. The damping effect of these orifices is characterized by power absorption coefficient Δ and reflection one R from 100 to 1000 Hz. It is found that the orifice shape has little influence on Δ and R at lower frequency (ωa/2π≤700 Hz). However, as ωa is increased, star-shaped orifice is shown to be with much lower Δ in comparison with that of other shaped orifices. For the in-duct plates with the same shaped orifices, increasing N does not lead to an increase of Δ at lower frequency (ωa/2π≤900 Hz). However, the orifice with the same shape and porosity but larger N is found to be associated with 20% more power absorption at approximately 970 Hz. Δ max is approximately 85% around 190 Hz, as Ma≈0.29. The optimum Ma depends on the orifice shape. The present parametric measurements shed light on the roles of the number and geometric shapes of orifices and the flow parameters on its noise damping performance.
Head mounted device for gesture recognition using acoustic time of flight sensor and 2D camera
Authors: Shin Minchul , Zeigler Stephen , Gomez Anton , Reid Christopher
Published: November 2016

The goal of this work is to design a 3D imaging system with acoustical transducers, 2D cameras and real-time signal processing to enable gesture sensing for a Head Mounted Device (HMD) design. The system offers enhanced user interfaces using vivid spatial information for use on mobile platforms such as wearable electronics. Through an intuitive user interface, hand gestures and finger shapes can provide easy acquisition of instruction as a sign language between devices and users. To achieve this intuitive gesture-based communication, key characteristics are required from imaging systems: light insensitivity, and high spatial density (high depth rate and x-y plane resolution). For gesture recognition, a variety of sensing methods using infrared, laser, and acoustics have been developed, but they have a critical issue: light disturbance. This device overcomes sunlight interference that limits 3D camera performance outdoors. Multiple microphones with resonant frequency 40 kHz are used as a depth sensor for 3D rendering or localization by using the TOF method. Eventually, motion tracking and localization via this 3D imaging system integrated with acoustic TOF sensor and RGB cameras allows communication using the dynamic and agile movements of users’ hands and fingers and will serve as a major step toward expanding human-computer interactions.
Ultrasonic metal welding by longitudinal-torsional vibration source consisting of two transducers
Authors: Asami Takuya , Higuchi Yusuke , Miura Hikaru
Published: November 2016

We study ultrasonic metal welding of dissimilar metals by using planar vibration locus. The planar vibration locus consists of the longitudinal vibration and the torsional vibration. In a previous study, we used an ultrasonic vibration source that contained a vibration converter comprising diagonal slits. The vibration source with diagonal slits was driven two frequencies in order to obtain a planar vibration locus. However, it was difficult to control individual vibration when using the vibration source with diagonal slits. In order to solve this problem, we have developed an ultrasonic longitudinal-torsional vibration source consisting of two transducers in which the longitudinal-torsional vibration can be controlled. The developed vibration source is consists of a longitudinal transducer and a torsional transducer attached to the both ends of a stepped horn with the length of two wavelength of the propagating vibration. This vibration source can generate planar vibration locus of substantially square. In this study, ultrasonic metal welding of dissimilar metals was studied by using the vibration source consisting of two transducers. As a result, high weld strength was obtained in the case of welding of the planar locus than welding of only longitudinal or torsional vibration loci.
Deep learning for unsupervised feature extraction in audio signals: Monaural source separation
Authors: Nykaza Edward T. , Boedihardjo Arnold P. , Wang Zhiguang , Oates Tim , Netchaev Anton , Bunkley Steven L. , Blevins Matthew G.
Published: November 2016

Deep learning is becoming ubiquitous; it is the underlying and driving force behind many heavily embedded technologies in society (e.g., search engines, fraud detection warning systems, and social-media facial recognition algorithms). Over the past few years there has been a steady increase in the number of audio related applications of deep learning. Recently, Nykaza et al. presented a pedagogical approach to understanding how the hidden layers recreate, separate, and classify environmental noise signals. That work presented some feature extraction examples using simple pure tone, chord, and environmental noise datasets. In this paper, we build upon this recent analysis and expand the datasets to include more realistic representations of those datasets with the inclusion of noise and overlapping signals. Additionally, we consider other related architectures (e.g., variant-autoencoders, recurrent neural networks, and fixing hidden nodes/layers), explore their advantages/drawbacks, and provide insights on each technique.
Anomaly detection and other practical considerations for estimating acoustical metrics from time series data
Authors: Mennitt Daniel J. , Fristrup Kurt
Published: November 2016

The scope of environmental acoustic monitoring and rate of data collection are growing rapidly. These increases in the quantity of information have elevated the necessity of detecting anomalous data and the difficulty of doing so. Analysis of contaminated data leads to incorrect results, including biased parameter estimation and flawed model selection. Censoring of data requires strong justification, as the loss of information can lead to these same problems. For acoustics, this issue is compounded by the widespread use of time-average sound levels (Leq), which are especially sensitive to anomalous measurements. This talk will discuss applications of anomaly detection to acoustic pressure time series data for the calculation of long-term metrics. There is no single universally applicable or generic approach to data cleaning and preparation, which often consumes a disproportionate amount of time and effort relative to interpretation of results. Examples drawn from terrestrial and aquatic acoustical monitoring data sets of varying resolution and associated metadata will provide context for issues that compromise data quality, anomaly detection methods, and mitigation efforts.
The effect of sample rate reduction and audio compression on noise metric accuracy and statistical learning classifier performance
Authors: Blevins Matthew G. , Nykaza Edward T. , Netchaev Anton
Published: November 2016

With the increasing availability of low-cost and portable noise monitors, the amount of captured data can reasonably be predicted to grow exponentially. The financial and computational expense of portable data storage, processing hardware, and wireless or cellular upload bandwidth, however, necessitate data compression techniques to ensure feasible continuous operation. Sample rate reduction causes a loss of high frequency components while compressed formats (such as mp3) remove parts of the signal that are inaudible to humans, but may be important to statistical learning algorithms. The degree to which these data reduction techniques degrade the accuracy of metrics calculated from the signals (e.g. peak level, equivalent level, sound exposure level, etc.) and the performance of statistical learning classifiers that use the metrics and/or band levels is examined. Over 20,000 recordings from noise monitors located on military installations are systematically down-sampled and compressed to use in the analysis. The root-mean-square error for each of over 40 noise metrics and the mean decrease in accuracy for a statistical learning classifier are presented.
Facilitation of bird call classification using self-organising maps—A pilot study on bird calls in New Zealand
Authors: Miyoshi Tsutomu , Hioka Yusuke
Published: November 2016

Automatic detection and classification of bird calls from audio recordings attract interests of various users from amateur bird watching hobbyists to professional biologists and park rangers studying biodiversity and conservation. Previous studies utilize machine learning techniques many of which require supervised learning; therefore, they cannot detect bird calls that are not included in the supervisory data. Their performance also severely degrade when a segment of a bird call is overlapped by other birds’ calls or contaminated with various ambient noise. This study proposes an alternative approach for bird call classification, which is facilitated by an algorithm based on the self-organising maps (SOM). Since the SOM is an unsupervised learning algorithm, which classifies similar input features into neighboring clusters, it is expected that segments of different bird species will be classified into clusters located apart while segments with multiple bird calls and/or noise will lie down on the clusters in the middle. The classified segments are then labelled by measuring the distance between the feature vectors in each cluster and that of known bird call segments given a priori. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated by applying the algorithm to data recorded in a national park in New Zealand.
A study on acoustic feature representing breathiness of singing voice based on vocal-fold vibration modeling
Authors: Itou Masahiro , Banno Hideki , Asahi Kensaku
Published: November 2016

There are some techniques expressing emotion in singing. One of the techniques used by some professional singers is controlling breathiness of uttered voice intentionally. However, this breathiness control can make it difficult for an amateurish singer to keep pitch and pressure of uttered voice steady. In this publication, we verify what kind of feature is appropriate for representing breathiness of singing voice by converting the feature of normal voice into that of breathy voice. Extracted features for conversion are aperiodicity index and STRAIGHT spectrum (“voice quality parameters” below) obtained through STRAIGHT analysis of recorded vowel singing whose pitch, pressure and breathiness are constant and under several conditions. We have tested two conversion methods; one compensates voice quality parameters of normal voice statically so that the averaged parameters of generated voice are equivalent to those of high-breathiness voice, another exchanges voice quality parameters of normal voice totally with those of high-breathiness voice. It was found that the generated sound by the latter method is perceived to have higher quality than that by the former method. This result implies that features to represent breathiness properly must include not only static information but also dynamic information of breathy voice.
An application of multiple-stage non-negative matrix factorization to music analysis
Authors: Ota Kenko , Ichigo Takuya , Shirasawa Takahiro
Published: November 2016

Non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) is an analysis technique for matrix with non-negative elements. NMF decomposes a sound spectrogram X obtained by a short-time Fourier transform into the product of two non-negative matrices H and U. The matrix H represents the bases of X and the matrix U represents the activation gains of H. As an extension of NMF, multiple-stage NMF has been proposed in order to represent the hierarchy of data. This research focuses on the hierarchy of music data, and attempts to apply multiple-stage NMF to music analysis. For simplicity, sounds treated in this research are assumed as follows: single tone consists of fundamental tone and harmonic overtones and a chord consists of some single tones. According to this assumption, observed sound spectrogram can be decomposed into three stages. In the first stage, the basis matrix is approximated by a Gaussian distribution in order to represent a spectrum of fundamental tone and harmonic overtones. In the second stage, the basis matrix consists of the set of single tone with fundamental tone and harmonic overtones. And in the third stage, the basis matrix consists of the set of chord with some single tones. Evaluation was carried out by MIDI data.
An acoustic analysis of Arirang, a representative folk song of Korea
Authors: Park Sang-Bum , Kim Myung-Sook , Bae Myung-Jin
Published: November 2016

Arirang, a representative folk song of Korea, became inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity program by UNESCO in 2012. Since then, the Korean government as well as some Korean private sector companies have been promoting the song and its unique feelings in melody and lyrics drawn from Korea’s own historical backgrounds. This study presents an acoustic analysis of Arirang from a psychoacoustic point of view, first concerning its rhythm/tempo and second concerning its acoustic characteristics found in certain vowels and consonants in lyrics. Since Arirang has so many versions according to different regional origins in Korea, Arirang can produce contradictory feelings to its listeners depending on its version as well as its tempo. In general, when played slowly, the listeners may feel sad and compassionate, but when played fast the listeners may feel cheerful and even excited. As far as its lyrics are concerned, certain vowels and consonants evoke special feelings: first, the vowel /a/, which appears so many times in the song as in its title, has higher fundamental frequency in Milyang Arirang (200 Hz) than in Jindo Arirang (400 Hz), evoking a variety of emotions; second, the consonant /r/, as in its title, covers a wide range in amplitude with many variable frequency bandwidths than other consonants and thus produces a cheerful feeing.
Recognizing musical melodies: Effects of audio and visual representations of emotion
Authors: Ataucusi Alejandro L. , Gordon Michael S.
Published: November 2016

Memory for music was tested with a set of emotionally valenced melodies encoded with and without an accompanying visual scene. The music consisted of original melodies that were normed for their emotional valence. During the training phase, participants were presented a set of happy, neutral, and sad musical melodies. Half of the melodies were presented with an affective, visual stimulus, depicting a scene consistent with emotional expression of the melody. After a distraction period, participants were tested in an audio-only recognition task. The recognition task included a mix of melodies from the training phase (with equal representation of audiovisual and audio conditions and each of the affective conditions) and emotionally-matched novel solo guitar melodies. Using signal detection analyses participants were found to be more sensitive to stimuli for which they had been trained in the Auditory-only conditions than in the Audiovisual conditions. Sensitivity also tended to be highest with the neutral affective melodies and lowest with the sad melodies. These findings show the potential for distraction with visual imagery to musical memory formation—despite the consistency of that emotional content to the melody. Moreover, less emotionally valenced music tended to be more effectively encoded.
Relation between violin timbre and harmony overtone
Authors: Yokoyama Masao , Awahara Yoshiki , Yagawa Genki
Published: November 2016

The timbre of violins has been studied by several researchers from various points of view including the structure, the acoustic characteristic, the chemical composition of the varnish and the acoustic radiation. Although many of them have mentioned that the Stradivari’s violin gives the most beautiful timbre, the reasons of which have not been clarified yet. We have studied the timbre of about 30 violins from old ones to new ones, namely, the relation between the harmonic overtones and the expression words, which the audience receives from the sound of violin. But, we have not been successful in clarifying how the structure of overtone is related with the feeling of the listeners of sound such as “rich”, “blight” and “soft” as the timbre of violin. In this paper, we have analyzed the change of overtone structure with the difference of violinist’s performance. For instance, the power (dB) of sound at the frequency area over 2000 Hz played in fortissimo or near a bridge like sul ponticello was approximately 10% to 20% higher than that played in pianissimo or on finger board such as sul tast. We also found that the power of non-harmonic overtone of the sound which was played in the “rich” or “soft” expression was high at the frequency area over 2000 Hz and the kurtosis of the peak of harmonic overtone was small.
Sound source separation and synthesis for audio enhancement based on spectral amplitudes of two-channel stereo signals
Authors: Nishiguchi Masayuki , Morikawa Ayumu , Watanabe Kanji , Abe Koji , Takane Shoichi
Published: November 2016

A sound source separation algorithm based on the spectral amplitudes of 2-channel signals has been developed for the up-mixing playback of 2-channel stereo. Short-term Fourier transforms (STFT) of the signals on the left and right channels are first calculated. The coefficients of the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) are used to calculate the ratio of the spectral amplitudes of the left and right channels, which is termed the channel level difference (CLD). The DFT coefficients are then divided into multiple groups on the basis of the CLD, with each group representing a separated sound source. The signal-to-distortion ratio (SDR)is used to evaluate the signal separation performance. It was found that a rough estimate of the CLD threshold yielding the best SDR could be obtained by cross-correlating the separated sounds. For playback on a headset, each separated signal is convoluted with head-related transfer functions (HRTF) that represent the direction of that particular sound source. Subjective listening tests showed that the sound synthesized by this method is more realistic than that synthesized with HRTFs that represent only left and right speakers.
Study on relationship between subjective reproducibility of individuality and distance measure for vibrato of singing voice
Authors: Suzuki Chifumi , Banno Hideki , Asahi Kensaku , Morise Masanori
Published: November 2016

In this research, a distance measure between two vibratos had been developed to evaluate singing style. This paper verifies whether the measure properly represents subjective distance by the following two subjective experiments. In these experiments, synthetic sounds whose vibratory amplitude computed from a target singer’s singing is variable were used, and listeners were asked to answer reproducibility of individuality of the target singer for the synthetic sound. In the first experiment, listeners were asked to remember vibrato of the target singer by listening to the singing. As a result, it was found that not only synthetic sounds showing small distance to the target singer in the distance measure but also those not showing small distance produced higher subjective reproducibility, as long as the sound whose vibratory amplitude is large, i.e., includes deformation in the F0 trajectory. To confirm whether this tendency is caused by the experimental procedure, the second experiment that listeners were compared with the reference synthetic sound was conducted. As a result, it was found that the results were mostly the same as those of the first experiment, and the vibrato rate affects the subjective reproducibility more strongly, as the magnitude of vibratory amplitude becomes large.
Computational estimation of released decades for Japanese women idol music from musical audio
Authors: Okada Sota , Miura Masanobu
Published: November 2016

This study realizes computational estimation of released decades for Japanese women idol (or diva) music from musical audio. Even though the released year of music is explicitly rebelled on the music, the feeling of decade, for example “1980’s, or old-fashioned music” is completely subjective so it is thought as difficult for computers to evaluate, yet people may feel it when listening to music. Such feeling is thought to be derived from musical arrangement, instruments, and so forth, yet previous study clarified the possibility to estimate based on acoustic feature of music. If such estimation is realized, it could contribute to enhance conventional recommendation system of music by giving a query: “newly released but old-fashion music.” This study conducted to establish explicit criteria for audio parameters by using logistic regression. Proposed system uses 25 types of acoustic parameters for each musical audio as training data set, and estimates single decades by simple logistic under a 10-fold cross validation scheme. As a result, estimation result of accuracy rate is 58.56% and kappa statistic is 0.48, being almost comparative to that of subjective evaluation. The estimation system is then implemented in a lap-top compute, which will be demonstrated at presentation.
Estimation of tempo, timing, and melody for piano practice support systems
Authors: Asahi Shota , Tamara Satoshi , Hayamizu Satoru , Sugiyama Yuko
Published: November 2016

In piano learning as voluntary practice, it is difficult especially for beginners to judge whether their musical performances are appropriate in terms of timing and melody. Therefore, we have studied piano learning support systems for beginners. In this study, we introduce a method for the system, to estimate tempo, timing and melody of performances, and to visualize the data for piano learners and instructors. In our method, a tempo for each musical bar is firstly estimated by measuring first notes in current and incoming bars. Subsequently, a timing of each musical note in the bar is obtained based on the estimated tempo. A chroma vector is then computed for each note, in order to compare it with the vector obtained from a corresponding instructor's performance, and finally to detect misplayed keys. In order to confirm effectiveness of our method, we conducted experiments. We collected musical performances (No.12 Bayer) from seven subjects. Assuming voluntary practice, the subjects were asked to listen to music and watch corresponding movies in which an instructor played piano with musical scores and instructions, before they made performances. We analyzed the performance data and conducted questionnaire to the subjects, to confirm the effectiveness.
Mouthpiece pressing force for pitch and loudness control in playing the French horn
Authors: Hirano Takeshi , Kinoshita Hiroshi
Published: November 2016

Using a force-sensing French horn mouthpiece developed by the present authors, lip pressing force was examined during pre-attack and post-attack phases of 2-sec sustained tone production at varied pitches (87, 174, 349, 466, and 698 Hz) and dynamics (95, 100, 105, 110, and 115 dB) performed by 12 highly trained horn players. Dependent variables examined were: force at the onset of sound, a peak of the force rate before the sound onset, and mean and SD forces during steady state tone production. All of these force variables increased nearly linearly with pitch. They also increased lightly with louder dynamics. The pitch-related and dynamic-related increase of the force varied largely among the players. These findings indicate that skilled horn performances are supported by pre-attacking the mouthpiece pressure properly to prepare for a target pitch at target dynamics. The notable inter-player difference in force production in skilled players suggests a proper level of mouthpiece pressures witch differs among players due possibly to congenital physical properties of their lips.
Spatial acoustic-radiation characteristic of a violin captured in the vicinity of a violinist
Authors: Maki Katuhiro
Published: November 2016

The spatial characteristic of the sound of a violin is thought to affect the timbre of a violin in a reverberant space such as a concert hall. Therefore, the spatial characteristic is one of important key to clarify the timber of the violin. In this study, the spatial characteristic was investigated by placing 42 small microphones around a violinist and recording the sound of the violin being played. The experiment—targeting nine modern violins—was performed in an anechoic chamber. The professional violinists were asked to perform musical scales and compositions. According to the results of an analysis of the sound, in the horizontal plane, the sound is radiated roughly toward diagonally forward left of the violinist; in the sagittal plane, sounds with frequency components lower than around 1 kHz are radiated downwards, and sounds with frequency components higher than 1 kHz are radiated upwards. Moreover, it was observed that the directionality of the radiated sound of the violin is particularly strong around 1 kHz and 3 kHz, and somewhat strong near 350 Hz. It was also observed that during the performances of the compositions, the direction of the sound radiation at each analyzed frequency varies significantly with time.
Effectiveness of additional warning sounds for quiet vehicles in urban noise environment
Authors: Yamauchi Katsuya
Published: November 2016

Relative quietness of electric or hybrid electric vehicles is one of the most important topics in environmental acoustics. Although reduced vehicle noise is eligible for urban sound environment, it is also a matter of pedestrians’ safety concern. Hence, regulations regarding additional warning sounds for the quiet vehicles have been developing in Japan as well as in global. Recently the UN-regulation regarding the warning system to compensate their quietness by additional warning device, Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS) according to the regulation, has been approved. Those kind of measures should be carefully discussed. Several studies have been conducted in different institutions to examine the feasible sound design for the warning to be detected in urban noise environment. This paper provides a cross-cutting perspective on the detectability of the AVAS sound compared to the background noise levels, which illustrates that the AVAS could solve problems only in limited scenarios.
Trapping and manipulation of a small object in the space between two pipes placed to the counter direction
Authors: Takano Takehiro , Tamura Hideki , Aoyagi Manabu
Published: November 2016

A small object can be trapped in the space between two pipes which are placed to the counter direction and radiated traveling acoustic waves from the pipe ends. In the study, two pipes vibrating in axisymmetric flexural damped traveling wave to generate acoustic flow in the pipe inside are used. The flow propagates in the pipe inside and is radiated for traveling acoustic waves from the pipe end. The pipe made of polycarbonate is used for ultrasonic transmission pipe and two piezo-ceramic annular plates are adhered at the each pipe end for exciting the vibration modes. The first radial vibration mode of the annular plate is used and its resonance frequency is about 59 kHz. When the two vibrators are driven in opposite phase, a small object can be trapped at intermediate point in the space between two pipe ends. The gap of the space is about 10 mm. The trapping object can be shifted its position corresponding to the phase difference of the two driving voltages. That is, the object can be moved on non-contact manipulation in the space between the two pipe ends. These results are confirmed experimentally and by simulation according to FEA.
Introducing Hugonions: Particle-like shocks that travel, interact, and annihilate
Authors: Lee Jae-Wan , Ohm Won-Suk
Published: November 2016

This talk presents a novel computational method for 1-D wave processes in fluids, the applicability of which extends to strongly-nonlinear waves of arbitrary strength. A common approach to modeling waves of arbitrary strength in fluid dynamics is the Riemann solver of the Euler equations, requiring enormous computation time and resources. In this study, we expand upon our previous work [Lee et al., AIP Conf. Proc. 1685, 070011 (2015)], in which the propagation of a strongly-nonlinear wave is described by a collection of forward-traveling, particle-like shocks, dubbed “Hugonions” for their adherence to the Rankine-Hugoniot relations. To extend the applicability of Hugonions to compound waves, the Riemann solution of an arbitrary discontinuity is augmented to the defining characteristics of Hugonions. This way, Hugonions behave like particles, which travel, interact with each other, and annihilate if certain conditions are met. Because a computational mesh is not necessary (i.e., the method simply keeps track of Hugonions), and most importantly Hugonions will reduce in numbers following successive interactions, our computational method leads to a few orders-of-magnitude reduction in computation time compared to the existing Riemann solver-based schemes. Verification of the method against the Riemann solver is performed for a number of well-known benchmark problems.
Unusual auditory/speech processing in autism spectrum disorder revealed by verbal transformation effects
Authors: Itoi Chihiro , Kato Nobumasa , Kashino Makio
Published: November 2016

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by an impaired ability to communicate and restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior. Sensory abnormality, a trait included in restricted patterns of behavior, is often observed in individuals with ASD. This study used an auditory illusion called “verbal transformation (VT)” to examine abnormal auditory/speech processing in ASD. In VT, a series of subjective perceptual changes occurs when subjects listen to a repeating word without a pause. The characteristic of VT is that, physically, the stimulus is the same repeated word but the perceptual change differs for each person. In this point, VT could be useful for demonstrating certain ASD traits such as favoring repetition. Twenty-four ASD adults and 24 neurotypical controls listened to three samples of repeated Japanese words for five minutes, and reported their percepts verbally whenever they experienced perceptual changes. As for the number of perceptual changes and that of reported forms, we found no significant difference between the ASD group and controls. However, the phonetic variations of form changes were different, and ASD group showed more phonetic variation than controls. We interpret the results from the viewpoint of unusual adaptation in auditory and/or phonetic processing.
Listening effort and accent in competing-talker speech recognition by native and non-native listeners: Electrophysiological measures of auditory and lexical processing
Authors: Iverson Paul , Brint Emma , Song Jieun , Wu Mengfan
Published: November 2016

Listening effort modulates auditory processing for speech, such that attention to a target talker in the presence of a distractor increases the entrainment of cortical activity to the target speech amplitude envelope. Similarly, lexical-processing effort can be measured in EEG recordings, with more extensive lexical search being measured as a more negative N400. The present study compared effort at both levels for native speakers of southern British and Glaswegian English, and Chinese second-language English speakers. Listeners heard sentences spoken in southern British and Glaswegian accents, either with single or competing talkers. The results demonstrate that competing talkers and difficult accents have similar effects at a lexical level, increasing the amount of lexical search for native listeners and disrupting lexical search for non-native listeners. In contrast, cortical-acoustic entrainment was higher for targets than distractors in competing-talker conditions, but was not modulated by accent; entrainment was also similar for different language groups in the present study, although language-background differences in entrainment can be found in easier conditions with spatial cues to segregation. Accent may thus have little role in the auditory segregation of competing talkers, despite the fact that accent and listener background affects intelligibility and lexical access.