Vocal tract resonances and the sound of the Australian didjeridu (yidaki) I. experiment

The didjeridu, or yidaki, is a simple tube about 1.5 m long, played with the lips, as in a tuba, but mostly producing just a tonal, rhythmic drone sound. The acoustic impedance spectra of performers' vocal tracts were measured while they played and compared with the radiated sound spectra. When the tongue is close to the hard palate, the vocal tract impedance has several maxima in the range 1-3 kHz. These maxima, if sufficiently large, produce minima in the spectral envelope of the sound because the corresponding frequency components of acoustic current in the flow entering the instrument are small. In the ranges between the impedance maxima, the lower impedance of the tract allows relatively large acoustic current components that correspond to strong formants in the radiated sound. Broad, weak formants can also be observed when groups of even or odd harmonics coincide with bore resonances. Schlieren photographs of the jet entering the instrument and high speed video images of the player's lips show that the lips are closed for about half of each cycle, thus generating high levels of upper harmonics of the lip frequency. Examples of the spectra of "circular breathing" and combined playing and vocalization are shown.     

Vocal tract resonances and the sound of the Australian didjeridu (yidaki). III. Determinants of playing quality

Traditional didjeridus have a broad range of bore geometries with many details not immediately apparent to a player, and are therefore suitable for examining the relationship between perceived quality and physical properties. Seven experienced players assessed the overall playing quality of 38 didjeridus that spanned a wide range of quality, pitch, and geometry, as well as 11 plastic cylindrical pipes. The ranking of these instruments was correlated with detailed measurements of their acoustic input impedance spectra. Most significantly, the ranked quality of a didjeridu was found to be negatively correlated with the magnitude of its acoustic input impedance, particularly in the frequency range from 1 to 2 kHz. This is in accord with the fact that maxima in the impedance of the player's vocal tract can inhibit acoustic flow, and consequently sound production, once the magnitude of these impedance maxima becomes comparable with or greater than those of the instrument. This produces the varying spectral peaks or formants in the sound envelope that characterize this instrument. Thus an instrument with low impedance and relatively weak impedance maxima in this frequency range would allow players greater control of the formants in the output sound and thus lead to a higher perceived playing quality.     

Vocal tract resonances in singing: Strategies used by sopranos, altos, tenors, and baritones

The first two vocal tract resonances (R1 and R2) of 22 classically trained sopranos, altos, tenors, and baritones were measured while they sang four different vowels over their normal pitch range. The resonances of the tract and the harmonics of the voice were measured simultaneously by injecting a broadband acoustic current into the tract at their mouth. Sopranos were found to tune R1 close to the fundamental frequency f(0) (R1:f(0) tuning) over at least part of their upper range for all vowels studied, particularly when f(0) was around or above the value of R1 for speech. Additionally, most sopranos employed R2:2f(0) tuning over some of their range, often simultaneously with R1:f(0) tuning. Altos used R1:f(0) tuning for vowels having lower values of R1 in speech, but can switch to R1:2f(0) tuning in the lower part of their range. Tenors and baritones generally used R1:2f(0) and R1:3f(0) tunings over part of their range and employed a number of different tunings to higher harmonics at lower pitch. These results indicate that singers can repeatedly tune their resonances with precision, and that there can be considerable differences in the resonance strategies used by individual singers, particularly for voices in the lower ranges.     

Spreading width of giant resonances and the attenuation of zero sound

It is shown that the RPA plus perturbation approach which is commonly used to calculate microscopically the spreading width of Giant Resonances is equivalent to Landau's suggestion that the damping width of zero sound at temperatureT=0 can be obtained by multiplying the classical collision result with an energyω- andT-dependent correction factor [1+(ω/2πkT)²] withT→0.     

Vocal tract adjustments for the projected voice

These preliminary findings are for one subject only and therefore do not allow any inferences to be made for general differences between the ring and constricted vocal tract configurations. In this one case, the training goal of an open throat was confirmed by radiography, and the associated sound production was judged louder in a listening test.Whether any perceived difference in loudness is due to the vocal tract shape cannot be determined until the acoustic analysis is made and correlated to the physiological features. Then it may be possible to determine if an effect on resonance, such as tuning, can account for the difference in loudness or if the difference is due to the source function.     

Theory of the quantized hall effect (II)

We review the derivation that the effective lagrangian describing the critical fluctuations in a two-dimensional disordered electronic system in a transverse magnetic field contains a novel, topological term. We extend this result in several directions. We show how the importance of topological concepts can be seen by examining in detail the nature of the boundary current whenever the Fermi energy lies within a localized state region. This insight allows us to construct a field theoretic quantization argument. Our argument is reminiscent of the Laughlin-Halperin quantization approach, in that we make use of the response of the system to sources with nontrivial gauge topology. This then leads to a discussion of how to use the effective field theory to actually compute the response, and of why localization must break down somewhere within the Landau band. Our methodology unifies the results of Laughlin, Halperin and Thouless with the field theoretic approach to localization pioneered by Wegner.     

Vocal tract filtering and the "coo" of doves

Ring doves (Streptopelia risoria) produce a "coo" vocalization that is essentially a pure-tone sound at a frequency of about 600 Hz and with a duration of about 1.5 s. While making this vocalization, the dove inflates the upper part of its esophagus to form a thin-walled sac structure that radiates sound to the surroundings. It is a reasonable assumption that the combined influence of the trachea, glottis and inflated upper esophagus acts as an effective band-pass filter to eliminate higher harmonics generated by the vibrating syringeal valve. Calculations reported here indicate that this is indeed the case. The tracheal tube, terminated by a glottal constriction, is the initial resonant structure, and subsequent resonant filtering takes place through the action of the inflated esophageal sac. The inflated esophagus proves to be a more efficient sound radiating mechanism than an open beak. The action of this sac is only moderately affected by the degree of inflation, although an uninflated esophagus is inactive as a sound radiator. These conclusions are supported by measurements and observations that have been reported in a companion paper.     

Wave chaos and mode-medium resonances at long-range sound propagation in the ocean

We study how the chaotic ray motion manifests itself at a finite wavelength at long-range sound propagation in the ocean. The problem is investigated using a model of an underwater acoustic waveguide with a periodic range dependence. It is assumed that the sound propagation is governed by the parabolic equation, similar to the Schrodinger equation. When investigating the sound energy distribution in the time-depth plane, it has been found that the coexistence of chaotic and regular rays can cause a "focusing" of acoustic energy within a small temporal interval. It has been shown that this effect is a manifestation of the so-called stickiness, that is, the presence of such parts of the chaotic trajectory where the latter exhibit an almost regular behavior. Another issue considered in this paper is the range variation of the modal structure of the wave field. In a numerical simulation, it has been shown that the energy distribution over normal modes exhibits surprising periodicity. This occurs even for a mode formed by contributions from predominantly chaotic rays. The phenomenon is interpreted from the viewpoint of mode-medium resonance. For some modes, the following effect has been observed. Although an initially excited mode due to scattering at the inhomogeneity breaks up into a group of modes its amplitude at some range points almost restores the starting value. At these ranges, almost all acoustic energy gathers again in the initial mode and the coarse-grained Wigner function concentrates within a comparatively small area of the phase plane.     

Theory of ferromagnetic resonances in thin wires

A phenomenological theory of ferromagnetic resonances in a ferromagnetic metallic cylinder magnetized along its axis is based on the simultaneous solution of the equation of motion and Maxwell's equations. A general relaxation term in the equation of motion is used. The boundary conditions correspond to the dynamic surface anisotropy with the preferred direction parallel to the static magnetization. It is shown that the solution yields an infinite number of resonance modes of different spatial symmetry. Formulas for the surface impedance and the relative absorption of individual modes are derived. The effect of the finite radius of the cylinder on the resonance, antiresonance and spin wave resonance behaviour is discussed.     

Informational processing of complex sound. II. Cross-dimensional analysis

A series of experiments investigated listeners' ability simultaneously to process information across different acoustic dimensions. On each trial, the listener heard a pair of brief n-tone sequences (n = 1 to 12). The frequency, intensity, and duration of each tone in the sequence varied randomly from trial to trial. On average, the values of these three parameters were greater for one sequence, the target, than the other, the nontarget. The listener's task was to identify the target on each trial. For an ideal observer in this task, d' performance grows as the square root n. Obtained d' grew at a rate slightly less than the square root of n. Close to cube root of n growth was observed when the average difference occurred in only one of the three tone parameter values within a block of trials. Although performance fell short of ideal, optimum weights were consistently given to each tone and each parameter. The results are consistent with a model in which performance depends predominantly on the information content of the sounds regardless of how the information is "packaged" in the stimulus. Transmitted information is estimated to be 0.9-2.0 bits within a single acoustic dimension, 2.1-3.0 bits when distributed across dimensions.     

A microscopic description of the negative parity resonances in the mass-4 system by the coupled-channels method (II)

The coupled-channels method for the treatment of the continuum is used to study the negative parity excited states of the ⁴He nucleus in the Tamm-Damcoff approximation. It is shown that the splittings within the SU(4) supermultiplet are well reproduced in this calculation when the spin-dependent forces responsible for the removal of the degeneracy are taken appropriately into account. The location of the T = 0, 1^? resonance and the admixture of spurious c.m. excitation in the intrinsic excitation are discussed. In addition to interpreting the observed spectrum, the available experimental data for the particle channels are well described by the theory.     

Studies in isobaric analog resonances: II. Fine structure

The properties of the fine structure observed in connection with isobaric analog resonances in the elastic scattering of protons are examined in terms of the damping mechanism for the analog state. The observed asymmetries of the strength function are shown to be associated with phase correlations between damping and escape amplitudes. Correlations of the necessary type will possibly result from the virtual coupling through the open channel between the analog states and the nearby compound-nucleus states of normal symmetry. A brief discussion of the possible role of doorway states in feeding the latter is also given.     

The SU(3) properties of the photon and the new resonances

We propose some model-independent tests for the presence of an SU(3) singlepiece in the electromagnetic current. Tests are also porposed to determine whether or not the the new resonance ψ (3.105) and ψ′ (3.965) are admixtures of an SU(3) singlet and the eight component of an octet. It is pointed out that the study of e⁺e^? annihilation into certain exclusive channels can help to resolve the SU(3) structure of the photon, ψ and ψ′.     

Quantum resonances of the kicked rotor and the SU(q) group

The quantum kicked rotor map is embedded into a continuous unitary transformation generated by a time-independent quasi Hamiltonian. In some vicinity of a quantum resonance of order q, we relate the problem to the regular motion along a circle in a (q(2)-1) component inhomogeneous "magnetic" field of a quantum particle with q intrinsic degrees of freedom described by the SU(q) group. This motion is in parallel with the classical phase oscillations near a nonlinear resonance.     

A Functional-Analytic Theory of Vertex (Operator) Algebras,II

For a finitely-generated vertex operator algebra V of central charge c, a locally convex topological completion H ^V is constructed. We construct on H ^V a structure of an algebra over the operad of the power Det ^c/2 of the determinant line bundle Det over the moduli space of genus-zero Riemann surfaces with ordered analytically parametrized boundary components. In particular, H ^V is a representation of the semi-group of the power Det ^c/2 (1) of the determinant line bundle over the moduli space of conformal equivalence classes of annuli with analytically parametrized boundary components. The results in Part I for -graded vertex algebras are also reformulated in terms of the framed little disk operad. Using Mays recognition principle for double loop spaces, one immediate consequence of such operadic formulations is that the compactly generated spaces corresponding to (or the k-ifications of) the locally convex completions constructed in Part I and in the present paper have the weak homotopy types of double loop spaces. We also generalize the results above to locally-grading-restricted conformal vertex algebras and to modules.     

Resonant behavior of dielectric objects (electrostatic resonances)

Resonant behavior of dielectric objects occurs at certain frequencies for which the object permittivity is negative and the free-space wavelength is large in comparison with the object dimensions. Unique physical features of these resonances are studied and a novel technique for the calculation of resonance values of permittivity, and hence resonance frequencies, is proposed. Scale invariance of resonance frequencies, unusually strong orthogonality properties of resonance modes, and a two-dimensional phenomenon of "twin" spectra are reported. The paper concludes with brief discussions of optical controllability of these resonances in semiconductor nanoparticles and a plausible, electrostatic resonance based, mechanism for nucleation and formation of ball lightning.