Cyclicity of laryngeal cavity resonance due to vocal fold vibration

Acoustic effects of the time-varying glottal area due to vocal fold vibration on the laryngeal cavity resonance were investigated based on vocal tract area functions and acoustic analysis. The laryngeal cavity consists of the vestibular and ventricular parts of the larynx, and gives rise to a regional acoustic resonance within the vocal tract, with this resonance imparting an extra formant to the vocal tract resonance pattern. Vocal tract transfer functions of the five Japanese vowels uttered by three male subjects were calculated under open- and closed-glottis conditions. The results revealed that the resonance appears at the frequency region from 3.0 to 3.7 kHz when the glottis is closed and disappears when it is open. Real spectra estimated from open- and closed-glottis periods of vowel sounds also showed the on-off pattern of the resonance within a pitch period. Furthermore, a time-domain acoustic analysis of vowels indicated that the resonance component could be observed as a pitch-synchronized rise-and-fall pattern of the bandpass amplitude. The cyclic nature of the resonance can be explained as the laryngeal cavity acting as a closed tube that generates the resonance during a closed-glottis period, but damps the resonance off during an open-glottis period.     

Acoustic impedance of an artificially lengthened and constricted vocal tract

Voice training techniques often make use of exercises involving partial occlusion of the vocal tract, typically at the anterior part of the oral cavity or at the lips. In this study two techniques are investigated: a bilabial fricative and a small diameter hard-walled tube placed between the lips. Because the input acoustic impedance of the vocal tract is known to affect both the shaping of the glottal flow pulse and the vibrational pattern of the vocal folds, a study of the input impedance is an essential step in understanding the benefits of these two techniques. The input acoustic impedance of the vocal tract was investigated theoretically for cases of a vowel, bilabial occlusion (fully closed lips), a bilabial fricative, and artificially lengthening the tract with small diameter tubes. The results indicate that the tubes increase the input impedance in the range of the fundamental frequency of phonation by lowering the first formant frequency to nearly that of the bilabial occlusion (the lower bound on the first formant) while still allowing a continuous airflow. The bilabial fricative also has the effect of lowering the first formant frequency and increasing the low-frequency impedance, but not as effectively as the extension tubes.     

Acoustic analysis of the vocal tract during vowel production by finite-difference time-domain method

The vocal tract shape is three-dimensionally complex. For accurate acoustic analysis, a finite-difference time-domain method was introduced in the present study. By this method, transfer functions of the vocal tract for the five Japanese vowels were calculated from three-dimensionally reconstructed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data. The calculated transfer functions were compared with those obtained from acoustic measurements of vocal tract physical models precisely constructed from the same MRI data. Calculated transfer functions agreed well with measured ones up to 10 kHz. Acoustic effects of the piriform fossae, epiglottic valleculae, and inter-dental spaces were also examined. They caused spectral changes by generating dips. The amount of change was significant for the piriform fossae, while it was almost negligible for the other two. The piriform fossae and valleculae generated spectral dips for all the vowels. The dip frequencies of the piriform fossae were almost stable, while those of the valleculae varied among vowels. The inter-dental spaces generated very small spectral dips below 2.5 kHz for the high and middle vowels. In addition, transverse resonances within the oral cavity generated small spectral dips above 4 kHz for the low vowels.     

Acoustic and perceptual effects of changes in vocal tract constrictions for vowels.

The purpose of this study was to use vocal tract simulation and synthesis as means to determine the acoustic and perceptual effects of changing both the cross-sectional area and location of vocal tract constrictions for six different vowels: Area functions at and near vocal tract constrictions are considered critical to the acoustic output and are also the central point of hypotheses concerning speech targets. Area functions for the six vowels, [symbol: see text] were perturbed by changing the cross-sectional area of the constriction (Ac) and the location of the constriction (Xc). Perturbations for Ac were performed for different values of Xc, producing several series of acoustic continua for the different vowels. Acoustic simulations for the different area functions were made using a frequency domain model of the vocal tract. Each simulated vowel was then synthesized as a 1-s duration steady-state segment. The phoneme boundaries of the perturbed synthesized vowels were determined by formal perception tests. Results of the perturbation analyses showed that formants for each of the vowels were more sensitive to changes in constriction cross-sectional area than changes in constriction location. Vowel perception, however, was highly resistant to both types of changes. Results are discussed in terms of articulatory precision and constriction-related speech production strategies.     

Some roles of the vocal tract in clarinet breath attacks: natural sounds analysis and model-based synthesis

A simplified physical model mainly devoted to the reproduction of some transients of clarinet-like instruments is presented. From time-frequency analyses of natural clarinet sounds, it is shown that the vocal tract can play a significant role in some attacks as well as in the permanent regime. The model proposed consists in supplying a pressure source at the entrance of a cylindrical bore attached to the mouthpiece, allowing one to reach various vocal tract configurations. For real-time synthesis purposes, a digital scheme solving the physical problem is proposed. It is shown that this synthesis model is able to reproduce some of the complex features observed during the attacks of the natural sounds analyzed, as well as known effects of the vocal tract in permanent regime.     

Acoustic transmission analysis on cavity resonance sound in a cylindrical cavity system: application to a Korean bell

This paper presents an analytical model for acoustic transmission characteristics of a cylindrical cavity system representing the acoustic resonance conditions of a Korean bell. The cylindrical cavity system consists of an internal cavity, a gap, an auxiliary cavity, and a rigid base. Since the internal cavity is connected to the external field through a gap, determination of the acoustic transmission characteristics becomes a coupling problem between the internal cavity and external field. The acoustic field of the internal cavity is considered by expanding the solution method of the mixed boundary problem, and the external field is addressed by modifying the radiation impedance model of a finite cylinder. The analytical model is validated by comparison with both experiment and a boundary element method. Using the analytical model, the resonance conditions are determined to maximize the resonance effect. Thus, the resonance frequencies of the bell cavity system are investigated according to the gap size and auxiliary cavity depth. By adjusting gap size or auxiliary cavity depth, the cavity resonance frequency is tuned to resonate partial tones of the bell sound. Finally, the optimal combination of gap size and auxiliary cavity depth is determined.     

Development of vocal tract length during early childhood: a magnetic resonance imaging study

Speech development in children is predicated partly on the growth and anatomic restructuring of the vocal tract. This study examines the growth pattern of the various hard and soft tissue vocal tract structures as visualized by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and assesses their relational growth with vocal tract length (VTL). Measurements on lip thickness, hard- and soft-palate length, tongue length, naso-oro-pharyngeal length, mandibular length and depth, and distance of the hyoid bone and larynx from the posterior nasal spine were used from 63 pediatric cases (ages birth to 6 years and 9 months) and 12 adults. Results indicate (a) ongoing growth of all oral and pharyngeal vocal tract structures with no sexual dimorphism, and a period of accelerated growth between birth and 18 months; (b) vocal tract structure's region (oral/anterior versus pharyngeal/posterior) and orientation (horizontal versus vertical) determine its growth pattern; and (c) the relational growth of the different structures with VTL changes with development-while the increase in VTL throughout development is predominantly due to growth of pharyngeal/posterior structures, VTL is also substantially affected by the growth of oral/anterior structures during the first 18 months of life. Findings provide normative data that can be used for modeling the development of the vocal tract.     

Comparison of magnetic resonance imaging-based vocal tract area functions obtained from the same speaker in 1994 and 2002

A new set of area functions for vowels has been obtained with magnetic resonance imaging from the same speaker as that previously reported in 1996 [Story et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 100, 537-554 (1996)]. The new area functions were derived from image data collected in 2002, whereas the previously reported area functions were based on magnetic resonance images obtained in 1994. When compared, the new area function sets indicated a tendency toward a constricted pharyngeal region and expanded oral cavity relative to the previous set. Based on calculated formant frequencies and sensitivity functions, these morphological differences were shown to have the primary acoustic effect of systematically shifting the second formant (F2) downward in frequency. Multiple instances of target vocal tract shapes from a specific speaker provide additional sampling of the possible area functions that may be produced during speech production. This may be of benefit for understanding intraspeaker variability in vowel production and for further development of speech synthesizers and speech models that utilize area function information.     

Acoustic cavity modes in lens-shaped structures

A method for solving exactly the Helmholtz equation in parabolic rotational coordinates is presented using separability of the eigenfunctions and the Frobenius power series expansion technique. Two examples of interest in acoustics are considered and analyzed quasianalytically: The acoustic pressure in a cavity defined by two paraboloids (forming a lens-shaped structure) with (I) rigid wall boundary conditions and (II) pressure-release boundaries. The rigid-wall (pressure-release) acoustic enclosure problem is a Neumann (Dirichlet) boundary condition problem. In both cases, eigenfunctions and eigenmodes are calculated and the shape dependence of the eigenvalue for the ground state is examined.     

Approximating the vocal tract by conical horns

The transmission-line method is studied systematically as applied to the vocal tract approximated by a sequence of conical horns. The constructed scheme describes the propagation of plane waves in conical horns, with all factors interesting in terms of acoustic theory of speech production, viz., losses, nonrigid vocal tract walls, and potential side-branches, taken into account. The derived equations are tested on a cross-sectional areas of the vocal tract measured by magnetic-resonance tomography on a real speaker.     

On the relation between the dimensions and resonance characteristics of the vocal tract: a study with MRI.

The relation between the spatial configuration of the vocal tract as determined by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and the acoustical signal produced was investigated. A male subject carried out a set of phonatory tasks, comprising the utterance of the sustained vowels /i/ and /a/, each in a single articulation, and the vowel /epsilon/ with his larynx positioned variously on a vertical axis. Two- and three-dimensional measurements of the vocal tract were performed. The results of these measurements were used to calculate resonance frequencies, according to predictions from acoustical theory. Finally, calculated frequencies were compared with actually measured resonance frequencies in the audio signal. We found a strong relation between the acoustical signal produced and the spatial configuration for the first resonance frequencies of the articulations of the vowel /epsilon/, and first two resonance frequencies of the vowels /a/ and /i/. The capability to determine accurately vocal tract dimensions is a major advantage of this imaging technique.     

Acoustic estimations of the front cavity in apical stops

Sweep-tone measurements of front-cavity resonances in apical stops are reported. Volumes inferred from resonance frequency data are presented as a function of place of articulation. The results indicate that, for post-dental points of contact, a cavity located under the tongue tip is formed. It is shown that this sublingual cavity plays a very important role in shaping the spectral structure of apical stops.     

Controlling changes in vocal tract resistance.

There is some evidence that speech aerodynamics follows the rules of a regulating system. The purpose of the present study was to assess how the speech system manages perturbations that produce "errors" within the system. Three experimental approaches were used to evaluate the physiological responses to an imposed change in airway resistance. The first involved subjects with varying degrees of velopharyngeal inadequacy. The second and third approaches involved noncleft subjects whose airway was perturbed by bleed valves and bite blocks during consonant productions. The pressure-flow technique was used to measure aerodynamic variables associated with the production of test consonants. The results of this study provide additional evidence that the speech system actively responds to perturbations in ways that tend to minimize a change in consonant speech pressures. The degree of success in stabilizing pressures appears to reflect the capability of the system to use whatever articulatory and respiratory responses are available.     

Resonances of a bent vocal tract

Analyses of wave propagation in a vocal tract invariably assume the tract to be a variable area tube with a straight axis. No estimates appear to be available of the effect of curvature of the tract on its resonances (or, equivalently, on its transfer function). For arbitrarily varying cross section, the computation is difficult. However, one can choose an idealized bent vocal tract with a uniform cross section for which the wave equation is separable. The resonance frequencies for such a bent tract are computed and compared to those of the corresponding straight tract. The comparison shows that for typical dimensions of the tract the shift in the resonance frequencies below 4 kHz is in the range of 2%-8%.     

Acoustic analog of the Fermi resonance

It is shown that for acoustic waves in crystals nonlinear phenomena of a new type, analogous to some degree to Fermi resonance in molecules, can occur. It is demonstrated on the basis of an analysis of the numerical solution of the equations of motion that for propagation of waves with different polarization and with sound velocities in integral ratio, the energy transfer from one wave to another is of the nature of beats with quite low amplitudes and can become chaotic as the amplitudes increase. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 69, No. 6, 417–422 (25 March 1999)     

Analysis of vocal tract parameters in parkinsonian speech

A method for the analysis of vocal tract parameters is developed, aimed to perform quantitative analysis of rigidity from speech signals of Parkinsonian patients. The cross-sectional area function of the vocal tract is calculated using pitch synchronous autoregressive moving average (ARMA) analysis. The changes in Parkinsonian subjects of the cross-sectional area during the utterance of sustained sounds are attributed to both Parkinsonian tremor and rigidity. In order to isolate the effects of the rigidity on the vocal tract from those of the tremor, an adaptive tremor cancellation (ATC) algorithm is developed, based on the correlation of tremor signals extracted from different locations of the speech production system.     

Algorithm for calculating the cross-section areas of the vocal tract

It is found that the articulation process is accompanied by active variations of the pharynx width. To describe the latter, a linear combination of two width eigenvectors with varying coefficients is proposed. A new algorithm is constructed for calculating the cross-section areas of the vocal tract. The algorithm takes into account not only the anatomic parameters and the shape of the tract in the saggital plane but also the parameters in the lateral and axial planes.     

Comparison of vocal tract formants in singing andnonperiodic phonation

The skilled use of nonperiodic phonation techniques in combination with spectrum analysis has been proposed here as a practical method for locating formant frequencies in the singing voice. The study addresses the question of the degree of similarity between sung phonations and their nonperiodic imitations, with respect to both frequency of the first two formants as well as posture of the vocal tract. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), linear predictive coding (LPC), and spectrum analysis, two types of nonperiodic phonation (ingressive and vocal fry) are compared with singing phonations to determine the degree of similarity/difference in acoustic and spatial dimensions of the vocal tract when these phonation types are used to approximate the postures of singing. In comparing phonation types, the close similarity in acoustic data in combination with the relative dissimilarity in spatial data indicates that the accurate imitations are not primarily the result of imitating the singing postures, but have instead an aural basis.     

Acoustic resonance in turbine centrifugal pumps

The sound excitation inside a centrifugal pump by a source of pressure oscillations positioned in the inlet cross-section of the impeller is considered theoretically. The specific feature of the problem formulation is that the blade channels and the channel between the impeller and the pump casing (the open diffuser) are considered as a single acoustic system. It is shown that, in certain conditions, a resonance-type sound excitation may occur inside the centrifugal pump. An equation for the determination of the resonance frequencies is obtained.