The paper shows the methods for imaging power spectral density of speech and extracting formant frequencies from continuous voice. The methods will be used to improve the patients' rehabilitation after the total laryngectomy surgery. The adaptive algorithms and transversal filters were implemented to estimate the transfer function of human vocal tract model. The estimation methods were based on...

We developed and tested a brain-computer interface for control of an artificial speech synthesizer by an individual with near complete paralysis. This neural prosthesis for speech restoration is currently capable of predicting vowel formant frequencies based on neural activity recorded from an intracortical microelectrode implanted in the left hemisphere speech motor cortex. Using instantaneous...

This paper reports an attempt to map the time variations of selected articulatory parameters (from X-ray profiles) directly on the F1, F2 and F3 formant tracks using multiple regression analysis (MRA). The results indicate that MRA can indeed be useful for predicting formant frequencies. Since the results reported here are limited to preliminary observations of F1 only, further studies includin...

Formant frequencies, represented by major peaks in the spectrum of speech signals, convey important information about speech. The authors propose a method for detecting the formants of voiced speech through ‘instantaneous frequency’ (IF) estimation using a recursive least square (RLS) algorithm. The accuracy of the technique is assessed by comparing it with conventional formant detection techni...

The "singer's formant" is a prominent spectrum envelope peak near 3 kHz, typically found in voiced sounds produced by classical operatic singers. According to previous research, it is mainly a resonatory phenomenon produced by a clustering of formants 3, 4, and 5. Its level relative to the first formant peak varies depending on vowel, vocal loudness, and other factors. Its dependence on vowel f...

This study aimed to investigate perceptually and acoustically Lessac's Y-Buzz and sustained productions of Brazilian Portuguese habitual /i/ vowels pre- and posttraining and to verify the presence of formant tuning and its association with the perception of a more resonant voice. The subjects of this study were 54 acting students, 31 female and 23 male, with no voice problems, distributed in se...

Aging often affects sensitivity to the higher frequencies, which results in the loss of sensitivity to phonetic detail in speech. Hearing loss may therefore interfere with the categorisation of two consonants that have most information to differentiate between them in those higher frequencies and less in the lower frequencies, e.g., /f/ and /s/. We investigate two acoustic cues, i.e., formant t...

This study explored two tenets of the Italian Bel Canto operatic singing technique “Come si parla” and “aggiustamento.” Articulatory changes in the lower formant vowel space of 11 spoken and sung vowels were systematically examined in six male singers. Results showed that singers influence the placement of the lowest formant frequencies in the sung vowel space using both a lowered larynx and mo...

This paper presents a new method for estimating for-mant frequencies. The formant model is based on a digital resonator. Each resonator represents a segment of the short{time power spectrum. The complete spectrum is modeled by a set of digital resonators connected in parallel. An algorithm based on dynamic programming produces both the model parameters and segment boundaries that optimally matc...