This paper describes a new method for estimating formant frequencies. It operates in two phases. The first phase, which is similar to a technique developed by Talkin [JASA, vol. 82, S1], finds optimal formant track estimates by imposing frequency continuity constraints using Dynamic Programming (DP). DP is used to select a mapping of candidate frequencies to formant frequencies in oral sonorant...

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of ovariohysterectomy on vocalization during territorial aggression of German Shepherd dogs. Sixteen clinically healthy dogs of 5 to 10 months old were assigned randomly to one of two groups: ovariohysterectomy or control. Their behaviors and vocalizations induced by the approach of a strange with a strange dog were recorded using digital cam...

This paper presents an inventory and relative frequency estimation of glides on the 527,190 word-form Standard Slovenian lexicon. Detailed acoustic-phonetic measurements for the first four most frequent glides /ai/, /au/, /ou/, and /ei/ in stressed syllables are given. Inspection of their formant trajectory plots enabeled measurements of the first four formants in the onset and offset steady-st...

The purpose of this study was to assess the preferences of undergraduate college student auditors (N = 139) with respect to a choral sound produced in an anechoic chamber that included a fully resonate singer’s formant and choral sound produced in the same chamber using a weaker singer’s formant resonance. An ensemble comprised of graduate voice students (N = 8) sang four choral music excerpts....

Recent research suggests that the ability of an extraneous formant to impair intelligibility depends on the variation of its frequency contour. This idea was explored using a method that ensures interference cannot occur through energetic masking. Three-formant (F1 + F2 + F3) analogues of natural sentences were synthesized using a monotonous periodic source. Target formants were presented monau...

This paper investigates the first four formant frequencies of 60 normal Malaysian Indian young adults in sustained vowels using acoustical analysis. The F1, F2, F3 and F4 of Malaysian Indian males were reported at 359±87 Hz, 1457±630 Hz, 2799 ±336 Hz and 3777 ± 299 Hz respectively. The F1, F2, F3 and F4 of Malaysian Indian females were reported at 485±172 Hz, 1707±746 Hz, 3081±330 Hz and 4305±2...

This study explores the higher formant structure of the male operatic voice. Through a comparative study of spoken and sung vowels from six specialist male operatically trained singers, the notion that operatic singers maintain an even vocal timbre throughout their vocal range is explored. Results validate previous investigations into the upper formant region, but also identify common patterns ...

Neurophysiological changes in the brain associated with major depression disorder can disrupt articulatory precision in speech production. Motivated by this observation, we address the hypothesis that articulatory features, as manifested through formant frequency tracks, can help in automatically classifying depression state. Specifically, we investigate the relative importance of vocal tract f...