In natural speech, there is a moderate correlation between the fundamental frequency and formant frequencies across talkers. The present study used a high-quality vocoder to manipulate these properties and determine their contribution to perceived naturalness and voice gender. The stimuli were re-synthesized sentences spoken by two adult males and two adult females. Scale factors were chosen fo...

Speech recognition by cochlear implant users can be improved by adding an audible low frequency acoustic signal to electrical hearing; the resulting improvement is deemed "electro-acoustic stimulation (EAS) benefit." However, a crucial low frequency cue, fundamental frequency (F0), can be distorted via the impaired auditory system. In order to understand how F0 distortions may affect EAS benefi...

Identification of gender from speech sounds has been found to rely on speakers’ voice fundamental frequency (F0) and formant frequencies. The present study aimed at examining the contribution of F0 and formants to the correct detection of speaker’s gender. Results revealed that F0 is the primary cue for gender perception and listeners showed a higher accuracy in identifying male’s than female’s...

Previous studies have shown that, during continuous vocalization, voice fundamental frequency (voice F0) is modified by frequency-shifted auditory feedback. In this study, the effects of frequency-shifted auditory feedback on voice F0 contours were determined for the first two syllables of the nonsense word [tatatas]. Results show that voice F0 is auditorily controlled with a long latency and r...

Harmonic complex tones produce pitch-height perception corresponding to the fundamental frequency (F0). This study investigates how the spectral cue of F0 is processed in neurons of the primary auditory cortex (A1) with sustained-response properties. We found F0-sensitive and -insensitive cells: the former discriminated between harmonics and noise, while the latter did not. F0-sensitive cells p...

Amplitude modulation (AM) and frequency modulation (FM) in speech signals are believed to reflect various non-linear phenomena during the speech production process. In this paper, the amplitude and frequency modulation patterns are analyzed for the first three speech resonances in relation to the fundamental frequency (F0). The formant tracks are estimated, and the resonant signals are extracte...

This paper proposes a new fundamental frequency(F0) contour control method based on vector representation of F0 contour. The main points of the proposed method are as follows; (1) Desired F0 contours are created by selecting or modifying natural F0 contours held in a speech database. (2) F0 contour selection is based on statistical estimation using a vector representation of F0 contour (3) The ...

Increasing the number of channels at low frequencies improves discrimination of fundamental frequency (F0) in cochlear implants (Geurts, L., Wouters, J., 2004. Better place-coding of the fundamental frequency in cochlear implants. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 115 (2), 844-852). We conducted three experiments to test whether improved F0 discrimination can be translated into increased speech intelligibili...