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http://dx.doi.org/10.5143/JESK.2013.32.1.139

Formant Frequency as a Measure of Physical Fatigue  

Ha, Wook Hyun (Instrumentaion & Control Engineering Department, KEPCO E&C)
Kim, Hong Tae (KIOST)
Park, Sung Ha (Department of Industrial & Management Engineering, Hannam University)
Publication Information
Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea / v.32, no.1, 2013 , pp. 139-144 More about this Journal
Abstract
Objective: The current study investigated a non-obtrusive measure for detecting physical fatigue based on the analysis of formant frequencies of human voice. Background: Fatigue has been considered as a main cause in industrial and traffic accidents. Therefore, it is critical to detect worker's fatigue for accident prevention. Method: After running exercises on a treadmill, participants were instructed to read a sentence and their voices were recorded under four different physical fatigue levels. Korean vowels of "아", "어", "오", "우", and "이" from the voice recorded were then used to collect formant 1 frequencies. Results: Results of separate ANOVAs showed a significant main effect of physical fatigue on formant 1 frequency of "아", "어", and "이". Furthermore, post-hoc comparisons revealed that formant 1 frequency of "아" was most sensitive to physical fatigue level employed in this experiment. Conclusion: Formant 1 frequencies of some vowels significantly decrease as the physical fatigue level increases. Application: Potential application of this study includes the development of a measure of physical fatigue state that is free from sensor attachment and requires little preparation.
Keywords
Physical fatigue; Human voice; Praat; Formant frequency;
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