• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.182-188
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• 2017

In this work, a new type speaker which features various resonant frequencies is proposed utilizing a magneto-rheological (MR) fluid and its performance is evaluated in terms of the change of the field-dependent sound pressure level. In order to achieve this goal, a whole concept of the speaker system is firstly discussed and subsequently a controllable diaphragm is made using MR fluid whose rheological properties such as viscosity are controllable by the magnitude of magnetic field. Then, the proposed speaker system consisting of the inner structure and the squeeze mode type of MR diaphragm is established in an anechoic room The effectiveness of the proposed speaker system is experimentally evaluated at two different conditions; with and without the magnetic field. It is shown from experimental tests that the sound pressure level at different sound source can be controlled which is not able to achieve using one conventional speaker system.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.197-218
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• 2000

The vocal tract shapes were measured from tracheoesophageal speakers during the sustained phonation of five Korean vowels /u/, /o/, /a/, /e/, /i/ using magnetic resonance image(MRI). The subject's original vowel utterances with speech intelligibility and the synthesized vowels from MR images were analyzed. The results were as follows: (1) The vowels /a/, /e/, /i/ were perceived as the same sounds of actual subject's speech, but the vowels /o/ and /u/ were perceived as /$\partial$/ and strained /u/, respectively. (2) The synthesized vowels /a/ and /e/ from the MR images were perceived as the same sounds, but the vowels /u/, /o/, /i/ were perceived as different sounds. (3) The synthesized vowel by the expanded pharyngeal segment of 3 times in vowel /o/ was perceived as more natural than that of 2 times. The pharyngeal areas with varied sizes should be experimented to secure better speech production because the correct shapes of the vocal tract lead to distinct vowel production.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.253-261
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• 2004

In this paper, a new voice personality transformation method is proposed. which modifies speaker-dependent feature variables in the speech signals. The proposed method takes the cepstrum vectors and pitch as the transformation paremeters, which represent vocal tract transfer function and excitation signals, respectively. To transform these parameters, a multiple response classification and regression tree (MR-CART) is employed. MR-CART is the vector extended version of a conventional CART, whose response is given by the vector form. We evaluated the performance of the proposed method by comparing with a previously proposed codebook mapping method. We also quantitatively analyzed the performance of voice transformation and the complexities according to various observations. From the experimental results for 4 speakers, the proposed method objectively outperforms a conventional codebook mapping method. and we also observed that the transformed speech sounds closer to target speech.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.19-34
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• 1998

The author collected and compared midsagittal, coronal, coronal oblique, and transversal images of Korean monophthongs /a, i, e, o, u, i, v/ produced by a healthy male speaker using 1.5 T MR, VISION. Area was measured by computer software after tracing the cross-section at different points along the tract. Results showed that the width of the oral and pharyngeal cavities varied compensatorily from each other on the midsagittal dimension. Formant frequency values estimated from the area functions of the seven vowels showed a strong correlation (r=0.978) with those analyzed from the spoken vowels. Moreover, almost all of 35 students who listened to the synthesized vowels from area data perceived the synthesized vowels as equivalent to the spoken ones. Movement of constriction points of vowel /u/ with wider lip opening sounded /i/ and led to slight changes in vowel quality. Jaw and tongue movement led to major volume variation with an anatomical limitation. Each comer vowel varied systematically from a somewhat constant volume of the average area. Thus, the author proposed that any simulation studies related to vocal tract area variation should reflect its constant volume. The results may be helpful to verify exact measurement of the vocal tract area through vowel synthesis and a simulation study before having any operation of the vocal tract.