• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.28-32
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• 2005

Background and Objectives : The most important two factors of the voice production are the respiratory function which is the power source of voice and the glottic closure that transform the air flow into sound signals. The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences between trained singers and untrained controls under varying intensity at a constant vocal pitch by simulataneous using the airway interruption method and electroglottography(EGG). Materials and Methods : Under two different intensity condition at a constant vocal pitch(/G/), 20(Male 10, Female 10) trained singers were studied. Mean flow rate(MFR), subglottic pressure(Psub) and intensity were measured with aerodynamic test using the Phonatory function analyzer. Closed quotients(CQ), jitter and shimmer were also investigated by electroglottography using Lx speech studio. These data were compared with that of normal controls. Results : MFR and Psub were increased on high intensity condition in all subject groups but there was no statistically significance. Statistically significant increasing of CQ. were observed in male trained singers on high intensity condition (untrained male : 51.31${\pm}$3.70%, trained male :55.52${\pm}$6.07%, p=.039). Shimmer percent, one of the phonatory stability parameters, was also decreased statistically in all subject groups(p<.001). Conclusion : The trained singers' phonation was more efficient than untrained singers. The result means that the trained singers can increase the loudness with little changing of mean flow rate, subglottic pressure but more increasing of glottic closed quotients.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.95-101
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• 2016

Background and Objectives : The main purpose of this study is to clarify perceptual and acoustic analysis for the patients with hypothyroidism after thyroidectomy especially focused on the characteristics of speech articulation with special reference to the consonant production. Materials and Methods : The subjects of the research were 40 male and female adults (males : 5, females : 35). They were all received radioactive iodine treatment which after total thyroidectomy. Voice samples were collected during the three stages of after surgery, pre-radioisotope treatment (RIT), and post-RIT. The acoustic analysis was conducted by using Pratt (ver.5.2.21) after measuring voice onset time (VOT). The subjective evaluation of the voices used CAPE-V. Results : A significant decrease in overall severity was displayed in the CAPE-V following RIT. It may be conjectured that this is connected to the change in voice following RIT. The loudness of the sound displayed a significant decrease in the CAPE-V following RIT. It is conjectured that this is connected to the decrease in vocal intensity following RIT. No statistically significant results were revealed for the comparative analysis on the voice onset time (VOT) in all plosives during the three periods. Conclusion : Perceptually, the overall severity of the voice with hypothyroidism was changed significantly before and after RIT. Eventhough VOT were not significantly changed, it tended to decrease VOT in patients with hypothyroidism.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.53-65
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• 2014

The current research examines whether pitch contour shapes in North Kyungsang pitch accent contrasts provide a phonetic dimension for phonological discreteness in a mimicry task. Two pitch accent continua resynthesized were created for HH vs. HL and HH vs. LH. To confirm a phonetic dimension for accounting for pitch accent categories in North Kyungsang Korean, the mimicries of speakers of two dialects (i.e., North Kyungsang & South Cholla) were compared. One of the findings showed that, for North Kyungsang speakers, the range of mean f0 peak times was a phonetic dimension undergoing a continuous shift within a stimulus continuum for both HH vs. HL and HH vs. LH. On the other hand, for South Cholla speakers, there were no apparent shifts around categorical boundaries for either HH vs. HL or HH vs. LH. Regarding individual mimicries on f0 peak timing, there are many variations. For HH vs. LH, three North Kyungsang speakers showed a discrete pattern reflecting a shift in phonological categories, but for HH vs. HL, there was no such distinction showing a categorical shift, though there were statistically significant differences for two speakers. Interestingly, one of the North Kyungsang speakers showed a continuous phonetic dimension for both HH vs. HL and HH vs. LH. Lastly, the f0 valley timing did not exhibit a discrete or gradient phonetic dimension for speakers of either dialect. On the basis of these results, what is interesting is that the tonal target such as high tone in North Kyungsang pitch accent categories within the autosegmental-metrical (AM) theory may be realized within individual cognitive systems for representing the interaction of perception and production.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.119-123
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• 1999

Background and Objectives : Conditions such as muscle atrophy, stretching of strap muscles, and continued craniofacial growth factors have been cited as contributing to the changes observed in the vocal tract structure and function in elderly speakers. The purpose of the present study is to compare F$_1$ and F$_2$ frequency levels in elderly and young adult male and female speakers producing a series of vowels ranging from high-front to low-back placement. Material and Methods : The subjects were two groups of young adults(10 males, 10 females, mean age 21 years old range 19-24 years) and two groups of elderly speakers(10 males, 10 females, mean age 67 years : range 60-84 years). Each subject participated in speech pathologist to be a speaker of unimpared standard Korean. The headphone was positioned 2 cm from the speakers lips. Each speaker sustained the five vowels for 5 s. Formant frequency measures were obtained from an analysis of linear predictive coding in CSL model 4300B(Kay co). Results : Repeated measure AVOVA procedures were completed on the $F_1$ and $F_2$ data for the male and female speakers. $F_2$ formant frequency levels were proven to be significantly lower fir elderly speakers. Conclusions : We presume $F_2$ vocal cavity(from the point of tongue constriction to lip) lengthening in elderly speakers. The research designed to observe dynamic speech production more directly will be needed.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.133-140
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• 2011

Muscle misuse dysphonia (MMD) is defined as a behavioral voice disorder resulting from inappropriate contractions of intrinsic and/or extrinsic laryngeal muscles. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of motor learning guided laryngeal motor control therapy (MLG-LMCT) which is designed to improve an existing LMT and further the effective voice treatment on people with muscle misuse dysphonia. Forty-six people with MMD (M:F=16:30) participated in this study. The voice samples of the participants were recorded to investigate the effect of MLG-LMCT before and after the voice therapy. Voice samples were analyzed via electro-glotto-graph (EGG). Contact quotient (CQ), speed quotient (SQ), and waveform were reported. In addition, perceptual and acoustical evaluation were conducted to determine the change of voice improvement after treatment. The experimenter massaged the tensioned muscles around the neck. In order to find more proper phonation the experimenter showed the subjects their EGG wave forms as to whether or not they are moving the vocal folds to the appropriate position. Therefore, the EGG wave forms were used as a type of visual feedback. With the wave form, the experimenter helped subjects move the vocal folds and laryngeal muscles to find more proper voice production. The sensory stimuli from the experimenter gradually faded out. A paired dependent t- test revealed that there was significant differences in CQ between pre- and post-therapy. Perceptually, overall, rough, breathy, strain, and transition were significantly reduced. Acoustically, there were significant differences in Fo, jitter, shimmer, and NHR. After using MLG-LMCT, most of the subjects showed improvements in voice quality. The results from this study led us to the following conclusions: Motor learning guided laryngeal motor control therapy (MLG-LMCT) has reduces muscle misuse dysphonia. These results may occur because a visual feedback from EGG wave form can maintain the effect of the muscle tension reduction from laryngeal manual therapy. In case of people with MMD who reduced muscle tension from the therapy (LMT) but, not appropriately manipulating the location of larynx or adducting the vocal folds, MLG-LMCT might be an alternative therapy approach.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.145-151
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• 2011

In view of the hypothesis that the effects of Parkinson's disease on voice production can be detected before pharmacological intervention, the prosodic features of patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD) and a healthy aging group were diagnostically analyzed with the long term object of establishing, for clinical purposes, early disease-progression biomarkers. Twenty patients (male 8; female 12) with IPD (prior to pharmacological intervention) and a healthy control group of 22 (male 10; female 12) were selected. Ten sentences were recorded with a head-worn microphone. One sentence was chosen for the analysis of this paper. Relevant parameters, i.e. 3-dimensional model (F0, intensity, duration) and pitch and intensity related slopes (maxEnergy, maxF0, meanAbS, semiT, meanEnergy, meanF0), were analyzed by two-group discriminant analysis. The stepwise estimation method of discriminant analysis was performed by gender. The discriminant functions predicted 83.9% of the male test data correctly while the prediction rate was 93.1% for the female group. The results showed that meanF0_slope and semiT_slope were more important parameters than the others for the male group. For the female group, the meanEnergy_slope and maxEnergy_slope were the important ones. These findings indicate that significant parameters are different for the male and female group. Gender lifestyle may be responsible for this difference. Dysprosodic features of IPD show not simultaneously but progressively in terms of F0, intensity and duration.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.815-836
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• 1999

The role of animal agriculture for the quality of human life has always been emphasized during 20th century and it is expected to be even more important in terms of food supplies and in providing additional functions in the future. The world human population has almost tripled during a period of half century. The world population of animals has increased 2~3 times (6 times for chicken) during the last 60 years, and the total amount of livestock products has increased 5~6 times (more than 10 times in pork) with higher annual growth rate (9%) in developing countries. Increased personal income certainly encouraged demand for animal products over grains and lower animal production costs resulted from scientific and technological advances. Similarly the production of total grains has more than doubled owing to the advances in agricultural science during the later part of the 20th century. The average life span of world people in 1950s was only 46 years, which will be increased to almost 66 years in the year 2000. Present date clearly indicate that the life span of people is proportional to their income (GNP) and/or animal protein intake. Animals can provide other resources than foods. The increase of human population indicates that the number of animals as well as per capita consumption of animal products will be increased in the 21st century. The other resources we get from animals are drafts, packing, riding, hunting and herding. Guiding the blind, protection and companionship are also examples of what we can expect from animals. In the very near future, animals will become major donors of organs, skin and producers of drugs or special functional foods. It may be concluded that animals are very closely associated and related to the quality of human life, and they are expected to remain the same way in the 21st century.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.123-143
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• 2011

At what point in the process of speech production are gestures involved? According to the Lexical Retrieval Hypothesis, gestures are involved in the lexicalization in the formulating stage. According to the Information Packaging Hypothesis, gestures are involved in the conceptual planning of massages in the conceptualizing stage. We investigated these hypotheses, using the game situation in a TV program that induced the players to involve in both lexicalization and conceptualization simultaneously. The transcription of the verbal utterances was augmented with all arm and hand gestures produced by the players. Coverbal gestures were classified into two types of gestures: lexical gestures and motor gestures. As a result, concrete words elicited lexical gestures significantly more frequently than abstract words, and abstract words elicited motor gestures significantly more frequently than concrete words. The difficulty of conceptualization in concrete words was significantly correlated with the amount of lexical gestures. However, the amount of words and the word frequency were not correlated with the amount of both gestures. This result supports the Information Packaging Hypothesis. Most of all, the importance of motor gestures was inferred from the result that abstract words elicited motor gestures more frequently rather than concrete words. Motor gestures, which have been considered as unrelated to verbal production, were excluded from analysis in many gestural studies. This study revealed motor gestures seemed to be connected to the abstract conceptualization.

• Journal of KIISE:Computer Systems and Theory
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• v.26 no.9
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• pp.1031-1041
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• 1999

기존의 한글에 대한 입술 애니메이션 방법은 음소의 입모양을 몇 개의 입모양으로 정의하고 이들을 보간하여 입술을 애니메이션하였다. 하지만 발음하는 동안의 실제 입술 움직임은 선형함수나 단순한 비선형함수가 아니기 때문에 보간방법에 의해 중간 움직임을 생성하는 방법으로는 음소의 입술 움직임을 효과적으로 생성할 수 없다. 또 이 방법은 동시조음도 고려하지 않아 음소들간에 변화하는 입술 움직임도 표현할 수 없었다. 본 논문에서는 동시조음을 고려하여 한글을 자연스럽게 발음하는 입술 애니메이션 방법을 제안한다. 비디오 카메라로 발음하는 동안의 음소의 움직임들을 측정하고 입술 움직임 제어 파라미터들을 추출한다. 각각의 제어 파라미터들은 L fqvist의 스피치 생성 제스처 이론(speech production gesture theory)을 이용하여 실제 음소의 입술 움직임에 근사한 움직임인 지배함수(dominance function)들로 정의되고 입술 움직임을 애니메이션할 때 사용된다. 또, 각 지배함수들은 혼합함수(blending function)와 반음절에 의한 한글 합성 규칙을 사용하여 결합하고 동시조음이 적용된 한글을 발음하게 된다. 따라서 스피치 생성 제스처 이론을 이용하여 입술 움직임 모델을 구현한 방법은 기존의 보간에 의해 중간 움직임을 생성한 방법보다 실제 움직임에 근사한 움직임을 생성하고 동시조음도 고려한 움직임을 보여준다.Abstract The existing lip animation method of Hangul classifies the shape of lips with a few shapes and implements the lip animation with interpolating them. However it doesn't represent natural lip animation because the function of the real motion of lips, during articulation, isn't linear or simple non-linear function. It doesn't also represent the motion of lips varying among phonemes because it doesn't consider coarticulation. In this paper we present a new coarticulation model for the natural lip animation of Hangul. Using two video cameras, we film the speaker's lips and extract the lip control parameters. Each lip control parameter is defined as dominance function by using L fqvist's speech production gesture theory. This dominance function approximates to the real lip animation of a phoneme during articulation of one and is used when lip animation is implemented. Each dominance function combines into blending function by using Hangul composition rule based on demi-syllable. Then the lip animation of our coarticulation model represents natural motion of lips. Therefore our coarticulation model approximates to real lip motion rather than the existing model and represents the natural lip motion considered coarticulation.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.35-46
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• 2021

In this study, we examined the interactive aspects between pitch reduction phenomena considered a universal language phenomenon and native language interference in the production of L2 intonation performed by Chinese learners of Korean. To investigate their interaction, we conducted an acoustic analysis using acoustic measures such as pitch span, pitch level, pitch dynamic quotient, skewness, and kurtosis. In addition, the correlation between text comprehension and pitch was examined. The analyzed material consisted of four Korean discourses containing five and seven sentences of varying difficulty. Seven Korean native speakers and thirty Chinese learners who differed in their Korean proficiency participated in the production test. The results, for differences by language, showed that Chinese had a more expanded pitch span, and a higher pitch level than Korean. The analysis between groups showed that at the beginner and intermediate levels, pitch reduction was prominent, i.e., their Korean was characterized by a compressed pitch span, low pitch level, and less sentence internal pitch variation. Contrariwise, the pitch use of advanced speakers was most similar to Korean native speakers. There was no significant correlation between text difficulty and pitch use. Through this study, we observed that pitch reduction was more pronounced than native language interference in the phonetic layer.