• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• 제19권2E호
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• pp.8-13
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• 2000

In this paper, we present an adaptive formant tracking algorithm for speech using closed phase WRLS-VFF-VT method. The pitch synchronous closed phase methods is known to give more accurate estimates of the vocal tract parameters than the pitch asynchronous method. However the use of a pitch-synchronous closed phase analysis method has been limited due to difficulties associated with the task of accurately isolating the closed phase region in successive periods of speech. Therefore we have implemented the pitch synchronous closed phase WRLS-VFF-VT algorithm for speech analysis, especially for formant tracking. The proposed algorithm with the variable threshold(VT) can provide a superior performance in the boundary of phone and voiced/unvoiced sound. The proposed method is experimentally compared with the other method such as two channel CPC method by using synthetic waveform and real speech data. From the experimental results, we found that the block data processing techniques, such as the two-channel CPC, gave reasonable estimates of the formant/antiformant. However, the data windows used by these methods included the effects of the periodic excitation pulses, which affected the accuracy of the estimated formants. On the other hand the proposed WRLS-VFF-VT method, which eliminated the influence of the pulse excitation by using an input estimation as part of the algorithm, gave very accurate formant/bandwidth estimates and good spectral matching.

• 음성과학
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• 제8권3호
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• pp.173-184
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• 2001

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of manipulating loudness and pitch in terms of speech intelligibility and voice of a patient with Parkinson's Disease. The subject, who was diagnosed as a patient with Parkinson's disease 11 years ago, demonstrated a severely breath voice with low intensity. The accuracy of articulation in consonants was intelligible only at the single word level, and the overall intelligibility in continuous speech was low. The results showed that the subject's articulation accuracy and speech intelligibility was significantly improved after having loudness and pitch training. Habitual Fo, Jitter, Shimmer, Fo tremor, Amp tremor were decreased after training. In addition, the value of HNR also increased after training. It was shown that the changes of these acoustic parameters were closely related to the decrease of breathiness in Parkinson's voice, and this decrease of breathiness affected speech intelligibility considerably. Based on the experimental results, it was claimed that the vocal training by manipulating the loudness and pitch could be highly effective in improving the voice quality and speech intelligibility in Parkinson's Disease.

• 음성과학
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• 제12권1호
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• pp.37-43
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• 2005

The phenomenon of vocal vibrato may be regarded as an acoustic representation of one of the most rapid and continuous changes in pitch and intensity that the human vocal mechanism is capable of producing. Singers are likely to use vibrato effectively to enrich their voice. The purpose of this study was to obtain acoustic measurements (vF0 and vAm) of 45 subjects (15 trot and 15 ballad singers and 15 non-singers) and to compare acoustic measurements of the vowel /a/ produced by 3 groups on 2 voice sampling conditions (prolongation and singing of /a/). Thirty singers of trot and ballad were selected by a producer and a concert director working for the KBS (Korean Broadcasting System). The MDVP was used to measure the acoustic parameters. A two-way MANOVA was used for statistical analyses. The results were as follows; Firstly, there was no significant difference among the 3 groups in vF0 and vAm in prolongation of /a/, but in singing voice, there was a significant difference among 3 groups in vF0 and vAm. Secondly, there was an interaction between music genre and voice sampling condition in vF0, and vAm. Finally, trot singers sing with more vibrato than ballad singers. It was concluded that it is very important to analyze singers' voice including various voice conditions (prolongation, reading, conversation, and singing) and to identify differences of singing voice characteristics among music genre.

• 대한후두음성언어의학회지
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• 제9권1호
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• pp.47-52
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• 1998

Objectives : To compare the objective differences in voice quality and voice problems between clergies and normal male control group. Materials and Methods : The sustained vowel sound of 46 clergies and 40 normal persons were analyzed, using a videostroboscopy and acoustic analyzer. Together with these analyses, a questionnaire associated with current and past voice problems was handed over to the patients. Results : The most common symptom in subjective group was the voice fatigue. Stroboscopic findings in subjective group were as following 23 cases(50%) of pachydermia, 17 cases(37%) of phase difference, 12 cases(25%) of anterior-posterior contracture, 6 cases(13%) of vocal polyp and 3 cases(7%) of vocal nodule. The mean maximal phonation time in clergies was 17.8 seconds and in control group was 19 seconds. litter, pitch perturbation quotient and shimmer were significantly increased in subjective group than in control group(p<0.05), but there were no significant differences between two groups in fundamental frequency, vFo, amplitude perturbation quotient and noise to harmonic ratio. Conclusion : In the clergies using loud and forceful voice, vocal polyp and functional voice disorder findings were frequently noted in stroboscopic examination. litter and shimmer, reflecting the roughness of voice, were increased in acoustic analysis. Therefore, clergies, classified into untrained professional voice users, need professional career guidance and counseling.

• 대한후두음성언어의학회지
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• 제10권2호
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• pp.154-163
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• 1999

GRBAS scale, the tool fir the perceptual evaluation of voice, demands the experience of judges, and MDVP parameters of CSL, the tool for the objective measurements of voice quality demands the exact interpretation of the analyzed results. The two tools should be used as compensatory evaluation methods, so the experimental study was performed to investigate the correlation between GRBAS scales and MDVP parameters by using the pathologic voice of the 30 patients with vocal polyps, and to know the significant MDVP parameters which the inexperienced GRBAS scale judges should attend to. The 30 subjects voices, saved in MDVP of CSL were analyzed by its own analysis program, and three experienced voice therapists judged the same voices by using GRBAS scales. The correlations between them were analyzed by Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient. As results, among the 29 MDVP parameters, 22 parameters showed statistically significant correlation with Grade(G) scale(p＜0.05). And it was found that Roughness(R) scale showed significant correlation with 18 parameters, Breathiness(B) scale with 17 parameters, Strain(S) scale with 12 parameters. In Asthenicity(A) scale, no parameter showed significant correlation. On the whole, significantly high correlation were found in the parameters related with pitch ind amplitude perturbation, especially, the amplitude perturbation.

• 센서학회지
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• 제22권2호
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• pp.156-161
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• 2013

This study was aimed to implement the electroglottography (EGG) system for analyzing fundamental frequency of the phonation. EGG was recorded from the conductance between ring electrodes attached to the neck skin area near thyroid cartilage with high frequency carrier electric signals during vocalization, and voice signal was recorded with microphone simultaneously. EGG and voice signals were transmitted to the audio port in PC and recorded with stereo sound recording program. From the digitized data, several parameters such as pitch, jitter, shimmer, CQ and SQ were analyzed from the vowel sounds. For the voice training, sound fundamental frequency was displayed during the vocalization and singing a song using pitches analyzed from the EGG. The system implemented in this study could be used for vocal exercise.

• 말소리와 음성과학
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• 제4권2호
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• pp.95-104
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• 2012

Thyroidectomy patients may have vocal paralysis or paresis, resulting in a breathy voice. The aim of this study was to investigate the aerodynamic and acoustic characteristics of a breathy voice in thyroidectomy patients. Thirty-five subjects who have vocal paralysis after thyroidectomy participated in this study. According to perceptual judgements by three speech pathologists and one phonetic scholar, subjects were divided into two groups: breathy voice group (n = 21) and non-breathy voice group (n = 14). Aerodynamic analysis was conducted by three tasks (Voicing Efficiency, Maximum Sustained Phonation, Vital Capacity) and acoustic analysis was measured during Maximum Sustained Phonation task. The breathy voice group had significantly higher subglottal pressure and more pathological voice characteristics than the non breathy voice group. Showing 94.1% classification accuracy in result logistic regression of aerodynamic analysis, the predictor parameters for breathiness were maximum sound pressure level, sound pressure level range, phonation time of Maximum Sustained Phonation task and Pitch range, peak air pressure, and mean peak air pressure of Voicing Efficiency task. Classification accuracy of acoustic logistic regression was 88.6%, and five frequency perturbation parameters were shown as predictors. Vocal paralysis creates air turbulence at the glottis. It fluctuates frequency-related parameters and increases aspiration in high frequency areas. These changes determine perceptual breathiness.

• 대한후두음성언어의학회지
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• 제27권1호
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• pp.25-29
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• 2016

Background and Objectives : The clinical reports for the treatment of vocal fold scar and sulcus vocalis are limited, also there is no best one for the treatment of them. This study is to evaluate the effect of Injection laryngoplasty (IL) for the treatment of vocal fold scar and sulcus vocalis. Materials and Methods : from January 2013 to May 2015, the Nineteen patients who were diagnosed as vocal fold scar, sulcus and atrophy, and underwent IL, were engaged in this study. Clinical information and voice parameters were analyzed by retrospective chart review. Pre and post voice parameters were compared. Results : Subgroups of diagnosis were classified into sulcus vocalis for 12 patients, vocal fold scar for 5, and atrophy for 2. IL was performed under local anesthesia through cricothyroid membrane except one patient. Atesense$^{(R)}$, Radiessess$^{(R)}$, and Rofilan$^{(R)}$ were used as injected materials in 9, 9, and 1 patients respectively. Maximal phonation time (p=0.0124), dynamic range (p=0.0028), pitch range (p=0.0141), voice handicap index (p=0.028), glottal closure (p=0.0229), and mucosal wave (p=0.0132) had significant improvement for post-IL voice assessment than Pre-IL. While GRBAS, Mean flow rate, Jitter, Shimmer, Harmony to Noise ratio didn't have improvement. Conclusion : IL is a feasible option for the treatment of glottis incompetence with normally mobile vocal folds such as sulcus vocalis and vocal fold scar.

• 음성과학
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• 제8권3호
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• pp.43-50
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• 2001

This paper deals with voice similarities between sisters who are supposed to have common physiological characteristics from a single biological mother. Nine pairs of sisters who are believed to have similar voices participated in this experiment. The speech samples obtained from one pair of sisters were eliminated in the analysis because their perceptual score was relatively low. The words were measured in both isolation and context, and the subjects were asked to read the text five times with about three seconds of interval between readings. Recordings were made at natural speed in a quiet room. The data were analyzed in pitch and formant frequencies using CSL (Computerized Speech Lab) and PCQuirer. It was found that data of the initial vowels are much more similar and homogeneous than those of vowels in other positions. The acoustic data showed that voice similarities are strikingly high in both pitch and formant frequencies. It is assumed that statistical data obtained from this experiment can be used as a guideline for modelling speaker identification and speaker verification.

• 한국음향학회지
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.101-106
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• 1997

음성의 천이구간에서의 특징 파라메타를 찾아내기 위하여 본 논문에서는 AR모델을 사용하여 적응적으로 성문폐쇄구간을 찾은 후, 이를 제외한 구간에서 성도 파라메타를 추정함으로써 음원의 피치바이어스 영향을 제거하는 SSRLS(Sample Selective RLS)방법을 제안한다. 성능을 비교하기 위하여 합성음과 실제음에 대하여 포만트 추정실험을 했으며, 실험결과 제안된 방법이 WRLS 보다 우수함을 알 수 있었다.