• Speech Sciences
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.179-200
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• 2007

In voice pathology, various measurements calculated from pitch values are proposed to show voice quality. However, those measurements frequently seem to be inaccurate and unreliable because they are based on some wrong pitch values determined from pathological voice data. In order to solve the problem, we compared several pitch estimation methods to propose a better one in pathological voices. From the database of 99 pathological voice and 30 normal voice data, errors derived from pitch estimation were analyzed and compared between pathological and normal voice data or among the vowels produced by patients with benign vocal fold lesions. Results showed that gross pitch errors were observed in the cases of pathological voice data. From the types of pathological voices classified by the degree of aperiodicity in the speech signals, we found that pitch errors were closely related to the number of aperiodic segments. Also, the autocorrelation approach was found to be the most robust pitch estimation in the pathological voice data. It is desirable to conduct further research on the more severely pathological voice data in order to reduce pitch estimation errors.

• The Journal of Information Systems
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.137-158
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• 2022

Purpose As artificial intelligence voice agents (AIVA) have been widely adopted in services, diverse forms of their voices, which are the main interface with users, have been experimented. The purpose of this study is to examine how users evaluate vocal characteristics (gender, voice pitch, and voice pace) of AIVA, depending on prior research on human voice attractiveness. Design/methodology/approach This study employed an experimental survey which 516 participated in. Each participant was randomly assigned into one of eight situations (e.g., male - higher pitch - faster pace) and listened a AIVA voice sample, which introduce weather information. Next, a participant answered three consequence factors (attractiveness, trust, and anthropomorphism). Findings The results reveal that female voices of AIVA were perceived as more attractive and trustworthy than male voices. As far as voice pitch goes, while lower-pitch voices were preferred in female voices, higher-pitch voices were preferred in male voices. Finally, faster voices of AIVA were more attractive than slower voices.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.3
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• pp.132-147
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• 1998

Previously developed methods for pitch modification have not been based on the voice source model. Therefore, the synthesized speech often sounds unnatural although it may be highly intelligible. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the alteration of a voice source signal with pitch period and to establish the pitch-modification rule based on the result of this analysis. We examine the alteration of the interval of closing phase, closed phase and open phase using the excitation waveform as the pitch increases. In comparison to the previous methods which performed directly on the speech signal, the pitch modification method based on a voice source model shows high intelligibility and naturalness. This study might benefit the application to the speaker identification and the voice color conversion. Therefore the proposed method will provide high quality synthetic speech.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.175-181
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• 2008

The aim of this study was to survey 'voice preference' of children from among three voice pitches, which are high-pitch, mid-pitch and low pitch, and understand acoustic characteristics of the best voice chosen. To record distinctive pitches, Dr. Speech(ver. 4.0 Tiger Electronics) was used and we analyzed their choices. Also, we measured subglottal air pressure in aerodynamic analyze and phonatory aerodynamic system(Model 6600, KAY) was used. As a result children preferred to the low-pitch yet there was not any difference by sex. We fined them to prefer higher HNR voice to lower jitter and shimmer voice rate.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.54-56
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• 2005

Analysis of the voice and its corresponding studies are examined from the recording of the voice through microphone and various calculation processes of the signals by using computer. Voice analyser include data acquisition and analyzing program. Since oath program uses different voice signal processing algorithm, thorough understanding of the operation is essential. In this study, analysis result of patient voice were compared by using four different voice analysis programs such as MDVP, Praat, TF32, and the program developed in this study. Pitch, jitter and shimmer were selected as comparison analysis factors. As a result, pitch, jitter and shimmer showed different result since each program uses different pitch computation algorithm.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2007.07a
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• pp.1797-1798
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• 2007

In field of voice pathology, diverse statistics extracted form pitch estimation were commonly used to assess voice quality. In this study, we proposed robust pitch detection algorithm which can estimate pitch of pathological voices in benign vocal fold lesions. we also compared our proposed algorithm with three established pitch detection algorithms; autocorrelation, simplified inverse filtering technique, and nonlinear state-space embedding methods. In the database of total pathological voices of 99 and normal voices of 30, an analysis of errors related with pitch detection was evaluated between pathological and normal voices, or among the types of pathological voices. According to the results of pitch errors, gross pitch error showed some increases in cases of pathological voices; especially excessive increase in PDA based on nonlinear time-series. In an analysis of types of pathological voices classified by aperiodicity and the degree of chaos, the more voice has aperiodic and chaotic, the more growth of pitch errors increased. Consequently, it is required to survey the severity of tested voice in order to obtain accurate pitch estimates.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.51-65
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• 2002

As the method of providing information is getting multimedia, the synthetic voice is used in not only CTI(Computer Telephony Integration), information service for the blind, but also applications on internet. But properties of synthetic voice, such as speech rate, pitch, timbre and so on, are not adjusted to customers' preference but providers' preference. In order to consider customers' preference, this study proposed four subjective factors of voice through the evaluation of voice using the method of sensibility ergonomics. And the relation synthetic voice to be agreeable to the ear with emotional images was formulated as a fuzzy model. Consequently, this study proposed the speech rate and pitch of synthetic voice which is agreeable to the ear.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.131-138
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• 2016

This study analyzes the characteristics of good impression using speech manipulation scripts and investigates the characteristics of preferred speech voice. Fourty male and female college students participated in this study. They have been exposed to the Gyeongsang dialect spoken by their friends and family for more than 15 years. Two sample voices(1 male and 1 female), considered as giving good impression, were subject to voice analysis. Two students were asked to read the sample paragraph of 'Walking' and their voice samples were analyzed through Praat. The collected speech data were manipulated into 4 different sets by changing pitch level, degree of loudness and speech rate. First, both men and women received good impression more from pitch-lowered sound than from the original one. Second, men tended to receive good impression more from slightly louder voice than from the natural-pitched one. Third, it was shown that men often felt more drowned to a voice at slightly faster speech rate than at the original speech rate. Overall, both male and female listeners favored lower pitch over the original pitch. Men tended to prefer louder voice sound while women preferred less loud one. Men received better impression at a lower speech rate but women at a faster speech rate.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.121-128
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• 2005

This study was an attempt to determine acoustic characteristics in myna bird's notes. Two myna birds' sounds imitating a normal male voice in his late 20's were sampled and analyzed. The analyses included the mean values of F1, F2, F3 and pitch contours. The results were as follows; First, there was a significan difference in the mean values of F1, F2, and F3 in isolatd vowel /a/ and /i/ between the myna birds' sounds and the human voice. However, there was no apparent difference in pitch contour of their formants. Second, there was a difference in pitch contour of their formants in their sentence ('hn-nyung-ha-se-yo?' meaning 'How are you?') production. Namely, the myna birds' pitch contour was located higher than that of the human's.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2007.07a
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• pp.407-408
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• 2007

Robust pitch estimation is an important study in many areas of speech processing. In voice pathology, diverse statistics extracted form pitch were commonly used to test voice quality. In this study, we compared several established pitch detection algorithms (PDAs) for verification of adequacy of the PDAs. In the database of total pathological voices of 99 and normal voices of 30, an analysis of errors related with pitch detection was evaluated between pathological and normal voices, or among the types of pathological voices such as benign vocal fold lesions; polyp, nodule, and cysts. Consequently, it is required to survey the severity of tested voice in order to obtain accurate pitch estimates.