• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
• /
• 2006.05a
• /
• pp.77-81
• /
• 2006

This paper presents a technique of imposing the prosodic features of a native speaker's utterance onto the same sentence uttered by a non-native speaker. Three acoustic aspects of the prosodic features were considered: the fundamental frequency (F0) contour, segmental durations, and the intensity contour. The fundamental frequency contour and the segmental durations of the native speaker's utterance were imposed on the non-native speaker's utterance by using the PSOLA (pitch-synchronous overlap and add) algorithm [1] implemented in Praat[2]. The intensity contour transfer was also done in Praat. The technique of transferring one or more of these prosodic features was elaborated and its implications in the area of language education were discussed.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.39-49
• /
• 2016

The present study examined the change of aerodynamic features after laryngomicrosurgery in patients with vocal polyps. Aerodynamic evaluation was performed in thirty-nine patients (15 males and 24 females) one week before surgery and four weeks after surgery. Evaluation protocols of vital capacity, maximum sustained phonation(MXPH), and voicing efficiency(VOFT) were used to collect 29 phonatory aerodynamic measures, requiring voice with a comfortable pitch and loudness. Statistically significant changes were found for phonation time and airflow values in the MXPH protocol, while changes were also found for airflow values, subglottal pressure values and acoustic resistance values in the VOFT protocol. Although phonation time was increased in both male and female patients, gender-dependent changes were found in airflow measurements. Men's phonation time increased with no difference in airflow rate, but women's phonation time increased with decreased airflow rate and lower subglottal pressure. The changes of aerodynamic features may be affected by women's self-perceived change for vocal attitude, which was reducing sense of vocal effort after surgery.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.537-542
• /
• 2010

The goal of this study was to investigate how spectrographic features of ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) in rats vary among individuals and behaviors. Eighteen pairs of rats were allocated to individual pair cages. Each pair's behaviors and vocalizations were recorded during the 900s a known cage-mate was returning to the cage. The effects of individuals, behaviors, and the interaction between individuals and behaviors ($individuals{\times}behaviors$) were tested on the duration and peak frequencies. There was difference in the duration and peak frequency: i) among individuals (p<0.0001 and p<0.0001, respectively); ii) among behaviors (p = 0.0667 and p<0.0001, respectively); iii) among individuals${\times}$behaviors (p<0.0001 and p<0.0001, respectively). The frequency of ultrasonic vocalizations changed with a frequency ranging from 40 to 71 kHz which were emitted by individuals, whereas the frequency of ultrasonic vocalizations changed with a frequency ranging from 60 to 70 kHz which were emitted by behaviors. The peak frequency of call on 'contact' behavior was lower than that of call on other behaviors, but call duration of call on 'contact' was longer than on other behaviors. Especially, 40 kHz calls were found on 'contact' and 'other' behaviors. We suggest that ultrasonic vocalizations need to be subdivided and the effects of individuals and behaviors must be considered to assess emotional state of rats because these may influence the features of ultrasonic vocalizations.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SP
• /
• v.48 no.4
• /
• pp.136-141
• /
• 2011

In this paper, we propose an approach to improve the data detection performance of the acoustic data transmission system based on the modulated complex lapped transform (MCLT). We first present an effective analysis of the features and the detection method of data in the acoustic data transmission system. And then feature vectors which are applied to the Gaussian mixture model (GMM) are selected from relevant parameters of the previous system for the efficient data detection. For the purpose of evaluating the performance of the proposed algorithm, Bit error rate (BER) of the received data was measured at different environments (music genres (rock, pop, classic, jazz) and different distances (1m∼5m) from the loudspeaker to the microphone in a office room) and yields better results compared with the conventional scheme of the acoustic data transmission system based on the MCLT.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
• /
• v.1 no.4
• /
• pp.3-9
• /
• 2009

Acoustically English vowels are defined primarily by formant values. The measurements of the values have been usually made at a few time points of the vowel segment despite the fact that the majority of English vowel formants vary dynamically throughout the segment. This study attempts to collect acoustic data of the nine English vowels published by Hillenbrand et al. (1995) online and to examine the acoustic features of the English vowels for phoneticians and English teachers. The author used Praat to obtain the data systematically at six equidistant timepoints over the vowel segment. Obvious errors were corrected based on the spectrographic display of each vowel. Results show that the first two formant trajectories are important to separate the nine vowels within the front- or back-vowel groups. The third formant trajectories appear comparable except those of the high vowels. Second, the back vowels leave longer traces on the vowel space toward the locus of the following consonant /d/. Third, each vowel has inherent duration, pitch, and intensity patterns. The results match the findings of Yang (2009). From the results, the author concludes that dynamic spectral changes are important in specifying acoustic characteristics of English vowels. Further studies on the application of the vowel trajectories to English pronunciation lessons or on perceptual experiment of synthesized vowels are desirable.

• International Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology Speciallssue:Selected Papers
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.51-55
• /
• 2001

The characteristics of elastic waves emanating from crack initiation in 2024 and 5052 aluminum alloys subject to static and fatigue loading are investigated through laboratory experiments. The objective of the study is to determine difference in the properties of the signals generated from static and fatigue tests and also to examine if the sources of the waves could be identified from the temporal and spectral characteristics of the acoustic emission (AE) waveforms. The signals are recoded using non-resonant, flat, broadband transducers attached to the surface of the alloy specimens. The time dependence and power spectra of the signals recorded during the tests were examined and classified according to their special features. Three distinct types of signals were observed. The waveforms and their power spectra were found to be dependent on the material and the type of fracture associated with the signals. Analysis of the waveforms indicated that some signals could be attributed to plastic deformation associated with static tests. The potential application of the approach in health monitoring of aging aircraft structures using a network of surface mounted broadband sensors is discussed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.47 no.4
• /
• pp.454-460
• /
• 2015

Acoustic emission (AE) is one of the promising methods for detecting the formation of stress corrosion cracks (SCCs) in laboratory tests. This method has the advantage of online inspection. Some studies have been conducted to investigate the characteristics of AE parameters during SCC propagation. However, it is difficult to classify the distinct features of SCC behavior. Because the previous studies were performed on slow strain rate test or compact tension specimens, it is difficult to make certain correlations between AE signals and actual SCC behavior in real tube-type specimens. In this study, the specimen was a AISI 304 stainless steel tube widely applied in the nuclear industry, and an accelerated test was conducted at high temperature and pressure with a corrosive environmental condition. The study result indicated that intense AE signals were mainly detected in the elastic deformation region, and a good correlation was observed between AE activity and crack growth. By contrast, the behavior of accumulated counts was divided into four regions. According to the waveform analysis, a specific waveform pattern was observed during SCC development. It is suggested that AE can be used to detect and monitor SCC initiation and propagation in actual tubes.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
• /
• v.9 no.4
• /
• pp.59-67
• /
• 2017

Regardless of their intention, listeners tend to assess speakers' personalities based on the sounds of the speech they hear. Assessment criteria, however, have not been fully investigated to indicate whether there is any relationship between the acoustic cue of produced speech sounds and perceived personality impression. If properly investigated, the potential relationship between these two will provide crucial insights on the aspects of human communications and further on human-computer interaction. Since human communications have distinctive characteristics of simultaneity and complexity, this investigation would be the identification of minimum essential factors among the sounds of speech and perceived personality impression. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to identify significant associations between the speech sounds and perceived personality impression of speaker by the listeners. Twenty eight subjects participated in the experiment and eight acoustic parameters were extracted by using Praat from the recorded sounds of the speech. The subjects also completed the Neo-five Factor Inventory test so that their personality traits could be measured. The results of the experiment show that four major factors(duration average, pitch difference value, pitch average and intensity average) play crucial roles in defining the significant relationship.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.31 no.8
• /
• pp.870-879
• /
• 2007

In this study, various damage modes in bending unimorph piezoelectric composite actuators with a thin sandwiched PZT plate during bending fracture tests have been evaluated by monitoring acoustic emission (AE) signals in terms of waveform and peak frequency as well as AE parameters. Three kinds of actuator specimens consisting of woven fabric fiber skin layers and a PZT ceramic core layer are loaded with a roller and an AE activity from the specimen is monitored during the entire loading using an AE transducer mounted on the specimen. AE characteristics from a monolithic PZT ceramic with a thickness of $250{\mu}m$ are examined first in order to distinguish different AE signals from various possible damage modes in piezoelectric composite actuators. Post-failure observations and stress analyses in the respective layers of the specimens are conducted to identify particular features in the acoustic emission signal that correspond to specific types of damage modes. As a result, the signal classification based on waveform and peak frequency analyses successfully describes the failure process of the bending piezoelectric composite actuator exhibiting diverse failure mechanisms. Furthermore, it is elucidated that when the PZT ceramic embedded actuators are loaded mechanical bending loads, the failure process of actuator specimens with different lay-up configurations is almost same irrespective of their lay-up configurations.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.647-669
• /
• 2016

Multiple attribute for decision making including user preference will increase the complexity of route selection process. Various approaches have been proposed to solve the optimal route selection problem. In this paper, multi attribute decision making (MADM) algorithms such as Simple Additive Weighting (SAW), Weighted Product Method (WPM), Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method and Total Order Preference by Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) methods have been proposed for acoustic signature based optimal route selection to facilitate user with better quality of service. The traffic density state conditions (very low, low, below medium, medium, above medium, high and very high) on the road segment is the occurrence and mixture weightings of traffic noise signals (Tyre, Engine, Air Turbulence, Exhaust, and Honks etc) is considered as one of the attribute in decision making process. The short-term spectral envelope features of the cumulative acoustic signals are extracted using Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) and Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Classifier (ANFC) is used to model seven traffic density states. Simple point method and AHP has been used for calculation of weights of decision parameters. Numerical results show that WPM, AHP and TOPSIS provide similar performance.