A Note on Temporal Errors in Fundamental Frequency Perturbation Measures for Sampled Waveforms

Abstract

The errors involved in the use of an analog pitch period detector and a microcomputer to measure jitter and shimmer were explored. A simulation study using sinusoidal waveforms was conducted to ascertain the nature of temporal errors occurring in sampled signal frequency perturbation studies. The results indicate that even for jitter free signals errors can occur in frequency perturbation measurements, that the magnitude of these errors can be as high as actual frequency perturbations occurring in steady human vowels, and that the magnitude of the errors is not a function of fundamental frequency hut of the remainder of the ratio of signal period to sample period.