Human Speech: A Restricted Use of the Mammalian Larynx

Titze, Ingo R.

doi:10.1016/j.jvoice.2016.06.003

Cited by 20 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Voice production in humans and mammals is very similar [31]; therefore, animal laryngeal studies have been carried out from which conclusions are drawn regarding human physiology. In the literature, voice production of animals and the comparison with humans has already been examined many times.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Subharmonic and Aperiodic Laryngeal Dynamics on the Phonatory Process Analyzed in Ex Vivo Rabbit Models

et al. 2019

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Normal voice is characterized by periodic oscillations of the vocal folds. On the other hand, disordered voice dynamics (e.g., subharmonic and aperiodic oscillations) are often associated with voice pathologies and dysphonia. Unfortunately, not all investigations may be conducted on human subjects; hence animal laryngeal studies have been performed for many years to better understand human phonation. The rabbit larynx has been shown to be a potential model of the human larynx. Despite this fact, only a few studies regarding the phonatory parameters of rabbit larynges have been performed. Further, to the best of our knowledge, no ex vivo study has systematically investigated phonatory parameters from high-speed, audio and subglottal pressure data with irregular oscillations. To remedy this, the present study analyzes experiments with sustained phonation in 11 ex vivo rabbit larynges for 51 conditions of disordered vocal fold dynamics. (1) The results of this study support previous findings on non-disordered data, that the stronger the glottal closure insufficiency is during phonation, the worse the phonatory characteristics are; (2) aperiodic oscillations showed worse phonatory results than subharmonic oscillations; (3) in the presence of both types of irregular vibrations, the voice quality (i.e., cepstral peak prominence) of the audio and subglottal signal greatly deteriorated compared to normal/periodic vibrations. In summary, our results suggest that the presence of both types of irregular vibration have a major impact on voice quality and should be considered along with glottal closure measures in medical diagnosis and treatment.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Subharmonic and Aperiodic Laryngeal Dynamics on the Phonatory Process Analyzed in Ex Vivo Rabbit Models

et al. 2019

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“…The second group focuses on the progress and development of medical treatments to facilitate phonation. The principles of voice production or phonation are similar for many mammals and humans (Titze, 2017). An overview of principal vocalization mechanisms in mammals can be found in Elemans et al (2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of phonatory characteristics using ex vivo rabbit larynges

Döllinger

Kniesburges

Berry

et al. 2018

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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Quantitative analysis of phonatory characteristics of rabbits has been widely neglected. However, preliminary studies established the rabbit larynx as a potential model of human phonation. This study reports quantitative data on phonation using ex vivo rabbit larynx models to achieve more insight into dependencies of three main components of the phonation process, including airflow, vocal fold dynamics, and the acoustic output. Sustained phonation was induced in 11 ex vivo rabbit larynges. For 414 phonatory conditions, vocal fold vibrations, acoustic, and aerodynamic parameters were analyzed as functions of longitudinal vocal fold pre-stress, applied air flow, and glottal closure insufficiency. Dimensions of the vocal folds were measured and histological data were analyzed. Glottal closure characteristics improved for increasing longitudinal pre-stress and applied airflow. For the subglottal pressure signal only the cepstral peak prominence showed dependency on glottal closure. In contrast, vibrational, acoustic, and aerodynamic parameters were found to be highly dependent on the degree of glottal closure: The more complete the glottal closure during phonation, the better the aerodynamic and acoustic characteristics. Hence, complete or at least partial glottal closure appears to enhance acoustic signal quality. Finally, results validate the ex vivo rabbit larynx as an effective model for analyzing the phonatory process.

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“…Vocalizations are distinguished from other sounds by their acoustic structure (Rieke et al, 1995;Attias and Schreiner, 1998;Singh and Theunissen, 2003;Woolley et al, 2005). Because vocalizations are produced by periodic oscillations of vocal membranes, they are characterized by spectral contrast and harmonicity; sound energy fluctuates at regular intervals across the frequency axis (Riede and Goller, 2010;Titze, 2017). As the auditory equivalent of contrast in vision, spectral contrast is the difference between the peak and valley amplitudes of sound energy across the frequency spectrum (Singh and Theunissen, 2003;Lewis et al, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Auditory Selectivity for Spectral Contrast in Cortical Neurons and Behavior

Edwards

Woolley

2019

J. Neurosci.

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Vocal communication relies on the ability of listeners to identify, process, and respond to vocal sounds produced by others in complex environments. To accurately recognize these signals, animals' auditory systems must robustly represent acoustic features that distinguish vocal sounds from other environmental sounds. Vocalizations typically have spectral structure; power regularly fluctuates along the frequency axis, creating spectral contrast. Spectral contrast is closely related to harmonicity, which refers to spectral power peaks occurring at integer multiples of a fundamental frequency. Although both spectral contrast and harmonicity typify natural sounds, they may differ in salience for communication behavior and engage distinct neural mechanisms. Therefore, it is important to understand which of these properties of vocal sounds underlie the neural processing and perception of vocalizations. Here, we test the importance of vocalization-typical spectral features in behavioral recognition and neural processing of vocal sounds, using male zebra finches. We show that behavioral responses to natural and synthesized vocalizations rely on the presence of discrete frequency components, but not on harmonic ratios between frequencies. We identify a specific population of neurons in primary auditory cortex that are sensitive to the spectral resolution of vocal sounds. We find that behavioral and neural response selectivity is explained by sensitivity to spectral contrast rather than harmonicity. This selectivity emerges within the cortex; it is absent in the thalamorecipient region and present in the deep output region. Further, deep-region neurons that are contrast-sensitive show distinct temporal responses and selectivity for modulation density compared with unselective neurons.

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Human Speech: A Restricted Use of the Mammalian Larynx

Cited by 20 publications

References 42 publications

Impact of Subharmonic and Aperiodic Laryngeal Dynamics on the Phonatory Process Analyzed in Ex Vivo Rabbit Models

Impact of Subharmonic and Aperiodic Laryngeal Dynamics on the Phonatory Process Analyzed in Ex Vivo Rabbit Models

Investigation of phonatory characteristics using ex vivo rabbit larynges

Auditory Selectivity for Spectral Contrast in Cortical Neurons and Behavior

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