Spectral Noise Levels and Roughness Severity Ratings for Normal and Simulated Rough Vowels Produced by Adult Females

Lively, Mary Ann; Emanuel, Floyd W.

doi:10.1044/jshr.1303.503

Cited by 59 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…These comments, along with our finding of perceptual interactions between harmonic and inharmonic source excitation, do however raise the possibility that differences in noise spectral shape constitute a third factor affecting perceptual sensitivity to the NHR and to H2-Hn. Although some measurement approaches assess the NHR in restricted frequency bands, thus implying underlying differences in noise levels in these bands (e.g., Lively and Emanuel, 1970), relatively little empirical evidence is available regarding the nature or extent of variations in the inharmonic component of the voice source (although see Stevens, 1998, for extended review of theoretical studies of noise spectra). Experiment 2, therefore, begins with descriptive analyses of noise spectra for a sample of pathological voices, and then examines the perceptual importance of these variations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Stimuli were based on natural tokens of the vowel /a/ produced by two normal speakers ( Table I), except that a single noise source with a flat spectrum (similar to that used by the KLSYN88 synthesizer; Klatt and Klatt, 1990) was used to model the inharmonic voice source in all tokens. [Note that some NHR measures assess noise separately in different frequency bands (e.g., Lively and Emanuel, 1970), implying that noise spectral shape is perceptually important. This issue is investigated in experiment 2.]…”

Section: Stimulimentioning

confidence: 99%

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Perceptual interaction of the harmonic source and noise in voice

Kreiman

Gerratt

2012

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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Although the amount of inharmonic energy (noise) present in a human voice is an important determinant of vocal quality, little is known about the perceptual interaction between harmonic and inharmonic aspects of the voice source. This paper reports three experiments investigating this issue. Results indicate that perception of the harmonic slope and of noise levels are both influenced by complex interactions between the spectral shape and relative levels of harmonic and noise energy in the voice source. Just-noticeable differences (JNDs) for the noise-to-harmonics ratio (NHR) varied significantly with the NHR and harmonic spectral slope, but NHR had no effect on JNDs for NHR when harmonic slopes were steepest, and harmonic slope had no effect when NHRs were highest. Perception of changes in the harmonic source slope depended on NHR and on the harmonic source slope: JNDs increased when spectra rolled off steeply, with this effect in turn depending on NHR. Finally, all effects were modulated by the shape of the noise spectrum. It thus appears that, beyond masking, understanding perception of individual parameters requires knowledge of the acoustic context in which they function, consistent with the view that voices are integral patterns that resist decomposition.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Stimulimentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptual interaction of the harmonic source and noise in voice

Kreiman

Gerratt

2012

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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“…When Whitehead and Lieberth (1979) applied Lively and Emanual (1970) and Sansone and Emanual's (1970) Emanual. In other words, the profoundly hearing-impaired subjects who sounded more harsh also generally produced vowel spectra which exhibited larger amounts of inharmonic components and reduced harmonic energies.…”

Section: Voice Quality Characteristics Of Hearing-impaired Speakersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The procedures used by Whitehead and Lieberth (1979) to compare perceptual and acoustical features of vocal harshness were previously described by Lively and Emanual (1970) and Sansone and Emanual (1970).…”

Section: Voice Quality Characteristics Of Hearing-impaired Speakersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acoustical and perceptual correlates of vocal effort in normal hearing and hearing-impaired children

Thomas-Kersting¹

2000

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Audition is undoubtedly the most efficient means for early acquisition of oral cormnunication skills (Fry, 1978;Ling, 1976).Consequently, the speech of children with limited audition deviates from normal speech in almost all aspects (Calvert and Silverman, 1975). One problem area is voice quality, specifically vocal effort or harshness. Even though abnormal vocal effort is prevalent among 2 hearing-impaired speakers, there is a paucity of information describing the acoustical and perceptual features of this voice quality for hearing-impaired children. Whitehead and Lieberth (1979) explored vocal harshness in hearing-impaired adults and found a significant and systematic increase in the level of inharmonic energy, indexed as spectral noise, as the degree of perceived vocal harshness/tension became more severe. The constraints of the instrument used by Whitehead and Lieberth, however, precluded using children as subjects. To date, no research has been reported that specifically describes vocal effort or harshness in hearing-impaired children. An apparent need, therefore, existed to implement a research design with which hearingimpaired children could comply and that revealed data concerning the • perceptual and acoustical features of vocal effort in hearing-impaired children.The present study was designed to investigate the perceptual and spectrographic features of vocal effort in the speech of severely to profoundly hearing-impaired children and their normal hearing agemates. Recorded vowel and speech samples were obtained from ten normal hearing children, ten severely to profoundly hearing-impaired children attending Oral/Aural educational programs, and eight severely to profoundly hearing-impaired children attending Total Connnunication programs. The degree of perceived vocal effort for vowels and speech was evaluated, using a nine point equal-appearing-interval scale. In order to obtain a physical measurement for vocal effort, a digital wave analyzer was used to produce vowel spectra, and the amount of inharmonic (noise) components in each spectrum was indexed as spectral noise level.The results indicated: 1) there is a positive and significant correlation of moderate strength between spectral noise levels and perceived degrees of vocal effort for samples of hearing-impaired and normal hearing children; 2) hearing-impaired children tend to demonstrate higher vowel spectral noise levels, although this difference was significant only for the vowel /u/ and not for the vowel /a./; 3 3) hearing-impaired children are perceived as demonstrating significantly more vocal effort than normal hearing children; 4) Total Communication hearing-impaired students cannot be significantly differentiated from Oral/Aural students in terms of spectral noise levels; and 5) Total Communication students are perceived as demonstrating significantly greater vocal effort than Oral/Aural students for the vowel /u/ and for speech.

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“…Elevated spectral noise levels and diminished harmonic components were associated with an increase in perceived rouglmess. Lively and Emanuel (1970) expressed…”

Section: Later Demonstrated Thatmentioning

confidence: 99%

A comparative study of the relative incidence of various vocal parameters among Black and white college females

Jacobs

2000

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The purpose of this study was to make a comparative investigation of the voice quality of black and white women. A review of the literature revealed considerable research has been conducted in the area of black-white language differences in the United States, but 2) Can ethnic group identity be ascertained according to perception of voice quality more often than expected by chance?Indexical information on the subjects was collected for the following variables: 1) age, 2) length of longest sustained phonation, 3) optimum pitch, 4) modal pitch, 5) relationship of modal pitch to optimum pitch, 6) lowest possible pitch, 7) highest possible pitch, and 8) pitch range in semitones. The data analysis revealed no statistically significant differences between black and white women regarding these variables.In the experiment involving the JHVP, fifty samples of women's voices {twenty-five Blacks and twenty-five Whites) were submitted to listener analyses of voice quality by ten women judges, two of whom were trained speech pathologists and eight were in training at the graduate level in speech pathology. The voice samples were heard by reverse audio tape playback to eliminate dialectical differences. The validity of the ratings of the J1IVP is questionable, based on the poor inter-judge reliability. Recognizing this qualification, the ratings were nevertheless submitted to data analysis with the following results: Statistically significant differences observed were that black women were more often rated as too low-pitched during speech, hyponasal, and more "severe," while white women were more often rated as too soft and too breathy. No difference in the incidence of perceived hoarseness was fom1d.In Uw second experiment, brief segments of each of the fifty women's voices were presented by reversed playback in a randomized order for a forced listener choice of ethnic identity: Black or White.The results indicated such identity could not be made at a greater than chance level.

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Spectral Noise Levels and Roughness Severity Ratings for Normal and Simulated Rough Vowels Produced by Adult Females

Cited by 59 publications

References 20 publications

Perceptual interaction of the harmonic source and noise in voice

Perceptual interaction of the harmonic source and noise in voice

Acoustical and perceptual correlates of vocal effort in normal hearing and hearing-impaired children

A comparative study of the relative incidence of various vocal parameters among Black and white college females

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