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Updated: Aug 14, 2026
10:16
Synthetic, Multi-Layer, Self-Oscillating Vocal Fold Model Fabrication
Published on: December 2, 2011
Perception of aperiodicities in synthetically generated voices
1RIT Research Corporation, Rochester, New York.
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
|June 1, 1988
Summary
This study reveals strong links between vocal roughness and pitch/amplitude variations, and breathiness with signal-to-noise ratio. Perceived vocal quality is influenced by perturbation amount and correlation, and is independent of spectral slope when signal-to-noise ratio is constant.
Area of Science:
- Acoustic Phonetics
- Speech Science
- Perceptual Acoustics
Background:
- Dysphonia, or voice disorder, is often characterized by perceptual deviations like roughness and breathiness.
- Understanding the acoustic correlates of these perceptual qualities is crucial for diagnosis and treatment.
- Previous research has explored relationships between acoustic parameters and voice quality, but nuances remain.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the univariate relationships between perceived dysphonia (roughness and breathiness) and specific acoustic variations.
- To examine the impact of pitch perturbation, amplitude perturbation, and additive noise on perceived voice quality.
- To explore how the correlation between adjacent perturbation values affects perceived roughness.
Main Methods:
- Generated sustained vowels using a time-domain, pitch-synchronous synthesis technique.
- Systematically varied pitch perturbation, amplitude perturbation, and additive noise in the synthesized stimuli.
- Utilized a panel of trained listeners to provide direct magnitude estimates of perceived roughness and breathiness.
Main Results:
- Found very strong relationships between perceived roughness and both pitch and amplitude perturbation.
- Demonstrated that the subjective quality of pitch perturbation differs from that of amplitude perturbation.
- Showed that perceived roughness is influenced by the amount and correlation of pitch/amplitude variations.
- Established a strong relationship between perceived breathiness and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).
- Observed no interaction between SNR and high-frequency energy content, contrary to some previous findings.
Conclusions:
- Perceived vocal roughness is strongly linked to pitch and amplitude perturbation, with distinct perceptual qualities for each.
- Perceived breathiness is primarily determined by the signal-to-noise ratio.
- The correlation of perturbation values plays a significant role in perceived voice quality.
- Acoustic analysis of voice perturbation and noise provides valuable insights into perceptual dysphonia.
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