Vocal fold vibratory and acoustic features in fatigued Karaoke singers

Session 3aMU - Musical Acoustics and Speech Communication: Singing Voice in Asian CulturesKaraoke is a popular singing entertainment particularly in Asia and is gaining more popularity in the rest of world. In Karaoke, an amateur singer sings with the background music and video (usually guided by the lyric captions on the video screen) played by Karaoke machine, using a microphone and an amplification system. As the Karaoke singers usually have no formal training, they may be more vulnerable to vocal fatigue as they may overuse and/or misuse their voices in the intensive and extensive singing activities. It is unclear whether vocal fatigue is accompanied by any vibration pattern or physiological changes of vocal folds. In this study, 20 participants aged from 18 to 23 years with normal voice were recruited to participate in an prolonged singing task, which induced vocal fatigue. High speed laryngscopic imaging and acoustic signals were recorded before and after the singing task. Images of /i/ phonation were quantitatively analyzed using the High Speed Video Processing (HSVP) program (Yiu, et al. 2010). It was found that the glottis became relatively narrower following fatigue, while the acoustic signals were not sensitive to measure change following fatigue. © 2012 Acoustical Society of Americapublished_or_final_versio

Concept and considerations of a medical device:the active noise cancelling incubator

Background: An increasingly 24/7 connected and urbanised world has created a silent pandemic of noise-induced hearing loss. Ensuring survival to children born (extremely) preterm is crucial. The incubator is a closed medical device, modifying the internal climate, and thus providing an environment for the child, as safe, warm, and comfortable as possible. While sound outside the incubator is managed and has decreased over the years, managing the noise inside the incubator is still a challenge.Method: Using active noise cancelling in an incubator will eliminate unwanted sounds (i.e., from the respirator and heating) inside the incubator, and by adding sophisticated algorithms, normal human speech, neonatal intensive care unit music-based therapeutic interventions, and natural sounds will be sustained for the child in the pod. Applying different methods such as active noise cancelling, motion capture, sonological engineering. and sophisticated machine learning algorithms will be implemented in the development of the incubator. Projected Results: A controlled and active sound environment in and around the incubator can in turn promote the wellbeing, neural development, and speech development of the child and minimise distress caused by unwanted noises. While developing the hardware and software pose individual challenges, it is about the system design and aspects contributing to it. On the one hand, it is crucial to measure the auditory range and frequencies in the incubator, as well as the predictable sounds that will have to be played back into the environment. On the other, there are many technical issues that have to be addressed when it comes to algorithms, datasets, delay, microphone technology, transducers, convergence, tracking, impulse control and noise rejection, noise mitigation stability, detection, polarity, and performance.Conclusion: Solving a complex problem like this, however, requires a de-disciplinary approach, where each discipline will realise its own shortcomings and boundaries, and in turn will allow for innovations and new avenues. Technical developments used for building the active noise cancellation-incubator have the potential to contribute to improved care solutions for patients, both infants and adults. Code available at: 10.3389/fped.2023.1187815.</p

A Simulation Environment to Evaluate the Effect of Secondary Source Coupling for Noise Reduction in an Automotive Application

Passenger comfort has always been of pivotal importance in the interior design of an automobile. A critical aspect in reaching this goal in the automotive industry is the design and implementation of an effective active sound management system with the ability to personalize the acoustic environment inside the car. This, in turn, requires designing an active noise control (ANC) system to mitigate the unwanted noise and an active sound profiling system to implement the desired sound. Due to the complexity of the sound field inside the car cabin, having a high-fidelity model that reflects all details is a challenging task. Therefore, in this paper, we develop a simulation platform to be able to evaluate the performance of the ANC system and the distribution of the sound field as a result of this mechanism. This helps to get a better insight into the behaviours of the sound field inside the cabin before its actual implementation. One important feature of this model, which may also have a significant effect on the performance of the ANC system, is the inclusion of a full-scale numerical model of the loudspeaker. The realistic model of the loudspeaker developed in this way allows to model the effect of loudspeaker coupling in an enclosed space and investigate its effect on the ANC system. The model is compared against the simplified mathematical model of the enclosure developed in the previous work by the authors to see how the approximate geometry and simplified model of the loudspeaker would degrade the performance of the ANC system and measure the changes in the acoustic radiation impedance of the loudspeaker

Ultra-high-speed imaging of bubbles interacting with cells and tissue

Ultrasound contrast microbubbles are exploited in molecular imaging, where bubbles are directed to target cells and where their high-scattering cross section to ultrasound allows for the detection of pathologies at a molecular level. In therapeutic applications vibrating bubbles close to cells may alter the permeability of cell membranes, and these systems are therefore highly interesting for drug and gene delivery applications using ultrasound. In a more extreme regime bubbles are driven through shock waves to sonoporate or kill cells through intense stresses or jets following inertial bubble collapse. Here, we elucidate some of the underlying mechanisms using the 25-Mfps camera Brandaris128, resolving the bubble dynamics and its interactions with cells. We quantify acoustic microstreaming around oscillating bubbles close to rigid walls and evaluate the shear stresses on nonadherent cells. In a study on the fluid dynamical interaction of cavitation bubbles with adherent cells, we find that the nonspherical collapse of bubbles is responsible for cell detachment. We also visualized the dynamics of vibrating microbubbles in contact with endothelial cells followed by fluorescent imaging of the transport of propidium iodide, used as a membrane integrity probe, into these cells showing a direct correlation between cell deformation and cell membrane permeability

The transmission of music into the human uterus and the response to music of the human fetus and neonate

The aim of this study was to investigate whether music influences human life before birth. In order to determine the existence and character of music in the uterine acoustic environment, a study was conducted involving the insertion of a hydrophone through the cervix, next to the fetal head. The investigation was conducted on eight women in early labour. The average residual uterine sound of the eight subjects was measured at 65 dBA (A-weighted) re 20 µ.Pa in a 1 O KHz band, RMS averaged over 32-second records. Above this emerged the maternal voice, an external female voice and a male voice presented at approximately 65 dB (linear weighted). Pure tones between 50 Hz and 1 O KHz and orchestral music, all presented at 80 dB (linear weighted), were also shown to emerge above the residual uterine sound. Attenuation of external sound was observed to vary as a function of frequency, with less attenuation of lower frequencies. It was determined that the music was transmitted into the uterus without sufficient distortion to significantly alter the recognisable characteristics of the music. The fetal heart rate (FHA) response to a music stimulus (MS) and a vibroacoustic stimulus (VS) was measured in 40 subjects. Gestational age of the fetuses ranged from 32 to 42 weeks. The study included a control period with no acoustic stimulation; a period with the presentation of 5 music stimuli; and a period with the presentation of 5 vibroacoustic stimuli. A change in the FHA of 15 beats per minute or greater, lasting 15 seconds and occurring within 15 seconds of at least 2 of the 5 stimuli (or a tachycardia of greater than 15 beats per minute above the resting baseline, sustained for one minute or longer) was considered to be a positive response. The MS elicited a positive response in 35 of the fetuses (the 5 non-responses occurring in a period of low FHA variability) and all 40 fetuses responded to the VS (regardless of arousal state). In the third study, mothers attending childbirth education classes volunteered to listen to a prescribed music excerpt twice daily from the 34th week of pregnancy. Ten neonates (all clinically normal) were tested betw~en the 2nd and 5th day after birth. Investigators observed the effect of two music sti:Tiuli, the prescribed stimulus and a non-prescribed stimulus, on neonatal sucking of a non-nutritive nipple. A five-minute control period with no stimulation was compared with a ten-minute period during which two music stimuli were presented. By random allocation, either the prescribed music stimulus (PM) or the nonprescribed music (NM) was presented contingent upon sucking pressure. If a sucking burst was initiated, the PM stimulus was activated. On cessation of sucking, the NM stimulus was activated. Randomly, the procedure would be reversed for some of the subjects, where initiation of sucking activated the NM stimulus and cessation of sucking activated the PM stimulus. It was determined that the inter-burst intervals during the music period were significantly extended when coinciding with the PM stimulus and significantly shortened when coinciding with the NM stimulus.The studies indicated that music is transmitted into the uterus with insufficient distortion to alter the character of the music; that the normal fetus responds to a music stimulus from at least the 32nd week of gestation; and that the neonate alters the normal sucking pattern to activate longer periods of a music stimulus which has been repeatedly presented during the intrauterine stage and shorter periods of a novel music stimulus

Models and analysis of vocal emissions for biomedical applications

This book of Proceedings collects the papers presented at the 3rd International Workshop on Models and Analysis of Vocal Emissions for Biomedical Applications, MAVEBA 2003, held 10-12 December 2003, Firenze, Italy. The workshop is organised every two years, and aims to stimulate contacts between specialists active in research and industrial developments, in the area of voice analysis for biomedical applications. The scope of the Workshop includes all aspects of voice modelling and analysis, ranging from fundamental research to all kinds of biomedical applications and related established and advanced technologies