Methodological considerations concerning manual annotation of musical audio in function of algorithm development

In research on musical audio-mining, annotated music databases are needed which allow the development of computational tools that extract from the musical audiostream the kind of high-level content that users can deal with in Music Information Retrieval (MIR) contexts. The notion of musical content, and therefore the notion of annotation, is ill-defined, however, both in the syntactic and semantic sense. As a consequence, annotation has been approached from a variety of perspectives (but mainly linguistic-symbolic oriented), and a general methodology is lacking. This paper is a step towards the definition of a general framework for manual annotation of musical audio in function of a computational approach to musical audio-mining that is based on algorithms that learn from annotated data. 1

Compressive Sampling of Speech Signals

Compressive sampling is an evolving technique that promises to effectively recover a sparsesignal from far fewer measurements than its dimension. The compressive sampling theoryassures almost an exact recovery of a sparse signal if the signal is sensed randomly where thenumber of the measurements taken is proportional to the sparsity level and a log factor of thesignal dimension. Encouraged by this emerging technique, we study the application ofcompressive sampling to speech signals.The speech signal is very dense in its natural domain; however speech residuals obtainedfrom linear prediction analysis of speech are nearly sparse. We apply compressive sampling tospeech signals, not directly but on the speech residuals obtained by conventional and robustlinear prediction techniques. We use a random measurement matrix to acquire the data then use§¤-1 minimization algorithms to recover the data. The recovered residuals are then used tosynthesize the speech signal. It was found that the compressive sampling process successfullyrecovers speech recorded both in clean and noisy environments. We further show that the qualityof the speech resulting from the compressed sampling process can be considerably enhanced byspectrally shaping the error spectrum. The recovered speech quality is said to be of high qualitywith SNR up to 15 dB at a compression factor of 0.4

SYNTACTIC TRANSLATION STRATEGIES IN ENGLISH-INDONESIAN ASEAN CHARTER

This research was carried out to analyze the syntactic translation strategies applied in English-Indonesian ASEAN Charter document. This research also aimed to find out which strategy is most often used and its possible reason. This research is based on the theory of syntactic strategies by Andrew Chesterman (2016, p. 91). The researcher used a qualitative method. The data used in this research is in the form of text on the ASEAN Charter document. This research showed that there are 8 syntactic strategies used in the English-Indonesian ASEAN Charter. Those are literal translation (33%), loan and calque (31%), transposition (8%), unit shift (14%), phrase structure change (8%), clause structure change (0,38%), level shift (1%), and scheme change (5%). Literal translation is the most widely applied in this research because this strategy is an appropriate strategy to translate a legal document

Assessing Electronic Voice Phenomena through Speech Science

Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) are unexplained voices captured on audio recording, allegedly paranormal in nature (Buckner & Buckner, 2012). Little research exists on listener’s perception of EVPs to date. The field of speech science involves the study of the production, transmission, and perception of human speech. Many concrete elements from the study of speech science have the potential to be applied to the interpretation of EVP content. Several works of literature were reviewed to assess current EVP analysis practices Interviews were conducted with various paranormal investigation societies across the nation to gather information on the general practices involved in EVP collection, analysis, interpretation, and use. Responses collected through interviews with paranormal investigators suggests that the process of collecting and identifying an EVP is a thorough and systematic process, but the interpretation process is lacking. No societies report experience collaborating with a speech professional or utilizing speech analysis in order to assist in their interpretation. Research is warranted on listeners’ perception of the smaller units and elements of speech and the reliability across listeners, as well as acoustical analysis of EVP speech content

Frame Theory for Signal Processing in Psychoacoustics

This review chapter aims to strengthen the link between frame theory and signal processing tasks in psychoacoustics. On the one side, the basic concepts of frame theory are presented and some proofs are provided to explain those concepts in some detail. The goal is to reveal to hearing scientists how this mathematical theory could be relevant for their research. In particular, we focus on frame theory in a filter bank approach, which is probably the most relevant view-point for audio signal processing. On the other side, basic psychoacoustic concepts are presented to stimulate mathematicians to apply their knowledge in this field

Tonal-Atonal Equilibrium: Reginald Smith Brindle’s \u3ci\u3eHarmony of Peace\u3c/i\u3e (1979) and \u3ci\u3eEl Polifemo de oro\u3c/i\u3e (1956)

Reginald Smith Brindle once claimed that “a whole generation [of composers] dedicated their efforts in one way or another to the exploration of the field between tonality and atonality, and to the integration of serialism into a more accessible language.” But how was such integration actually to be achieved? Chapter 1 addresses this question from a music-theoretical perspective. In an attempt to explain how post-tonal harmonic progressions might “make sense,” Smith Brindle himself formulated theories of tension flow and tonal-atonal equilibrium in his 1966 textbook, Serial Composition. The former theory compares the number of consonant and/or dissonant intervals between chords, albeit without providing a consistent means of distinguishing between similar sonorities; the latter observes that various musical passages strike a balance between functional and non-functional harmony, albeit without explaining the nature of said balance (or, indeed, what it is for something to be functional or non-functional). While his ideas are evocative, they lack theoretical finesse. Placing them in dialogue with recent developments in post-tonal scholarship helps to unlock their potential. Joseph Straus’s theory of voice leading in set-class space, for example, defines tension flow more rigorously: coherent post-tonal progressions often move smoothly from an initial, chromatically compact set class to one that is more open and spacious. To my mind, sets of the latter type often resemble traditional seventh chords; they contain a tritone that requires resolution. If this tritone resolves to a third, then a contrapuntal resolution takes place, even if that third is housed in a dissonant harmony. Smith Brindle’s concept of tonal-atonal equilibrium neatly captures this effect—of simultaneous melodic release and increased harmonic tension. I explore the practical implications of these ideas through analysis of The Harmony of Peace from Smith Brindle’s Ten Simple Preludes (1979) and the first fragment of his El Polifemo de oro (1956). I conclude the chapter, however, with an analysis of the latter piece’s third fragment, in which tonal-atonal equilibrium is manifested by non-dodecaphonic means. Rather than clinging to serialism unthinkingly, Smith Brindle uses it as a creative spur to craft his own system and affects

SOUND MATTERS: AURAL RHETORIC IN PHARMACEUTICAL ADVERTISING (TOWARD A THEORY AND METHOD OF AURALACY)

As scholarly theories and explorations of visuality continue to grow in prominence within the discourse on multimodal communication, a gap remains in the literature regarding the affective qualities of sound in multimedia messages. The following study attempts to address this gap and likewise propose a theory of auralacy (aural literacy) by examining the audiovisual interactions present in three different pharmaceutical commercials. This study begins by examining literature regarding Gestalt perceptual theory, with emphasis on its origins, historical developments, and current status in perceptual research. The literature shows that perceptual wholes may be formed visually, tactilely, aurally, or even intermodally. After reviewing this literature, a holistic methodology is presented for the interpretation of multimodal messages. Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen`s Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design is invoked to help analyze on-screen movement of visuals in the pharmaceutical commercials, and Leonard Meyer`s principles of pattern perception--derived from Gestalt theory and set forth in Emotion and Meaning and Music--are brought to bear on the advertisement`s soundscapes. The affective qualities of each soundscape are examined, including music, narration, and sound effects. A visual strategy for presenting audiovisual interaction, dubbed as the movement analysis, is used to help foreground the aural mode and display patterns of movement and shape. This study concludes with a discussion of auralacy as an important tool for understanding contemporary composition and communication, as well as potential directions for further developing the movement analysis

The Influence of Personality Traits and Language Learning Strategies toward Students’ Speaking Ability at Language Development Center of UIN SUSKA Riau.

The main purpose of this research was to find out the influence of student’s personality traits and language learning strategy toward their speaking ability at the second level students of Language Development Center of UIN SUSKA Riau. This research was a Correlational Research which consisted of three variables; two independent variables, which were students’ personality traits and language learning strategy, and one dependent variable which was the students’ speaking ability. The respondents of the research were 124 students of psychology faculty of UIN SUSKA Riau. The sampling technique used in this research was total sampling technique. The instruments used to obtain the data were two questionnaires to measure students’ personality traits and language learning strategy and an interview to measure their speaking ability. The data presented were extroversion which was the most dominant personality trait and metacognitive which was found to be the most dominant strategy used by the students. Besides, the students’ speaking ability was in medium level. After analysing the data by using simple regression, the finding showed that conscientiousness and metacognitive had a major influence toward speaking ability. It also indicated that there was a significant influence of students’ personality traits and language learning strategy toward their speaking ability, in which F= 5.734, p=0.004<0.05. Then the percentage of the influence of students’ personality traits and language learning strategy was R 2 =0.087 (8.7% ). Therefore, an alternative hypothesis was accepted and the null hypothesis was rejected

Engineering data compendium. Human perception and performance. User's guide

The concept underlying the Engineering Data Compendium was the product of a research and development program (Integrated Perceptual Information for Designers project) aimed at facilitating the application of basic research findings in human performance to the design and military crew systems. The principal objective was to develop a workable strategy for: (1) identifying and distilling information of potential value to system design from the existing research literature, and (2) presenting this technical information in a way that would aid its accessibility, interpretability, and applicability by systems designers. The present four volumes of the Engineering Data Compendium represent the first implementation of this strategy. This is the first volume, the User's Guide, containing a description of the program and instructions for its use

Models and Analysis of Vocal Emissions for Biomedical Applications

The MAVEBA Workshop proceedings, held on a biannual basis, collect the scientific papers presented both as oral and poster contributions, during the conference. The main subjects are: development of theoretical and mechanical models as an aid to the study of main phonatory dysfunctions, as well as the biomedical engineering methods for the analysis of voice signals and images, as a support to clinical diagnosis and classification of vocal pathologies