Expression of emotion and attitude through temporal speech variations

The present study investigates temporal characteristics of speech conveying emotion and attitude. First, a production study was conducted at the global level of the whole utterance, determining the production values of "global speech rate" for each emotion and attitude involved in the study. A perception study was also carried out at this global level, seeking perceptually optimal "global speech rate" values for conveying each emotion and attitude. Perception and production values were compared. Second, as more local information inside utterances might be specific to particular emotions or attitudes, the study went a step further with the analysis of "local speech rate" relative to neutrality, considering accented and nonaccented speech segments separately. The perceptual relevance of variations in "local speech rate relative to neutrality" was then tested in a perception experiment. Both global and local variations appeared to be relevant for conveying emotions and attitudes in speech.</p

Synthesis of breathy vowels: some research methods.

Abstract. When vowels are synthesised by means of a source-filter model, a delta-pulse train is often used as a source signal. Although breathiness can to some extent be simulated by using a sophisticated glottal-source model, a more natural simulation of breathiness requires the addition of aspiration noise. When stationary noise is used, however, the noise is to a large extent perceived as coming from a separate sound source which hardly contributes to the breathy timbre of the vowel. This problem can be solved by using noise with a temporal envelope of the same periodicity as the pulse train. In a simple source-filter model, a combination of lowpass-filtered pulses and synchronous highpass-filtered noise bursts of equal energy was used as a source signal. In this way, the noise was no longer perceived as a separate sound, but integrated perceptually with the strictly periodic part of the signal. It will be shown that this integration consists of both a reduction of the loudness of the separate noise stream and a timbre change in the breathy vowel. Zusammenfassung. Bei der Synthese von Vokalen mit einem Quellen-Filtermodell wird als Quellensigna[ oft eine Deltapulsfolge verwendet. Obwohl eine hauchige Stimme bis zu einem gewissen Grad mit einem verfeinerten Glottal-Quellenmodell simuliert werden kann, erfordert eine natiirlich klingende Simulation doch die Addition yon Rauschen. Wenn zu diesem Zweck allerdings station~ires Rauschen verwendet wird, wird dieses meist als yon einer getrennten Signalquelle stammend wahrgenommen und tr~gt damit kaum zum Eindruck eines gehauchten Vokals bei. Dieses Problem kann dadurch gelOst werden, dab das Rauschen mit einer zeitlichen Einhiillenden versehen wird, deren Periodizit~it dieselbe ist wie die der Pulsfolge. In einem einfachen Quellen-Filtermodell wurde eine Kombination yon tiefpaBgefilterten Pulsen und synchronen hochpal~gefilterten Rauschpulsen mit dergleichen Energie als Quellensignal verwendet. Dadurch wurde das Rauschen nicht mehr als getrenntes Signal wahrgenommen, sondern perzeptiv mit dem periodischen Signalanteil integriert. In dem Beitrag wird gezeigt, dab diese Verschmelzung einerseits auf einer Verringerung der Lautheit des Rauschsignals und andererseits auf einer Klangfarben~inderung im gehauchten Vokal beruht. R6sum6. La synth6se de voyelles au moyen d&apos;un mod61e source-filtre s&apos;effectue souvent avec un train d&apos;impulsions delta comme signal d&apos;entr6e. Bien que des modules sophistiqu6s de la source glottale puissent ~tre employ6s, dans une certaine mesure, afin de simuler une voix souffi6e, une simulation plus naturelle exige l&apos;addition d&apos;un bruit d&apos;aspiration. Cependant, lorsqu&apos;un bruit stationnaire est employ6, il sera per~u en bonne partie comme provenant d&apos;une source sonore s6par6e qui ne contribue pas au timbre souffi6 de la voyelle. Ce probl6me peut 6tre r6solu en utilisant un bruit ayant une enveloppe temporelle de la m6me p6riodicit6 que le train d&apos;impulsions. Dans un simple mod61e source-filtre, des impulsions filtr6es passe-bas combin6es ~ un bruit pulsatif synchrone filtr6 passe-haut ~ 6nergie 6galis6e ont 6t6 employ6es comme signal de source. De cette fa~on, le bruit n&apos;est plus per~u s6par6ment, mais est int6gr6 perceptuellement ~t la partie strietement p6riodique du signal. II sera d6montr6 que cette int6gration consiste ~ la lois en une r6duction de la force sonore du bruit et en une alt6ration du timbre de la voyelle souffi6e

Interactive sonification of curve shape and curvature data

Abstract. This paper presents a number of different sonification approaches that aim to communicate geometrical data, specifically curve shape and curvature information, of virtual 3-D objects. The system described here is part of a multi-modal augmented reality environment in which users interact with virtual models through the modalities vision, hearing and touch. An experiment designed to assess the performance of the sonification strategies is described and the key findings are presented and discussed

Timing Of Pitch Movements And Accentuation Of Syllables

In this study, the relation is investigated between the timing of a rising or falling pitch movement and the syllable it accentuates. The experiments were carried out with the five-syllable utterance /mamamamama/ provided with a rising or falling pitch movement. The timing of the pitch movement was systematically varied and subjects were asked to indicate which syllable they perceived as accented. In order to find out where in the pitch movement the cue which induces the percept of accentuation is located, the duration of the pitch movement was varied