Explore the vast range of titles available.

Starting from the communication characteristics of piano music culture in colleges and universities, this paper proposes a piano music signal detection technology that includes two parts: note onset and fundamental frequency detection. Based on the characteristics of the harmonic structure of the music signal, the degree of harmonic matching between the signal to be recognized and the standard note signal is calculated, and the task of multi-fundamental frequency estimation is accomplished by using the timbre characteristics and harmonic structure. The detection technology of piano music signals is applied to the recognition of teaching short notes, playing music and playing evaluation to get a new model of piano music teaching in colleges and universities. The results show that the algorithm in this paper can recognize piano music correctly by more than 91%, and the method has no obvious decrease in recognition rate in the process of gradually increasing noise, which is conducive to improving the effect of piano music teaching in colleges and universities.

This study investigates the intonational patterns of Qassimi Arabic (QA), a dialect spoken in central Saudi Arabia, using the Autosegmental–Metrical (AM) framework. It identifies characteristic intonational contours in declarative and yes/no questions and compares these with patterns found in other Arabic dialects. Twenty native QA speakers (10 male, 10 female) participated by reading structured stimuli designed to elicit natural declarative and interrogative prosody. Acoustic analysis was conducted using Praat to examine fundamental frequency (F0) contours and boundary tones. Results indicate that declarative sentences in QA typically end with low boundary tones (L-L%, L%), while yes/no questions display rising contours (L-H%, H-H%). Statistical analysis confirmed that F0 values in interrogative sentences were significantly higher than those in declaratives across all speakers, regardless of gender. These findings align broadly with patterns observed in other Arabic dialects such as Hijazi, Egyptian, and Lebanese Arabic, while also revealing dialect-specific nuances in QA. This research contributes to the theoretical phonology of Arabic by expanding empirical coverage to a previously undocumented variety and supports the applicability of the AM framework in describing Arabic prosody.

A low-resource emotional speech synthesis system for empathetic speech synthesis based on modelling prosody features is presented here. Secondary emotions, identified to be needed for empathetic speech, are modelled and synthesised in this investigation. As secondary emotions are subtle in nature, they are difficult to model compared to primary emotions. This study is one of the few to model secondary emotions in speech as they have not been extensively studied so far. Current speech synthesis research uses large databases and deep learning techniques to develop emotion models. There are many secondary emotions, and hence, developing large databases for each of the secondary emotions is expensive. Hence, this research presents a proof of concept using handcrafted feature extraction and modelling of these features using a low-resource-intensive machine learning approach, thus creating synthetic speech with secondary emotions. Here, a quantitative-model-based transformation is used to shape the emotional speech’s fundamental frequency contour. Speech rate and mean intensity are modelled via rule-based approaches. Using these models, an emotional text-to-speech synthesis system to synthesise five secondary emotions-anxious, apologetic, confident, enthusiastic and worried-is developed. A perception test to evaluate the synthesised emotional speech is also conducted. The participants could identify the correct emotion in a forced response test with a hit rate greater than 65%.

Acoustic wave resonators have become suitable devices for a broad range of sensing applications due to their sensitivity, low cost, and integration capability, which are all factors that meet the requirements for the resonators to be used as sensing elements for portable point of care (PoC) platforms. In this work, the design, characterization, and validation of a 150 MHz high fundamental frequency quartz crystal microbalance (HFF-QCM) sensor for bio-sensing applications are introduced. Finite element method (FEM) simulations of the proposed design are in good agreement with the electrical characterization of the manufactured resonators. The sensor is also validated for bio-sensing applications. For this purpose, a specific sensor cell was designed and manufactured that addresses the critical requirements associated with this type of sensor and application. Due to the small sensing area and the sensor’s fragility, these requirements include a low-volume flow chamber in the nanoliter range, and a system approach that provides the appropriate pressure control for assuring liquid confinement while maintaining the integrity of the sensor with a good base line stability and easy sensor replacement. The sensor characteristics make it suitable for consideration as the elemental part of a sensor matrix in a multichannel platform for point of care applications.

Contact author: Houri K. Vorperian, 481 Waisman Center, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53705. E-mail: vorperian{at}waisman.wisc.edu . Purpose: This article integrates published acoustic data on the development of vowel production. Age specific data on formant frequencies are considered in the light of information on the development of the vocal tract (VT) to create an anatomic–acoustic description of the maturation of the vowel acoustic space for English. Method: Literature searches identified 14 studies reporting data on vowel formant frequencies. Data on corner vowels are summarized graphically to show age- and sex- related changes in the area and shape of the traditional vowel quadrilateral. Conclusions: Vowel development is expressed as follows: (a) establishment of a language-appropriate acoustic representation (e.g., F1–F2 quadrilateral or F1–F2–F3 space), (b) gradual reduction in formant frequencies and F1–F2 area with age, (c) reduction in formant-frequency variability, (d) emergence of male–female differences in formant frequency by age 4 years with more apparent differences by 8 years, (e) jumps in formant frequency at ages corresponding to growth spurts of the VT, and (f) a decline of f 0 after age 1 year, with the decline being more rapid during early childhood and adolescence. Questions remain about optimal procedures for VT normalization and the exact relationship between VT growth and formant frequencies. Comments are included on nasalization and vocal fundamental frequency as they relate to the development of vowel production. KEY WORDS: vowels, speech development, formant frequencies, nasalization, vocal fundamental frequency, vocal tract development CiteULike     Connotea     Del.icio.us     Digg     Facebook     Reddit     Technorati     Twitter     What's this?

The variation of 2D fundamental frequency of stand-alone structure on rock \\[ ({F}_{{02{\\text{D}}}^{\\text{S}} ) \\] and in a basin \\[ ({F}_{{02{\\text{D}}}^{\\text{BS}} ) \\] with the polarization of the incident S-wave is presented. This paper also presents the role of city density and polarization of the exciting S-wave in the site–city interaction effects on the response of structures in a city as well as free-field motion. The seismic responses of the various considered basin and site–city models are computed using SH-wave and P-SV-wave finite-difference programs. A considerable decrease in the value of \\[ {F}_{{02{\\text{D}}}^{\\text{S}} \\] of stand-alone structure on rock is obtained with the increase in shape ratio for the SV-wave but not for the SH-wave, as compared to the 1D fundamental frequency of structure (\\[ {F}_{{01{\\text{D}}}^{\\text{S}} \\]). However, a considerable decrease in the value of \\[ {F}_{{02{\\text{D}}}^{\\text{BS}} \\] of a stand-alone structure in basin under double resonance condition is obtained for the SH-wave and not for the SV-wave. The spectral amplification factor at the top of a structure at \\[ {F}_{{02{\\text{D}}}^{\\text{BS}} \\] of structure is larger for the SV-wave as compared to the SH-wave. A splitting of the bandwidth of the fundamental mode of vibration of structure and very large reduction in spectral amplification factor at \\[ {F}_{{02{\\text{D}}}^{\\text{BS}} \\] of structure is obtained due to the site–city interaction effects under double resonance condition for both the S-wave polarizations. Further, an increase in these inferred effects with an increase in city density and number of structures in a city with a constant city density is obtained. This finding raises the question concerning the validity of ground-motion prediction using soil–structure interaction for the design of structures in an urban environment. Further, the decrease in spectral amplification factor at \\[ {F}_{{02{\\text{D}}}^{\\text{BS}} \\] of structure due to the site–city interaction effects is larger in the case of SV-wave as compared to SH-wave. Furthermore, a considerable site–city interaction effects on free-field motion is obtained.

This paper presents findings for the tonal contrast and phonation differences between words with and without stød in Livonian spontaneous speech. Livonian differentiates between two contrastive phonological tones: the broken tone or stød and the plain tone. Stød is similar to the Danish stød in some respects and is said to be part of the tone systems of the phonologies of languages in the Baltic region. The findings show that the tonal contrast between words with and without stød tends to be neutralised in Livonian spontaneous speech, but there are individual differences between speakers and also differences between men and women. The most common non-modal phonation period categories in words with stød are creaky and tense. The results also indicate that stød disappears when the word has no prominence.

Aims Left ventricular assist device (LVAD) is a common treatment option for patients with heart failure waiting for a donor heart. Living with an LVAD is associated with many burdens and worries. Patients often depend on the support of their relatives, usually their spouses. This can also put a strain on the spouses and be associated with psychological stress for both. In couples, communication proves to be an important form of emotional support. Besides verbal aspects of communication, the extent of emotional arousal (f0) that is vocally encoded plays an essential role as a non‐verbal aspect of communication. This study aims to investigate the psychological impact of LVAD on couples in investigating to what extent depression, anxiety, and fear of progression (FoP) differ between patients and partners, the intrapersonal and interpersonal associations of anxiety, depression, and FoP, and differences in emotional arousal. Methods and results In this cross‐sectional study, male LVAD patients and their female partners (N = 21 couples) responded to self‐report questionnaires on depression, anxiety, and FoP. Emotional arousal (f0) was evaluated during social support interactions between both spouses. Female partners experienced more anxiety than male patients (P = 0.016). No differences occurred in depression (P = 0.967) and FoP (P = 0.084). Regarding intrapersonal associations, for patients, correlations appeared between anxiety and depression (r = 0.859, P = 0.000), anxiety and FoP (r = 0.730, P = 0.000), and depression and FoP (r = 0.608, P = 0.004). For caregivers, correlations appeared between anxiety and depression (r = 0.906, P = 0.000), anxiety and FoP (r = 0.665, P = 0.001), and depression and FoP (r = 0.734, P = 0.000). Regarding interpersonal associations, correlations were found between patient's anxiety and caregiver's anxiety (r = 0.461, P = 0.041), caregiver's depression (r = 0.510, P = 0.018), and caregiver's FoP (r = 0.524, P = 0.015). Non‐significant correlations were found for caregiver's anxiety and patient's FoP (r = 0.404, P = 0.078) and patient's depression (r = 0.286, P = 0.236). Patient's depression was associated with caregiver's FoP (r = 0.526, P = 0.017), but not with caregiver's depression (r = 0.337, P = 0.146). No significant correlations were found between caregiver's depression and patient's FoP (r = 0.386, P = 0.084) and patient's depression (r = 0.337, P = 0.146). Patient's and caregiver's FoP showed significant associations (r = 0.482, P = 0.027). Patient's and partner's f0 were interrelated. Patient's f0 was positively related with his own and his partner's psychological distress. Partner's f0 showed associations to her own depression and FoP. Conclusions Findings indicate that women of LVAD patients are burdened similarly or even to a greater extent than men themselves. Women's psychological distress has an impact on patients' psychological distress and vice versa. Early interventions for both patient and partner represent a necessary intervention target.

The conventional travelling wave protection is susceptible to the high frequency transient quantities, which can reduce the protection reliability. A directional-relay algorithm based on positive sequence superimposed components is proposed in this study. In microprocessor relays, the extraction of fundamental frequency voltages and currents is, conventionally, provided by phasor estimation methods such as the Fourier algorithm. The common required time for fault detection in these relays is approximately one to two cycles. This study presents a high-speed algorithm for the extraction of fundamental frequency positive sequence voltages and currents superimposed components based on Park transformation. In the meantime, specially designed high speed algorithms to solve the difficult problems that exist in a real system are proposed. Extensive simulations are performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm. The results show that the algorithm is fast and reliable for power transmission line protections. Also it is immune to fault resistances and system condition.

The relationships between human voice parameters and body dimensions have been previously described, but the connections between voice and face geometry remain poorly researched. This study aims to determine the relationships between face dimensions and acoustic parameters in both sexes and examines 111 adult participants (30 males). Each participant undergoes voice recording, which includes five sustained vowels, along with anthropometric measurements of the neck, head, and face regions. Comparisons between voice parameters and the head, face, and neck regions are conducted employing Pearson’s correlation coefficients (r) and a multiple linear regression model. The results reveal significant relationships between head, neck, face dimensions and acoustic parameters in both sexes. Males with higher noses, greater head circumferences, and wider faces tend to have lower formants and more stable voices. Females with larger head circumferences had lower formant values, and those with greater neck circumferences tend to have more stable voices. Also, females with increased nose height have a lower fourth formant (F4). Moreover, females with wider faces, noses, and jaws tend to have less rough voices (lower jitter) and longer maximum phonation time (MPT). These findings may be useful for scientists and law enforcement authorities in creating algorithms that build face models based on voice signals.