The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics A Textbook of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutics for Physicians and Medical Students. By Prof. Louis Goodman and Prof. Alfred Gilman. Pp. xiii + 1383. (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1941.) 50s. net.

The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics

http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~julia/papers/Scherer03.pdf

Vocal communication of emotion: a review of research paradigms

Voice quality variations include a set of voicing sound source modifications ranging from laryngealized to normal to breathy phonation. Analysis of reiterant imitations of two sentences by ten female and six male talkers has shown that the potential acoustic cues to this type of voice quality variation include: (1) increases to the relative amplitude of the fundamental frequency component as open quotient increases; (2) increases to the amount of aspiration noise that replaces higher frequency harmonics as the arytenoids become more separated; (3) increases to lower formant bandwidths; and (4) introduction of extra pole zeros in the vocal-tract transfer function associated with tracheal coupling. Perceptual validation of the relative importance of these cues for signaling a breathy voice quality has been accomplished using a new voicing source model for synthesis of more natural male and female voices. The new formant synthesizer, KLSYN88, is fully documented here. Results of the perception study indicate that, contrary to previous research which emphasizes the importance of increased amplitude of the fundamental component, aspiration noise is perceptually most important. Without its presence, increases to the fundamental component may induce the sensation of nasality in a high-pitched voice. Further results of the acoustic analysis include the observations that: (1) over the course of a sentence, the acoustic manifestations of breathiness vary considerably--tending to increase for unstressed syllables, in utterance-final syllables, and at the margins of voiceless consonants; (2) on average, females are more breathy than males, but there are very large differences between subjects within each gender; (3) many utterances appear to end in a "breathy-laryngealized" type of vibration; and (4) diplophonic irregularities in the timing of glottal periods occur frequently, especially at the end of an utterance. Diplophonia and other deviations from perfect periodicity may be important aspects of naturalness in synthesis.

/pdf/analysis-synthesis-and-perception-of-voice-quality-1q0nbgfn1a.pdf

Analysis, synthesis, and perception of voice quality variations among female and male talkers

Reprint of: Extracellular matrix as a biological scaffold material: Structure and function.

The proposal of this basic protocol is an attempt to reach better agreement and uniformity concerning the methodology for functional assessment of pathologic voices. The purpose is to allow relevant comparisons with the literature when presenting / publishing the results of voice treatment, e.g. a phonosurgical technique, or a new / improved instrument or procedure for investigating the pathological voice. Meta-analyses of the results of voice treatments are generally limited and may even be impossible owing to the major diversity in the ways functional outcomes are assessed. A multidimensional set of minimal basic measurements suitable for all “common” dysphonias is proposed. It includes five different approaches: perception (grade, roughness, breathiness), videostroboscopy (closure, regularity, mucosal wave and symmetry), acoustics (jitter, shimmer, Fo-range and softest intensity), aerodynamics (phonation quotient), and subjective rating by the patient. The protocol is elaborated on the basis of an exhaustive review of the literature, of the experience of the Committee members, and of plenary discussions within the European Laryngological Society. Instrumentation is kept to a minimum, but it is considered essential for professionals performing phonosurgery.

/pdf/a-basic-protocol-for-functional-assessment-of-voice-27a8zvmdvj.pdf

A basic protocol for functional assessment of voice pathology, especially for investigating the efficacy of (phonosurgical) treatments and evaluating new assessment techniques. Guideline elaborated by the Committee on Phoniatrics of the European Laryngological Society (ELS).

Basic Anatomy of the Larynx. Biomechanics of Laryngeal Tissue. Fluid Flow in Respiratory Airways (Breathing). Vocal Fold Oscillation. Generation and Propagation of Sound. The Source-Filter Theory of Vowels. Voice Classification and Life Span Changes. Control of Fundamental Frequency. Control of Vocal Intensity and Efficiency. Vocal Registers. Fluctuations and Perturbations in Vocal Output. Voice Disorders.

Principles of voice production

A theory of vocal fold oscillation is developed on the basis of the body‐cover hypothesis. The cover is represented by a distributed surface layer that can propagate a mucosal surface wave. Linearization of the surface‐wave displacement and velocity, and further small‐amplitude approximations, yields closed‐form expressions for conditions of oscillation. The theory predicts that the lung pressure required to sustain oscillation, i.e., the oscillation threshold pressure, is reduced by reducing the mucosal wave velocity, by bringing the vocal folds closer together and by reducing the convergence angle in the glottis. The effect of vocal tract acoustic loading is included. It is shown that vocal tract inertance reduces the oscillation threshold pressure, whereas vocal tract resistance increases it. The treatment, which is applicable to falsetto and breathy voice, as well as onset or release of phonation in the absence of vocal fold collision, is harmonized with former treatments based on two‐mass models and ...

The physics of small‐amplitude oscillation of the vocal folds

Comparison is drawn between male and female larynges on the basis of overall size, vocal fold membranous length, elastic properties of tissue, and prephonatory glottal shape. Two scale factors are proposed that are useful for explaining differences in fundamental frequency, sound power, mean airflow, and glottal efficiency. Fundamental frequency is scaled primarily according to the membranous length of the vocal folds (scale factor of 1.6), whereas mean airflow, sound power, glottal efficiency, and amplitude of vibration include another scale factor (1.2) that relates to overall larynx size. Some explanations are given for observed sex differences in glottographic waveforms. In particular, the simulated (computer-modeled) vocal fold contact area is used to infer male-female differences in the shape of the glottis. The female glottis appears to converge more linearly (from bottom to top) than the male glottis, primarily because of medial surface bulging of the male vocal folds.

Physiologic and acoustic differences between male and female voices.

Populations in the U.S. workforce who rely on voice as a primary tool of trade: a preliminary report.

There have been considerable research efforts in the area of vocal tract modeling but there is still a small body of information regarding direct 3-D measurements of the vocal tract shape The purpose of this study was to acquire, using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), an inventory of speaker-specific, three-dimensional, vocal tract air space shapes that correspond to a particular set of vowels and consonants A set of 18 shapes was obtained for one male subject who vocalized while being scanned for 12 vowels, 3 nasals, and 3 plosives The 3-D shapes were analyzed to find the cross-sectional areas evaluated within planes always chosen to be perpendicular to the centerline extending from the glottis to the mouth to produce an "area function" This paper provides a speaker-specific catalogue of area functions for 18 vocal tract shapes Comparisons of formant locations extracted from the natural (recorded) speech of the imaged subject and from simulations using the newly acquired area functions show reasonable similarity but suggest that the imaged vocal tract shapes may be somewhat centralized Additionally, comparisons of the area functions reported in this study are compared with those from four previous studies and demonstrate general similarities in shape but also obvious differences that can be attributed to differences in imaging techniques, image processing methods, and anatomical differences of the imaged subjects

Ingo R. Titze

Papers

Principles of voice production

The physics of small‐amplitude oscillation of the vocal folds

Physiologic and acoustic differences between male and female voices.

Populations in the U.S. workforce who rely on voice as a primary tool of trade: a preliminary report.

Vocal tract area functions from magnetic resonance imaging