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A speech therapy support tool based on spectral density adjustment

Stålberg, Erik LU and Lidström, Artur (2021) In Master's Theses in Mathematical Sciences FMSM01 20211
Mathematical Statistics
Abstract
The purpose of this work is to expand the toolbox of speech language pathologists and give them the ability to redesign a patient’s voice to a healthier sounding one, thereby giving the patient a target voice to strive towards. A modified voice is generated by applying a finite impulse response (FIR) filter, altering the spectrum of the patient’s voice. In order to facilitate the filter design process, a periodogram is presented with the fundamental frequency and the first few harmonics indicated, estimated with the SWIPE’ method. This way, the therapist gets a visual representation of the voice, which may help with diagnosis. With the filter applied, the patient also gets to hear how a ”healthier” version of their own voice may sound. A... (More)
The purpose of this work is to expand the toolbox of speech language pathologists and give them the ability to redesign a patient’s voice to a healthier sounding one, thereby giving the patient a target voice to strive towards. A modified voice is generated by applying a finite impulse response (FIR) filter, altering the spectrum of the patient’s voice. In order to facilitate the filter design process, a periodogram is presented with the fundamental frequency and the first few harmonics indicated, estimated with the SWIPE’ method. This way, the therapist gets a visual representation of the voice, which may help with diagnosis. With the filter applied, the patient also gets to hear how a ”healthier” version of their own voice may sound. A survey was conducted containing both modified and unmodified voices. Both therapists and others were invited to participate and evaluate the effectiveness of the modifications. The results show that while naturalness in the voice is mostly unaffected by the filtering, larger modifications are needed in order to perceive difference with regards to criteria such as strain and breathiness. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Stålberg, Erik LU and Lidström, Artur
supervisor
organization
course
FMSM01 20211
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
speech therapy, spectral estimation, fundamental frequency estimation, FIR filter design
publication/series
Master's Theses in Mathematical Sciences
report number
LUTFMS-3420-2021
ISSN
1404-6342
other publication id
2021:E62
language
English
id
9066363
date added to LUP
2021-10-05 18:17:51
date last changed
2021-10-05 18:17:51
@misc{9066363,
  abstract     = {{The purpose of this work is to expand the toolbox of speech language pathologists and give them the ability to redesign a patient’s voice to a healthier sounding one, thereby giving the patient a target voice to strive towards. A modified voice is generated by applying a finite impulse response (FIR) filter, altering the spectrum of the patient’s voice. In order to facilitate the filter design process, a periodogram is presented with the fundamental frequency and the first few harmonics indicated, estimated with the SWIPE’ method. This way, the therapist gets a visual representation of the voice, which may help with diagnosis. With the filter applied, the patient also gets to hear how a ”healthier” version of their own voice may sound. A survey was conducted containing both modified and unmodified voices. Both therapists and others were invited to participate and evaluate the effectiveness of the modifications. The results show that while naturalness in the voice is mostly unaffected by the filtering, larger modifications are needed in order to perceive difference with regards to criteria such as strain and breathiness.}},
  author       = {{Stålberg, Erik and Lidström, Artur}},
  issn         = {{1404-6342}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  series       = {{Master's Theses in Mathematical Sciences}},
  title        = {{A speech therapy support tool based on spectral density adjustment}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}