Date of Award
Fall 1974
Document Type
Thesis - Restricted
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Biomedical Engineering
First Advisor
Niederjohn, Russell J.
Second Advisor
Ackmann, James J.
Third Advisor
Heinen, James A.
Abstract
The development and preliminary testing of a system for tracking the first three formant frequencies of voiced speech is described. The technique involves both a frequency-domain analysis and a time-domain analysis. As speech is input to the system, a rough frequency-domain analysis is performed with a bank of fixed bandpass filters. Following this spectral analysis, an accurate time-domain analysis is performed utilizing a measure of the axis-crossing intervals of the filtered speech. In addition to the axis-crossing interval measure, the amplitude of the filtered speech signal is used in the analysis. The measurement of the axis-crossing intervals and amplitudes is performed in an automatic manner with a small computer and a system of hardware circuits. The technique is used with a minicomputer system, making it relatively inexpensive to implement as compared to more sophisticated analysis methods. Due to the parallel nature of the analysis, the system has the potential for real-time analysis. The usefulness of this system for speech analysis is discussed.
Recommended Citation
Stick, Philip P., "The Design and Preliminary Evaluation of System for Formant Tracking of Voiced Speech" (1974). Master's Theses (1922-2009) Access restricted to Marquette Campus. 4187.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/theses/4187