title: Perceptual evaluation of voice source models.
abstract: Models of the voice source differ in their fits to natural voices, but it is unclear which differences in fit are perceptually salient. This study examined the relationship between the fit of five voice source models to 40 natural voices, and the degree of perceptual match among stimuli synthesized with each of the modeled sources. Listeners completed a visual sort-and-rate task to compare versions of each voice created with the different source models, and the results were analyzed using multidimensional scaling. Neither fits to pulse shapes nor fits to landmark points on the pulses predicted observed differences in quality. Further, the source models fit the opening phase of the glottal pulses better than they fit the closing phase, but at the same time similarity in quality was better predicted by the timing and amplitude of the negative peak of the flow derivative (part of the closing phase) than by the timing and/or amplitude of peak glottal opening. Results indicate that simply knowing how (or how well) a particular source model fits or does not fit a target source pulse in the time domain provides little insight into what aspects of the voice source are important to listeners.
authors.affiliation: Department of Head and Neck Surgery, University of California-Los Angeles School of Medicine, 31-24 Rehabilitation Center, Los Angeles, California 90095-1794, USA.
authors.forename: Jody
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kreiman
authors.affiliation: Department of Linguistics, University of California-San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive #0108, La Jolla, California 92093-0108, USA.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Garellek
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, University of California-Los Angeles, 66-147 G Engineering IV, Los Angeles, California 90095-1594, USA.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, University of California-Los Angeles, 66-147 G Engineering IV, Los Angeles, California 90095-1594, USA.
authors.forename: Abeer
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alwan
authors.affiliation: Department of Head and Neck Surgery, University of California-Los Angeles School of Medicine, 31-24 Rehabilitation Center, Los Angeles, California 90095-1794, USA.
authors.forename: Bruce R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Gerratt
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D005931:Glottis / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D008954:Models, Biological; D013017:Sound Localization / Q000502:physiology; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D014833:Voice Quality / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult