title: Acoustic analysis of speech under stress.
abstract: When a person is emotionally charged, stress could be discerned in his voice. This paper presents a simplified and a non-invasive approach to detect psycho-physiological stress by monitoring the acoustic modifications during a stressful conversation. Voice database consists of audio clips from eight different popular FM broadcasts wherein the host of the show vexes the subjects who are otherwise unaware of the charade. The audio clips are obtained from real-life stressful conversations (no simulated emotions). Analysis is done using PRAAT software to evaluate mean fundamental frequency (F0) and formant frequencies (F1, F2, F3, F4) both in neutral and stressed state. Results suggest that F0 increases with stress; however, formant frequency decreases with stress. Comparison of Fourier and chirp spectra of short vowel segment shows that for relaxed speech, the two spectra are similar; however, for stressed speech, they differ in the high frequency range due to increased pitch modulation.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Electrical, Electronics & Communication Engineering, ITM University, Gurgaon 122017, Haryana, India.
authors.forename: Savita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sondhi
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Electrical Engineering, Jamia Millia Islamia (Central University), New Delhi 110025, India.
authors.forename: Munna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: 3 Department of Electronics, Banasthali University, Banasthali 304022, Rajasthan, India.
authors.forename: Ritu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vijay
authors.affiliation: 4 Biomedical Instrumentation Division, Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS), DRDO, Timarpur, New Delhi 110054, India.
authors.forename: Ashok K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Salhan
authors.affiliation: 5 Biomedical Instrumentation Division, Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS), DRDO, Timarpur, New Delhi 110054, India.
authors.forename: Satish
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chouhan
keywords: FFT; acoustic analysis; bioinformatics; chirp transform; emotional stress; formant frequency; fundamental frequency; pitch modulation; psycho-physiological stress; stressed speech; stressful conversation; voice stress analysis