Assessment of the Relation Between Low-Frequency Features and Velum Opening by Using Real Articulatory Data

摘要

This work aims to assess the relation between low-frequency speech features and velum opening by using data coming from an electromagnetic articulograph system (EMA). In previous works, features related to frequency content below first formant has been proposed in order to detect nasalized sounds and hypernasality; however, those low-frequency features have not yet been assessed on real articulatory data regarding the dynamical behavior of velum opening. In order to evaluate the relationship between low-frequency features and velum opening, statistical association between acoustic information and velum movement is measured. In addition, the parameters are evaluated in an acoustic-to-articulatory system based on radial basis neural networks. Results suggest the existence of low-frequency features related to velum position. Therefore, this kind of parameters could be useful in acoustic-to-articulatory mapping systems.