Towards ordinal classification of voice quality features with acoustic parameters
Date
2019-03-09Author
Schaeffler, Felix
Eichner, Matthias
Beck, Janet M.
Metadata
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Schaeffler, F., Eichner, M. & Beck, J. (2019) Towards ordinal classification of voice quality features with acoustic parameters. In: Proceedings of The Conference on Electronic Speech Signal Processing, TU Dresden, 6-8 March 2019. ESSV, pp. 288-295.
Abstract
The human voice is capable of fine-grained variation that results in listener attributions of various psychological, social and biological factors. The complexity
of this process is reflected in the number and richness of terms that are used to describe human voices. In this paper we argue that any application that attempts a mapping of the acoustic voice signal onto voice descriptor labels would benefit from an
intermediate auditory-phonetic level. As a point of departure we explore the relationships between acoustic parameters and some specific perceptual features derived
from Vocal Profile Analysis (VPA), a phonetically motivated voice quality analysis
scheme.
Perceptual analysis of voice samples from 133 speakers was carried out using VPA
for three key phonation features (creakiness, whisperiness, harshness). We extracted
eleven acoustic parameters from the samples and used stepwise linear regression to
identify acoustic parameters with predictive value. Samples from female speakers
were used to derive regression equations which were then used to predict VPA ratings of male voices. Results show significant predictors for all three phonation features and indicate that predictions for the three phonation types rely mainly on different parameters. If a tolerance of ± 1 scalar degree for the perceptual analysis is accepted, then classification accuracy lies at or above 90% for all three phonation features.