Changes of Voice Production in Artificial Acoustic Environments

Abstract

The physical production of speech level dynamic range is directly affected by the physiological features of the speaker such as vocal tract size and lung capacity; however, the regulation of these production systems is affected by the perception of the communication environment and auditory feedback. The current study examined the effects of room acoustics in an artificial setting on voice production in terms of sound pressure level and the relationship with the perceived vocal comfort and vocal control. Three independent room acoustic parameters were considered: gain (alteration of the sidetone or playback of one’s own voice), reverberation time, and background noise. An increase in the sidetone led to a decrease in vocal sound pressure levels, thus increasing vocal comfort and vocal control. This effect was consistent in the different reverberation times considered. Mid-range reverberation times (T30 ≈ 1.3 s) led to a decrease in vocal sound pressure level along with an increase in vocal comfort and vocal control, however, the effect of the reverberation time was smaller than the effect of the gain. The presence of noise amplified the aforementioned effects for the variables analyzed.

Immersive Auralisations for Choral Ensembles

“…The auralisation microphone was positioned 7 cm in front of the loudspeaker off-axis from the speaker diaphragm and was connected to the auralisation patcher described in Section 3. Using a synchronised sine sweep 28 covering over the frequency range [20][21][22] kHz] and at sampling rate 44.1 kHz, recordings were made of the direct sound at the proximate microphone as well as the dummy head. Having calculated the level offset between the three microphones, a pair of headphones were placed on the dummy head and the auralisation system was turned on.…”

“…19 Sierra-Polanco et al used a headphone-based system and calibrated the microphone level to 94 dB at 1 kHz, but did not attempt to reproduce a particular room as a part of the experiment. 20 While the existing literature provides many approaches for calibrating auralisation systems over loudspeakers or for individual users over headphones, there is room for the development of a calibration procedure for a multi-user, headphone-based auralisation systems aimed at recreating specific rooms.…”

Reducing Vocal Fatigue With Bone Conduction Devices: Comparing Forbrain and Sidetone Amplification

“…Real-time altered auditory feedback (AAF) is one tool that has been studied in order to better understand voice disorders and contribute to biofeedback paradigms that could address the auditory-motor phenotype present in those with hyperfunctional voice disorders. Typically, AAF is presented in the daily lives of users through headphones, including traditional air conduction headphones (Pelegrín-García & Brunskog, 2012;Sierra-Polanco et al, 2021), and more recently, bone conduction headphones (Escera et al, 2018;.…”