An acoustic glottal source for vocal tract physical models

Abstract

A sound source was proposed for acoustic measurements of physical models of the human vocal tract. The physical models are produced by Fast Prototyping, based on Magnetic Resonance Imaging during prolonged vowel production. The sound source, accompanied by custom signal processing algorithms, is used for two kinds of measurements: (i) amplitude frequency response and resonant frequency measurements of physical models, and (ii) signal reconstructions at the source output according to a target waveform with measurements at the mouth position of the physical model. The proposed source and the software are validated by measurements on a physical model of the vocal tract corresponding to vowel [a] of a male speaker.