음성 신호 분류에 따른 장애 음성의 변동률 분석, 비선형 동적 분석, 캡스트럼 분석의 유용성

최성희(Choi, Seong Hee),최철희(Choi, Chul-Hee) 한국음성학회 2014 말소리와 음성과학 Vol.6 No.3

The current study assessed the utility of acoustic analyses the most commonly used in routine clinical voice assessment including perturbation, nonlinear dynamic analysis, and Spectral/Cepstrum analysis based on signal typing of dysphonic voices and investigated their applicability of clinical acoustic analysis methods. A total of 70 dysphonic voice samples were classified with signal typing using narrowband spectrogram. Traditional parameters of %jitter, %shimmer, and signal-to-noise ratio were calculated for the signals using TF32 and correlation dimension(D2) of nonlinear dynamic parameter and spectral/cepstral measures including mean CPP, CPP_sd, CPPf0, CPPf0_sd, L/H ratio, and L/H ratio_sd were also calculated with ADSV(Analysis of Dysphonia in Speech and VoiceTM). Auditory perceptual analysis was performed by two blinded speech-language pathologists with GRBAS. The results showed that nearly periodic Type 1 signals were all functional dysphonia and Type 4 signals were comprised of neurogenic and organic voice disorders. Only Type 1 voice signals were reliable for perturbation analysis in this study. Significant signal typing-related differences were found in all acoustic and auditory-perceptual measures. SNR, CPP, L/H ratio values for Type 4 were significantly lower than those of other voice signals and significant higher %jitter, %shimmer were observed in Type 4 voice signals(p<.001). Additionally, with increase of signal type, D2 values significantly increased and more complex and nonlinear patterns were represented. Nevertheless, voice signals with highly noise component associated with breathiness were not able to obtain D2. In particular, CPP, was highly sensitive with voice quality ‘G", "R", "B" than any other acoustic measures. Thus, Spectral and cepstral analyses may be applied for more severe dysphonic voices such as Type 4 signals and CPP can be more accurate and predictive acoustic marker in measuring voice quality and severity in dysphonia.

ClearEye - Auditory Travel Aid System For The Blind Providing Indoor/Outdoor Traveling Information Using Signal Transformation

Choong Hui Kim,Young Jip Kim,Byung Kook Kim 한국과학기술원 인간친화 복지 로봇 시스템 연구센터 2002 International Journal of Assistive Robotics and Me Vol.3 No.1

  We designed a portable auditory guidance system for the blind named ClearEye, providing indoor/outdoor traveling information. The outdoor guidance function provides global position information using synthesized speech, which guides specific positions based on GPS (Global Positioning System). The indoor guidance function provides local information such as distances and directions of obstacles as well as information for wall-following, which is acquired using multiple ultrasonic sensors, and is conveyed to the blind with a binaural auditory signal. We discuss design considerations of a rehabilitation system such as availability, afford ability, and acceptability. We reflect them to design our system, which is designed as a cost-effective, battery operated portable system. A new ultrasonic detection scheme using echo signal integration, and an efficient speech synthesis method are proposed.

<i>Hwanggunchungyitang</i> Prevents Cadmium-Induced Ototoxicity through Suppression of the Activation of Caspase-9 and Extracellular Signal-Related Kinase in Auditory HEI-OC1 Cells

Kim, Su-Jin,Shin, Bong-Gi,Choi, In-Young,Kim, Dong-Hyun,Kim, Min-cheol,Myung, Noh-Yil,Moon, Phil-Dong,Lee, Jeong-Han,An, Hyo-Jin,Kim, Na-Hyung,Lee, Joo-Young,So, Hong-seob,Park, Rae-Kil,Jeong, Hyun-Ja Pharmaceutical Society of Japan 2009 Biological & pharmaceutical bulletin Vol.32 No.2

<P>Hwanggunchungyitang (HGCYT) is a newly designed herbal drug formula for the purpose of treating auditory diseases. A number of heavy metals have been associated with toxic effects to the peripheral or central auditory system. Cadmium (Cd<SUP>2+</SUP>) is a heavy metal and a potent carcinogen implicated in tumor development through occupational and environmental exposure. However, the auditory effect of Cd<SUP>2+</SUP> is not poorly understood. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether HGCYT prevent the ototoxic effects induced by Cd<SUP>2+</SUP> in auditory cell line, HEI-OC1. HGCYT inhibited the cell death, reactive oxygen species generation (ROS), activation of caspase-9, and extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK) induced by Cd<SUP>2+</SUP>. In addition, we observed that cochlear hair cells in middle turn were damaged by Cd<SUP>2+</SUP>. However, HGCYT prevented the destruction of hair cell arrays of the rat primary organ of Corti explants in the presence of Cd<SUP>2+</SUP>. These results support the notion that ROS are involved in Cd<SUP>2+</SUP> ototoxicity and suggest HGCYT therapeutic usefulness, against Cd<SUP>2+</SUP>-induced activation of caspase-9 and ERK.</P>

A comparative study on cognitive abilities of the drivers responding to auditory and tactile signals under driving and non-driving task conditions

Sang Ho Kim,Jong Kyu Shin 대한인간공학회 2015 대한인간공학회 학술대회논문집 Vol.2015 No.10

Objective: The objective of this study is to compare the driver"s response rate and time between auditory and tactile signals given in two different task conditions (Driving/Non-Driving). It is for checking whether haptic signals can be used as a component of the car warning system. Background: As recent automobiles are evolving into intelligent information systems everyday, the amount of information that drivers need to process increase correspondingly. Too much information presented simultaneously on visual displays may distract driver’s attention and it may cause serious traffic accidents. It is hypothesized that multimodal in-vehicle information systems can be a possible solution for reducing the driver’s cognitive overload. Method: Experiment were conducted to gather response rate and time for given warning signals delivered in different modalities, auditory and tactile, using a computerized interactive driving simulator. The subjects are tested under two different task conditions: driving and non-driving. Response rate and time for the haptic signals are compared with those for the auditory signals. Conclusion: The study shows that there is slight difference in response rate between the two modalities, but the difference is not practically significant. For response time, auditory signals draw faster responses compare to the haptic signals in 73msec on the average. Application: The result from this study supports that haptic signals can be used as substitute warnings when other channels are busy and signals can be initiated a bit earlier than the situation.

보청기를 착용한 노인의 청능 훈련기간에 따른 단어인지도의 변화

김형기,이경원 한국청각언어재활학회 2010 Audiology and Speech Research Vol.6 No.2

Although a use of hearing aids improves speech audibility, it is known that elderly hearing-impaired listeners often exhibit difficulty understanding speech in background noise. The purpose of this study was to examine a short-term (8-week) auditory training in word-recognition performance of 24 old hearing aid users. Twelve aged listeners (M=76.2 yrs) participated as auditory training group (ATG), and other twelve old listeners (M=74.0 yrs) served as non-training group (NTG). The ATG received forty-minute auditory training twice a week across the entire 8 weeks of training. During the training, the target monosyllabic words (Korean monosyllabic words) were presented in both open-set and closed-set aided conditions. All the words were presented at the most comfortable level of each participant with four different signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs of -5, 0, +5, +10 dB). To check the training benefit, word-recognition performance of ATG was tested after 1-, 4-, 8-week trainings. Results showed that word recognition performance of NTG did not improve as expected. Word recognition score of ATG was, however, significantly increased after 8-week training. Even though 4-week training results revealed a tendency of increment in word-recognition performance, a positive change after 4-week training was not significant. The amount of improvement after 8-week auditory training was the greatest at +10 dB SNR and the least at -5 dB SNR. The results indicate that the short-term (8-week) auditory training would be beneficial for old listeners to recognize speech in the background noise yet the training effect would depend on the SNRs. Therefore, at least 8 weeks of training in various listening conditions should be considered for elderly hearing aid users who want training benefit in daily listening and communication.

The Protective Mechanism of Antioxidants in Cadmium-Induced Ototoxicity <i>in Vitro</i> and <i>in Vivo</i>

Kim, Su-Jin,Jeong, Hyun-Ja,Myung, Noh-Yil,Kim, Min-chol,Lee, Jeong-Han,So, Hong-seob,Park, Rae-Kil,Kim, Hyung-Min,Um, Jae-Young,Hong, Seung-Heon National Institute of Environmental Health Science 2008 Environmental health perspectives Vol.116 No.7

<P><B>Background</B></P><P>Several heavy metals have been shown to have toxic effects on the peripheral and central auditory system. Cadmium (Cd<SUP>2+</SUP>) is an environmental contaminant showing a variety of adverse effects. Given the current rate of release into the environment, the amount of Cd<SUP>2+</SUP> present in the human body and the incidence of Cd<SUP>2+</SUP>-related diseases are expected to increase.</P><P><B>Objective</B></P><P>The overall aim of this study was to gain further insights into the mechanism of Cd<SUP>2+</SUP>-induced ototoxicity.</P><P><B>Methods</B></P><P>Cell viability, reactive oxygen species (ROS), mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), cytochrome c (cyt c), phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (p-ERK), caspases, morphologic change, and functional changes in HEI-OC1 cells, rat cochlear explants, and mouse cochlea after Cd<SUP>2+</SUP> exposure were measured by flow cytometry, immunohistochemical staining, Western blot analysis, and auditory brainstem response (ABR) recording. Mechanisms underlying Cd<SUP>2+</SUP>ototoxicity were studied using inhibitors of different signaling pathways, caspases, and antioxidants.</P><P><B>Results</B></P><P>Cd<SUP>2+</SUP> exposure caused cell death, ROS generation, MMP loss, cyt c release, activation of caspases, ERK activation, apoptosis, and finally auditory threshold shift. Cd<SUP>2+</SUP> toxicity interfered with inhibitors of cellular signaling pathways, such as ERK and c-<I>jun N</I>-terminal kinase, and with caspase inhibitors, especially inhibitors of caspase-9 and caspase-3. The antioxidants <I>N</I>-acetyl-<SMALL>L</SMALL>-cysteine and ebselen showed a significant protective effect on the Cd<SUP>2+</SUP> toxicity.</P><P><B>Conlcusions</B></P><P>Cd<SUP>2+</SUP> is ototoxic with a complex underlying mechanism. However, ROS generation may be the cause of the toxicity, and application of antioxidants can prevent the toxic effect.</P>

Enhanced signal-to-noise ratios in frog hearing can be achieved through amplitude death

Royal Society 2013 Journal of the Royal Society, Interface Vol.10 No.87

<P>In the ear, hair cells transform mechanical stimuli into neuronal signals with great sensitivity, relying on certain active processes. Individual hair cell bundles of non-mammals such as frogs and turtles are known to show spontaneous oscillation. However, hair bundles <I>in vivo</I> must be quiet in the absence of stimuli, otherwise the signal is drowned in intrinsic noise. Thus, a certain mechanism is required in order to suppress intrinsic noise. Here, through a model study of elastically coupled hair bundles of bullfrog sacculi, we show that a low stimulus threshold and a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) can be achieved through the amplitude death phenomenon (the cessation of spontaneous oscillations by coupling). This phenomenon occurs only when the coupled hair bundles have inhomogeneous distribution, which is likely to be the case in biological systems. We show that the SNR has non-monotonic dependence on the mass of the overlying membrane, and find out that the SNR has maximum value in the region of amplitude death. The low threshold of stimulus through amplitude death may account for the experimentally observed high sensitivity of frog sacculi in detecting vibration. The hair bundles' amplitude death mechanism provides a smart engineering design for low-noise amplification.</P>

가전제품의 청각 사용자 인터페이스(AUI) 디자인을 위한 가이드라인 개발 사례

이주환 ( Ju Hwan Lee ),전명훈 ( Myoung Hoon Jeon ),한광희 ( Kwang Hee Han ) 한국감성과학회 2007 감성과학 Vol.10 No.3

본 연구는 가전제품의 제품군과 그 기능들에 따라 차별화 가능한 인지적, 감성적 ``청각 사용자 인터페이스 디자인 가이드라인(Auditory User Interface Design Guideline)``을 마련하고, 가전제품의 작동기능 정보와 직관적으로 연합 가능한 청각신호(auditory signal)를 제작할 수 있는 지침을 제시하여 GUI 중심의 제품 설계에서 한 차원 확장되고 사용자의 다중감각적 특성이 적용된 디자인 방법을 실무에 적용하고자 하였다. 특히 AUI에 대한 체계를 확립함으로써 브랜드 정체성(Brand Identity) 및 기업 이미지를 제고할 수 있다는 목적을 함께 고려하였다. 이러한 연구가 필요했던 이유는 가전제품에 대한 소비자의 심적 모형(mental model)과 감성 측면에서의 접근에 대한 요구 때문인데, 이는 AUI의 체계적 적용이 아닌 임의적 연결(mapping)으로 인한 버저(buzzer) 청각신호의 짜증(annoying) 발생이 빈번한 사례들에서 출발한다. 또한 GUI의 변화와 수준에 미치지 못하는 AUI의 업그레이드 필요성과 가전제품에서의 감성 마케팅 경향을 반영하는 의미를 지니고 있다. 이와 함께 멀티미디어 환경의 급속한 확산으로 다중감각적 정보제시(multimodal display)가 요구되는 상황에 걸맞은 시도이다. 본 연구는 특정 가전제품이나 특정 기능이 지니고 있는 인지적, 감성적 차원의 속성을 청각신호(auditory signal)의 다양한 속성들로 유발하는 관계를 추출하고, 이를 형성하는 기본 메커니즘에 대한 경험적 자료를 제시하여, 가전제품의 AUI 디자인에 유용한 가이드라인을 제공하고자 하였다. 그러나 본 논문에서는 연구의 구체적이고 세부적인 결과 보다는 전체적인 계획과 진행과정의 절차를 소개하여 관련분야 연구 진행의 참조적 틀을 마련하고자 한다. In this study, we attempted to provide a distinctive cognitive, emotional ``Auditory User Interface (AUI) Design Guideline`` according to home appliance groups and their functions. It is an effort to apply a new design method to practical affairs to overcome the limit of GUI centered appliance design and reflect user multimodal properties by presenting a guideline possible to generate auditory signals intuitively associable with the operational functions. The reason why this study is required is because of frequent instances given rise to annoyance as not systematic application of AUI, but arbitrary mapping. This study tried to provide a useful guideline of AUI in home appliances by extracting the relations with cognitive, emotional properties of a certain device or function induced by several properties of auditory signal and showing the empirical data on the basic mechanism of such relations.

청각자극의 반송 주파수에 따른 뇌전위 신호의 해석

최정미,배병훈,김수용,Choe, Jeong-Mi,Bae, Byeong-Hun,Kim, Su-Yong 대한의용생체공학회 1994 의공학회지 Vol.15 No.4

일정한 단속 주파수(triggering frequency)를 지닌 청각자극의 반송 주파수(carrier ferquency, pure tone)를 1kHz에서 3kHz까지 0.5kHz단위로 증가시키면서, 이에 반응하는 뇌전위를 디지탈 EEG측정장치를 이용하여 총 7초 동안 1kHz의 sampling frequency로 컴퓨터로 전송하였다. 먼저 신호의 pseudo-phase space분석을 통해 뇌전위의 진폭특성을 파악하였다. 이러한 해석은 생리학적으로 밝져진 소리의 반송주파수와 소리의 크기 인지사이의 상관관계와 잘 일치함이 확인되었다. 또한 이 신호외 Lyapunov exponent 분석을 통해 신호의 발산 특성을 물리적으로 파악하고, 이러한 특성을 이미 여러가지 접근법에 의해 밝혀져 있는 생리학적 실험결과와 관련지어 해석함으로써 반송 주파수에 반응하는 뇌의 mechanism을 뇌전위 측정에 의해서 검출이 가능함을 확인할 수 있었다. Chaotic analysis of EEG signal responding to auditory stimulus with various carrier frequency and constant triggering frequency is given in this paper. The EEG signal is obtained from the digital 12channel EEG system made in our laboratory. The carrier frequency is varied from 1 kHz to 3 kHz by 0.5 kHz step. Chaos analysis such as pseudo phase space portrait, Lyapunov exponent, and so on is done on the auditory stimulated evoked potential. This result is found to be quite consistent with the well known results from the psychological perception theory.

난청인의 난청 정도에 따른 비대칭 청각 필터 구현의 객관적 평가

주상익(S. I. Joo),전유용(Y. Y. Jeon),송영록(Y. R. Song),이상민(S. M. Lee) 한국재활복지공학회 2009 재활복지공학회논문지 Vol.3 No.1

난청인의 청력 손실은 개인별로 다양하므로 기존의 대칭적으로 주파수 밴드별 청각 필터를 구현하는 방법은 다양한 형태의 난청인의 청력 손실을 적절하게 모사해주지 못한다. 각 중심주파수와 음성의 입력크기에 따라 청각 필터의 형태가 비대칭적으로 바뀌고 청력손실이 있는 난청인은 청력 손실에 따라 청각필터의 형태가 정상인들과는 다른 형태로 바뀌게 되며 음질에도 차이가 있다. 본 연구에서는 난청인의 난청 정도에 따라 변하는 비대칭 청각 특성을 잘 반영한 청각필터를 구현하여 몇 가지 실험을 통해 각 구현된 청각 필터의 성능을 객관적으로 평가하였다. 실험은 구현된 청각 필터를 통한 음성의 perceptual evaluation of speech quality (PESQ)와 log likelihood ratio (LLR)를 사용하였으며 그 값을 통해 처리된 음성의 객관적인 음질과 왜곡정도를 평가 하였다. 청력 손실을 주었을 때 대칭과 비대칭 청각 필터사이의 PESQ와 LLR 값을 실험해 본 결과 청각 필터 간의 큰 차이를 보였다. 위 실험 결과들로 대칭과 비대칭 청각 필터의 형태에 따라서 음성의 음질에 영향을 받는다는 것을 알 수 있었다. 특히, 난청이 있을 때 중심 주파수별 청각 필터의 비대칭적 형태 변화가 난청인이 받아들이는 음질에 영향이 있었다. Hearing impaired person s hearing loss has personally various shape, so existing symmetrical auditory filter of frequency band method wasn"t properly simulated the hearing impaired person"s various hearing loss shape. The shapes of auditory filter are asymmetrical different with each center frequency and each input level. Hearing impaired person which has hearing loss was differently changed with that of normal hearing people and it has different value for speech of quality through auditory filter. In this study, the asymmetrical auditory filter was simulated and then some tests to estimate the filter"s performance objectively were performed. The experiment as simulated auditory filter"s performance evaluation method used perceptual evaluation of speech quality (PESQ) and log likelihood ratio (LLR) for speech through auditory filter. In the test, processed speech was evaluated objective speech quality and distortion using PESQ and LLR value. When hearing loss processed, PESQ and LLR value have big difference between symmetrical and asymmetrical auditory filter. It means that the difference of the shape auditory filter may affect to speech quality. Especially, when hearing loss existed, auditory filter changing according to asymmetrical shape for each center frequency affected to perceive speech quality of the hearing impaired.