INFLUENCE OF A REALISTIC HUMAN HEAD ON THE DIRECTIVITY OF VOWEL/A/BASED ON THREE-DIMENSIONAL FINITE ELEMENT SIMULATIONS

Research output: Book chapterConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) finite element simulations can be used to accurately simulate the human voice. These simulations involve the generation of sound waves from the vocal cords, their 3D propagation through a detailed 3D vocal tract, usually generated from Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and their emission outward from the lips. Most studies have focused on internal aspects of the vocal tract, which allowed them to simplify the human head as a spherical baffle or a flat plane. However, it is not clear to what extent this simplification affects the directivity of the voice. This work aims at examining 3D directivity effects of vowel sounds in the horizontal and vertical planes by means of finite element simulations. A detailed geometry is generated for this purpose, consisting of a 3D MRI-based vocal tract connected to a realistic human head designed from scratch. Preliminary results are presented for the vowel/a/, showing that large variations occur in the vocal tract acoustic response as the orientation and frequency increases for both the horizontal and vertical planes. These variations are especially notorious above 5 kHz, since in this frequency range not only planar modes but also higher order modes propagate through the vocal tract.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationForum Acusticum 2023 - 10th Convention of the European Acoustics Association, EAA 2023
PublisherEuropean Acoustics Association, EAA
ISBN (Electronic)9788888942674
Publication statusPublished - 2023
Event10th Convention of the European Acoustics Association, EAA 2023 - Torino, Italy
Duration: 11 Sept 202315 Sept 2023

Publication series

NameProceedings of Forum Acusticum
ISSN (Print)2221-3767

Conference

Conference10th Convention of the European Acoustics Association, EAA 2023
Country/TerritoryItaly
CityTorino
Period11/09/2315/09/23

Keywords

  • finite element method
  • vocal tract acoustics
  • voice directivity
  • vowels

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