Evaluation of a spectrum target prediction model in speech perception

Abstract

A model of a spectrum target prediction mechanism is proposed and evaluated by comparing predicted values with results of psychoacoustic experiments. When the trajectory of the cepstrally smoothed LPC spectrum is approximated by a second-order critically damped system, the proposed model can estimate target values using short-period spectrum sequences (50 ms) without being given the onset positions of the spectral transition. Additionally, this model decreases the length of transitional sounds and recovers vowel characteristics neutralized by coarticulation. Moreover, this model compensates for the transitions of syllables and extracts stable characteristics from syllable transitions. This model is applicable to coarticulation recovery in speech signal processing.