Estimation and statistical analysis of human voice parameters to investigate the influence of psychological stress and to determine the vocal tract transfer function of an individual

Abstract

In this study the principal focus is to examine the influence of psychological stress (both positive and negative stress) on the human articulation and to determine the vocal tract transfer function of an individual using inverse filtering technique. Both of these analyses are carried out by estimating various voice parameters. The outcomes of the analysis of psychological stress indicate that all the voice parameters are affected due to the influence of stress on humans. About 35 out of 51 parameters follow a unique course of variation from normal to positive and negative stress in 32% of the total analyzed signals. The upshot of the analysis is to determine the vocal tract transfer function for each vowel for an individual. The analysis indicates that it can be computed by estimating the mean of the pole zero plots of that individual's vocal tract estimated for the whole day. Besides this, an analysis is presented to find the relationship between the LPC coefficients of the vocal tract and the vocal tract cavities. The results of the analysis indicate that all the LPC coefficients of the vocal tract are affected due to change in the position of any cavity.