Simulation of tremulous voices using a biomechanical model

Abstract

Vocal tremor has been simulated using a high-dimensional discrete vocal fold model. Specifically, respiratory, phonatory, and articulatory tremors have been modeled as instabilities in six parameters of the model. Reported results are consistent with previous knowledge in that respiratory tremor mainly causes amplitude modulation of the voice signal while laryngeal tremor causes both amplitude and frequency modulation. In turn, articulatory tremor is commonly assumed to produce only amplitude modulations but the simulation results indicate that it also produces a high-frequency modulation of the output signal. Furthermore, articulatory tremor affects the frequency response of the vocal tract and it might thus be detected by analyzing the spectral envelope of the acoustic signal.