3aSC7 – Human BeatBoxing: A Vocal Exploration

Alexis Dehais-Underdown – alexis-dehais-underdown@sorbonne-nouvelle.fr
Paul Vignes – vignes.paul@gmail.com
Lise Crevier-Buchman – lise.buchman1@gmail.com
Didier Demolin – didier.demolin@sorbonne-nouvelle.fr
Université Sorbonne-Nouvelle
13, rue de Santeuil
75005, Paris, FRANCE

Popular version of 3aSC7 – Human beatboxing: Physiological aspects of drum imitation
Presented Wednesday morning, December 1st, 2021
181st ASA Meeting, Seattle, Washington
Read the article in Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics

We are interested in exploring the potential of the human vocal tract by understanding beatboxing production. Human Beatboxing (HBB) is a musical technique that uses the vocal tract to imitate musical instruments. Similar to languages like French or English, HBB relies on the combination of smaller units into larger ones. Unlike linguistic systems, HBB has no meaning: while we speak to be understood, beatboxers do not perform to be understood. Speech production obeys to linguistic constraints to ensure efficient communication, for example, the fact that each language have a finite number of vowels and consonants. This is not the case for HBB production because beatboxers use a larger number of sounds. We hypothesize that beatboxers acquire a more accurate and extended knowledge on physical capacities of the vocal tract that allows them to use a larger number of sounds.

Acquisition of laryngoscopic data (left) and acoustic & aerodynamic data (right)

We use 3 technics on 5 professional beatboxers : (1) aerodynamic recordings, (2) laryngoscopic recordings and (3) acoustic recordings. Aerodynamic data gives information about pressure and airflow changes that are the result of articulatory movements. Laryngoscopic images give a view of the different anatomical laryngeal structures and their role in beatboxing production. Acoustic data allows us to investigate the sound characteristics in terms of frequency and amplitude. We extracted 9 basic beatboxing sounds from our database: the classic kick drum and its humming variant, the closed hi-hat and its humming variant, the inward k-snare and its humming variant, the cough snare and the lips roll and its humming variant. Humming is a beatboxing strategy that allows simultaneous and independent articulation in the mouth and melodic voice production in the larynx. Some sounds are illustrated here :

The preliminary results are very interesting. While speech is mainly produced on an egressive airflow from the lungs (i.e. exhalation phase of breathing), HBB is not. We found a wide range of mechanisms to produce basic sounds. Mechanisms were described by where the airflow was set in motion (i.e. lungs, larynx, mouth) and by which direction the airflow goes (i.e. in or out of the vocal tract). Sounds shows different combinations of airflow location and direction :
• buccal egressive (humming classic kick and closed hi-hat) and ingressive (humming k-snare and lips roll)
• pulmonic egressive (cough snare) and ingressive sounds (classic inward k-snare and lips roll),
• laryngeal egressive (classic kick drum and closed hi-hat) and ingressive (classic k-snare and inward classic kick drum).

A same sound may be produced differently by different beatboxers but may sound perceptually similar. HBB displays high pressure values that suggests these mechanisms are more powerful than speech ones in a quiet conversation.

In the absence of linguistic constraints, artists are exploiting the vocal tract capacities more freely. It raises several questions about how they reorganize the respiratory activity, how they coordinate sounds together and how beatboxers avoid lesions or damages of the vocal tract structures. Our research project will produce further analysis on the description and coordination of beatboxing sounds at different speed rates based on MRI, Laryngoscopic, Aerodynamic and Acoustic data.

____________________

See also: Alexis Dehais-Underdown, Paul Vignes, Lise Crevier-Buchman, and Didier Demolin, “In and out: production mechanisms in Human Beatboxing”, Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 45, 060005 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001543

2aCA11-Validating a phase-inversion procedure to assess the signal-to-noise ratios at the output of hearing aids with wide-dynamic-range compression

Donghyeon Yun1 – dongyun@iu.edu
Yi Shen2 – shenyi@uw.edu
Jennifer J Lentz1 – jjlentz@indiana.edu

1. Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington,
2631 East Discovery Parkway Bloomington, IN 47408
2. Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Washington,
1417 Northeast 42nd Street, Seattle, WA 98105-6246

Popular version of 2aCA11 – Measuring hearing aid compression algorithm preference with the Tympan
Presented at the 181st ASA Meeting
Click here to read the abstract

Speech understanding is challenging in background noise, especially for listeners with hearing loss. Although the use of hearing aids may be able to compensate for the loss of hearing sensitivity by amplifying incoming sounds, the target speech and background noise are often amplified together. In this way, hearing aids do not “boost” the signal with respect to the noise. Although hearing aids will make the sounds louder, common processing in these devices may even make the signal smaller relative to the noise. This is because the techniques used to boost soft sounds but not loud ones are nonlinear in nature. The amount of the signal relative to the noise is called the Signal to Noise Ratio, or the SNR. A lower SNR at the output of a hearing aid may make speech understanding more difficult. Thus, it is important to accurately assess the output SNR when prescribing hearing aids in an audiology clinic.

——————–  The phase-inversion technique —————

In this paper, we looked to see whether a specific technique used to determine the SNR at the output of a hearing aid gave accurate results. In this phase-inversion technique, the hearing aid’s response to a target speech sound (S) embedded in background noise (N) is recorded. We also collect responses with an “inverted” signal (S’) and an “inverted” noise (N’). By using these inverted signals, we can calculate the SNR at the output of the hearing aid.
It has been difficult to determine whether this technique gives an accurate estimate of SNR because there is no way to calculate the true SNR at the output of a hearing aid. However, we can do this with a simulated hearing aid. In the current study, we calculated true output SNR using the hearing aid simulation for a number of test conditions. We then compared these true values to values estimated using the phase-inversion technique under the same test conditions. The test conditions included: (1) various SNRs at the input of the simulated hearing aid, (2) hearing-aid configurations fitted to four typical profiles of hearing loss, (3) two types of background noise (two- and twenty-talker babble noises), and (4) various parameters of the nonlinear processing algorithm.

——————- The output SNRs estimated using the phase-inversion technique (symbols) agree well with the actual output SNRs (symbols) ——————-

In agreement with previous studies, the output SNR for the simulated hearing aid was different from the input SNR, and this mismatch between the output and input SNRs depended on the test condition. The differences between the actual and estimated output SNRs were very small, indicating satisfactory validity for the phase-inversion technique.

 

4aMU8 – Neural Plasticity for Music Processing in Young Adults: the Effect of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS)

Eghosa Adodo, Cameron Patterson, Yan H. Yu
Corresponding: yuy1@stjohns.edu
St. John’s University
8000 Utopia Parkway, Queens, New York, 11439

Popular version of 4aMU8 – Neural plasticity for music processing in young adults: The effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)
Presented Thursday morning, December 2, 2021
181st ASA Meeting
Click here to read the abstract

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation technique. It has increasingly been proposed and utilized as a unique approach to enhance various communicative, cognitive, and emotional functions. However, it is not clear whether, how, and to what extent, tDCS influences nonlinguistic processing such as music processing. The purpose of this study was to examine brain responses to music as a result of noninvasive brain stimulation.

Twenty healthy young adults participated our study. They first sat in a sound-shielded booth, and listened to classic western piano music while watching a muted movie. The music stream used in this study consisted of six types of music pattern changes (rhythm, intensity, slide, location, pitch, and timbre), and it lasted 14 minutes. Brain waves were recorded using a 65-electrode sensor cap. Then each participant received 10 minutes of tDCS at the frontal-central scalp regions. After 10 minutes of tDCS, they listened to the music again while their brain waves were recorded again.

Multi-feature music oddball paradigm. (Permission to use the stimuli and paradigm was obtained from the original creator, Peter Vuust).
S = same sounds, D1= pitch change; D2 = timbre change; D3 = location change; D4 = intensity change, D5 = pitch slide change; D6 = rhythm change.

Electroencephalogram/event-related potentials Transcranial direct current stimulation

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS)

We hypothesized that 10 minutes of tDCS would enhance music processing.

Our results indicated that the differences between pre- and post-tDCS brain waves were only evident in some conditions. Noninvasive brain stimulation, including tDCS, has the potential to be used as a clinical tool for enhancing auditory processing, but further studies need to examine how experimental parameters (dosage, duration, frequency, etc) influence the brain responses for auditory processing.

4aAB7 – Slower ships, quieter oceans: Reducing underwater noise to support endangered killer whales

Krista Trounce, krista.trounce@portvancouver.com
Vancouver Fraser Port Authority
999 Canada Place, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6C 3T4

Popular version of 4aAB7 – Managing vessel-generated underwater noise to reduce acoustic impacts to killer whales
Presented at the 181st Acoustical Society of America Meeting at 10:40 AM PST on Thursday, December 2, 2021
Click here to read the abstract

Every year, thousands of ships en route to Canada’s largest port, the Port of Vancouver, transit through the Pacific Ocean’s richly biodiverse Salish Sea, home to a vast array of marine life including the endangered Southern Resident killer whale.

As Southern Resident killer whales rely on sound to survive, underwater noise from commercial ships can interfere with their ability to hunt, navigate, and communicate, which is why both the Canadian and U.S. governments recognize “acoustic disturbance” as one of the key threats to the species’ recovery.
To better understand and reduce the effects of vessel-generated noise on local whale populations, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority launched the Enhancing Cetacean Habitat and Observation (ECHO) Program in 2014. The ECHO Program coordinates research projects to advance our understanding of underwater vessel noise and since 2017, has led seasonal initiatives encouraging ships to slow down or stay distanced to reduce underwater vessel noise while transiting through Southern Resident killer whale foraging areas.

To achieve high levels of participation in its voluntary initiatives, the ECHO Program works closely with both Canadian and US marine transportation industry, vessel traffic management agencies and pilots and captains aboard commercial vessels. During the last two seasonal slowdowns, over 90% of piloted commercial vessels voluntarily reduced speed in Haro Strait and Boundary Pass, key areas of Southern Resident killer whale critical habitat. In-water measurements collected on behalf of the ECHO Program and the Government of Canada have shown that for the vast majority of ships plying the waters of the Salish Sea, reduced speeds result in measurable reductions in underwater noise generated both at the ship source, and in nearby whale habitats.
Hear the difference: Underwater sound from the same container ship operating at regular and reduced speeds

MP3: Container ship at regular speed (19.4 knots)*

MP3: Container ¬¬¬ship at reduced speed (10.6 knots)*

To date, more than 6,000 ships have participated in the ECHO Program’s voluntary underwater noise reduction initiatives, by either slowing down, or moving away from key areas, across 74 nautical miles of shipping routes in the Salish Sea. During the summer of 2020, these initiatives helped achieve a nearly 50% reduction in underwater sound intensity from commercial shipping, in key Southern Resident killer whale foraging areas.
The endangered Southern Resident killer whales face many challenges to their recovery, and underwater noise from vessel traffic is just one of these challenges. Through science-based decisions and regional collaboration, the ECHO Program partners are proving that voluntary efforts can help make a difference.

A killer whale (orcinus orca) nearby a commercial ship transiting through the Salish Sea, off British Columbia’s southern coast. (Photo credit: Joan Lopez)

A pod of killer whales (orcinus orca) travel nearby a commercial ship in pod formation. The southern resident killer population is made up of three matrilineal pods (J, K, L), which are led by the eldest female. (Photo credit: Joan Lopez)

 

1aED3 – Accelerating Science Education by Interactive Simulators and Imaging Experiments

Thomas L. Szabo1 – tlszabo@bu.edu
Peter Kaczkowski2 – peterkaczkowski@verasonics.com

1. Biomedical Engineering
Boston University 11335 NE 122nd Way

2. Verasonics, Inc.
44 Cummington Mall Suite 100
Boston, MA 02215 Kirkland, WA 98034

Popular version of 1aED3 – Acoustics education accelerated by interactive simulators and research imaging system experiments
Presented Monday morning, November 29th, 2021
181st ASA Meeting
Click here to read the abstract

COVID-19 has cast a shadow across college science education. Conventional approaches and flipped classes included a lecture (either live or pre-watched), followed by the solution of specific homework problems done (either independently or in an interactive learning session) and supplemented with laboratories. COVID-19 restricted in-person class and laboratory time. Differences in student background and skill level became apparent, especially in the labor-intensive solution of specific homework problems.

At Boston University, an alternative consisting of a ten-module introductory ultrasound imaging curriculum was developed in which students engaged with course material experientially by using real time Graphical User Interface (GUI)-based physics simulators. These simulators replaced an equation or a set of equations. The simulators allow the user to vary the input variables Xn with a GUI (typically consisting of drop-down menus, sliders, or knobs). The output is in the form of selectable output variables Ym as a function of the subset of chosen input variables Xn. In most simulators, the type of output display is also user selectable.

In this new approach, students interact with simulators accommodating a wide range of skill levels, from beginner to advanced. With guidance, students advance at their own pace and obtain quantitative results in real-time, without traditional bottlenecks associated with homework calculations and mathematical derivations. Because each simulator typically has tens of thousands of input parameter combinations, students have a more global understanding of the concepts. Unlike a typical homework set, these simulators provide students with an understanding of the functional relationship of variables in a continuous and efficient way. Students can learn quickly which variables are most important and their functional interactions.

 Interactive simulator for imaging a three dimensional object using typical ultrasound imaging modes.

 

A frame from a video of transducer manipulation to image a phantom in a laboratory exercise by using an ultrasound research imaging system.

 

Interactive simulator video

Professor Szabo, under the sponsorship of Verasonics®, worked with several biomedical and electrical engineering graduate students part-time at Boston University for three years to develop programs for the simulators in MATLAB®, a scientific programming language. A set of accompanying lectures explained the software as part of an introductory ultrasound imaging curriculum designed to teach underlying physical principles, signal processing, and image processing concepts. He and Peter Kaczkowski, Director of Ultrasound Science at Verasonics, created a series of focused laboratories to further experience the curriculum principles. Using specialized imaging phantoms, students can learn about the imaging process firsthand, as well as the workings of an imaging system as they follow signals through a Verasonics Vantage™ Research Ultrasound System.

Verasonics is planning to offer a comprehensive course based on the simulators and laboratories. In addition, the authors are writing a companion textbook based on interactive simulators and focused laboratories. Verasonics, a privately held company, in Kirkland, Washington, USA, provides researchers and developers with advanced ultrasound imaging systems and flexible tools. For more information, visit https://verasonics.com/.