PHYSIOLOGICALLY MOTIVATED MODELING OF THE VOICE SOURCE IN ARTICULATORY ANALYSIS SYNTHESIS

This paper describes the implementation of a new parametric model of t he glottal geometry aimed at improving male and female speech synthesi s in the framework of articulatory analysis synthesis. The model repre sents glottal geometry in terms of inlet and outlet area waveforms and is controlled by parameters that are tightly coupled to physiology, s uch as vocal fold abduction. It is embedded in an articulatory analysi s synthesis system (articulatory speech mimic). To introduce naturally occurring details in our synthetic glottal flow waveforms, we modelle d two different kinds of leakage: a ''linked leak'' and a ''parallel c hink''. While the first is basically an incomplete glottal closure, th e latter models a second glottal duct that is independent of the membr anous (vibrating) part of the glottis. Characteristic for both types o f leaks is that they increase de-flow and source/tract interaction. A linked leak, however, gives rise to a steeper roll-off of the entire g lottal flow spectrum, whereas a parallel chink decreases the energy of the lower frequencies more than the higher frequencies. In fact, for a parallel chink, the slope at the higher freqencies is more or less t he same as in the no-leakage case.