VOCAL-TRACT SHAPE IDENTIFICATION FROM FORMANT FREQUENCY-SPECTRA - A SIMULATION USING 3-DIMENSIONAL BOUNDARY-ELEMENT MODELS

Identification of the three-dimensional vocal tract shape from the for mant frequency spectra or transmission characteristic is discussed. Th e vocal tract wall is modelled by an assemblage of spline functions, w hich is deformable about the points of interest. Three-dimensional bou ndary elements are incorporated for evaluating the acoustic transmissi on characteristics. The identification is treated as an optimization p rocess in such a way that the norm between some ''measured'' formant f requencies and those calculated for the assumed vocal tract shape is m inimized by using the DFP algorithm. (C) 1997 Academic Press Limited.