Abstract
This paper presents new work on the implementation of a contemporary model of the human peripheral hearing system which is designed to operate in real-time. This is achieved by means of transputer technology. Psychoacoustic research is providing new insights into the operation of the human peripheral hearing system. It is suggested that many of these could be employed in the analysis of speech and singing to understand further the nature of the acoustic cues presented to the brain by each ear which are the basis for human communication. Contemporary psychoacoustic experiments into the nature of the peripheral hearing mechanism suggest that the fixed filter bandwidths used in the speech spectrograph could be obscuring patterns in the acoustic speech signal which are essential cues in our perception of speech and singing naturalness. To achieve a more appropriate model of the hearing system more sophisticated filters are required. A real-time version will provide a basis for visual displays of acoustic cues to be implemented for those with speech disorders and those wishing to develop healthy and more effective voices. The development of a real-time version of the model is not possible by means of standard sequential processing techniques, since the human peripheral hearing system is itself an inherently parallel process. Increased processing speed has been achieved by implementation using a network of processors which are themselves designed to operate in parallel.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 215-221 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Microprocessors and Microsystems |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Publication status | Published - May 1994 |
Keywords
- TRANSPUTERS
- REAL-TIME APPLICATION
- SIGNAL PROCESSING
- HEARING
- MODELING