Dept. of Electronics & Communication, Mar Baselios College of Engineering & Technology, LBS Center for Science and Technology, University of Kerala, Kerala,India.
APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, Kerala, India.
J Voice. 2024 Sep;38(5):1247.e1-1247.e13. doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2022.02.026. Epub 2022 Apr 14.
The normal functioning of the larynx or voicebox gives humans the ability to converse with others effortlessly. However, if the larynx is permanently removed due to injury or illness, speech cannot be produced. The electrolarynx, a noninvasive device used to produce speech for such persons, has a motor-induced hum which hinders telephone-based communication among electrolaryngeal speakers. This adversely affects the morale of electrolarynx users, leading to abandonment of technology, psychological issues and decreased quality of life. This paper examines a technique based on bandpass filtering of electrolaryngeal speech which has the potential of increasing the quality and intelligibility of speech produced by means of an electrolarynx. Finite impulse response and infinite impulse response filtering with bandpass frequencies analogous to telephone landline and wideband filtering were investigated. Objective testing and subjective testing of quality and intelligibility of electrolaryngeal speech have been performed in each phase of the work. Statistical analysis based on one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) has been conducted after each round of subjective testing. Results indicate that the quality as well as intelligibility of electrolaryngeal speech can be improved with the help of bandpass filtering.
正常运作的喉或声带使人类能够毫不费力地与他人交流。然而，如果喉因受伤或患病而被永久切除，就无法发出声音。电喉是一种用于为这类人发声的非侵入性设备，它会产生电机嗡嗡声，这会阻碍电喉使用者通过电话进行沟通。这会对电喉使用者的士气产生不利影响，导致他们放弃使用技术、产生心理问题和降低生活质量。本文研究了一种基于带通滤波的电喉语音技术，该技术有可能提高电喉产生的语音的质量和可懂度。研究了有限脉冲响应和无限脉冲响应滤波，带通频率类似于电话陆上线路和宽带滤波。在工作的每个阶段都对电喉语音的质量和可懂度进行了客观测试和主观测试。在每一轮主观测试后，都进行了基于单因素方差分析（ANOVA）的统计分析。结果表明，带通滤波有助于提高电喉语音的质量和可懂度。
