Article
Real-Time Modification of Voice Quality using VQ-Synth: Exploring Our Perception of Acoustic Voice Perturbations (en)
* Presenting author
Abstract:
VQ-Synth is a recently developed voice quality modification system, which allows to alter a talker’s voice quality in real-time. The system is designed to induce vocal hoarseness to study vocal motor control in both healthy and vocally-impaired individuals. In this study, we assess the impact of different VQ-Synth settings on healthy participants’ perception of their own voice. We first record participants as they sustain the vowel /a:/, and generate various resynthesized voice samples based on these recordings. Participants then listen to both unmanipulated and manipulated samples of their voice and evaluate them according to different vocal characteristics. In the second part of the experiment, participants’ auditory feedback of their voice is generated in real-time. We ask them to repeatedly sustain the vowel /a:/, while they directly hear their unmanipulated or manipulated voice through headphones. After each trial, participants evaluate the perceived difference between voice production and perception. The results from this subjective evaluation will inform parameter-settings for future experiments on auditory feedback modulation, contributing to further advancements of the VQ-Synth system. We present and discuss our findings within the context of auditory-perception research and potential clinical applications in voice therapy.