METHOD FOR THE CORRECTION OF MEASURED VALUES OF VOWEL NASALANCE
First Claim
1. A method for correcting recorded values of vowel ‘
- nasalance’
, a measure of speech nasalization computed from respective nasally and orally emitted acoustic energies, so that the corrected values reflect more closely the degree of opening of the velopharyngeal passageway between the oral pharynx and the nasal pharynx.
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Abstract
A method is described for correcting and improving the functioning of certain devices for the diagnosis and treatment of speech that dynamically measure the functioning of the velum in the control of nasality during speech. The correction method uses an estimate of the vowel frequency spectrum to greatly reduce the variation of nasalance with the vowel being spoken, so as to result in a corrected value of nasalance that reflects with greater accuracy the degree of velar opening. Correction is also described for reducing the effect on nasalance values of energy from the oral and nasal channels crossing over into the other channel because of imperfect acoustic separation.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method for correcting recorded values of vowel ‘
- nasalance’
, a measure of speech nasalization computed from respective nasally and orally emitted acoustic energies, so that the corrected values reflect more closely the degree of opening of the velopharyngeal passageway between the oral pharynx and the nasal pharynx. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
- nasalance’
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8. A method of correcting recorded values of vowel nasalance comprising:
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providing an acoustic separation between nasal and oral passageway openings of a subject; separately detecting nasal and oral acoustic energies emitted by the subject; correcting for crossover energy between the nasal and oral acoustic energies; computing vowel nasalance values based on the nasal and oral acoustic energies; and displaying the computed vowel nasalance values. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An apparatus for measuring nasalance of a speech of a subject comprising:
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an acoustic barrier configured to provide acoustic separation between nasal and oral passageways of a subject; nasal and oral acoustic transducers for providing respective nasal and oral signals indicative of nasal and oral acoustic sounds emitted by the subject during speech; and a processor configured to; compute, in response to the nasal and oral signals, nasal and oral acoustic energy levels emitted by the subject; correct for crossover energy between the nasal and oral acoustic energy levels; compute vowel nasalance values based on the nasal and oral acoustic energy levels; and display the computed vowel nasalance values. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification