Frication noise modulated by voicing, as revealed by pitch-scaled decomposition

Description/Abstract

A decomposition algorithm that uses a pitch-scaled harmonic filter was evaluated using synthetic signals and applied to mixed-source speech, spoken by three subjects, to separate the voiced and unvoiced parts. Pulsing of the noise component was observed in voiced frication, which was analyzed by complex demodulation of the signal envelope. The timing of the pulsation, represented by the phase of the anharmonic modulation coefficient, showed a step change during a vowel-fricative transition corresponding to the change in location of the noise source within the vocal tract. Analysis of fricatives /B, v, dh, z, zh, gh, q/ demonstrated a relationship between steady-state phase and place, and f0 glides confirmed that the main cause was a place-dependent delay.