Nauki Techniczne

Archives of Acoustics

Zawartość

Archives of Acoustics | 2013 | vol. 38 | No 1

Abstrakt

Sound and vibrations are often perceived via the auditory and tactile senses simultaneously, e.g., in a car or train. During a rock concert, the body vibrates with the rhythm of the music. Even in a concert hall or a church, sound can excite vibrations in the ground or seats. These vibrations might not be perceived separately because they integrate with the other sensory modalities into one multi-modal perception.

This paper discusses the relation between sound and vibration for frequencies up to 1 kHz in an opera house and a church. Therefore, the transfer function between sound pressure and acceleration was measured at different exemplary listening positions. A dodecahedron loudspeaker on the stage was used as a sound source. Accelerometers on the ground, seat and arm rest measured the resulting vibrations. It was found that vibrations were excited over a broad frequency range via airborne sound. The transfer function was measured using various sound pressure levels. Thereby, no dependence on level was found. The acceleration level at the seat corresponds approximately to the sound pressure level and is independent of the receiver position. Stronger differences were measured for vibrations on the ground.

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Autorzy i Afiliacje

Sebastian Merchel
Mehmet Ercan Altinsoy

Abstrakt

As a consequence of recent implementations of EU Directives related to noise protection more and more students of various AGH-UST programs are introduced to the basics of acoustic measurements. Students at various levels of theoretical background in the field of acoustic measurements are offered practical training in measurements using digital sound analyzers. The situation would be optimal if each student could have a device at his/her own disposal. Unfortunately, such a situation is not possible at the moment because of various reasons.

With the above problem in mind, a dedicated software package has been developed, implemented in the LabVIEW environment, which allows detailed studies of problems related to the acoustic signal measurement using sound level meters, as well as tasks in spectral analysis (1/1 and 1/3 band filters) and narrow-band (FFT) analysis. With such organization during the introductory laboratory classes each student is offered a direct individual contact with a virtual device that is properly pre-programmed for realization of a well-constructed learning process. It definitely facilitates understanding of the essence of acoustic signal measurements and provides a good basis for further laboratory work carried out as a team-activity.

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Autorzy i Afiliacje

Robert Barański
Grażyna Wszołek

Abstrakt

We present a highly efficient filter structure to create power-complementary filter pairs for phantom source widening. It either introduces frequency-dependent phase or amplitude differences in a pair of loudspeaker signals. We evaluate how the perceptual effect is influenced by off-center listening positions in a standard ±30° loudspeaker setup. The evaluation of the phantom source widening effect is based on measurements of the inter-aural cross-correlation coefficient (IACC), which is justified by its pronounced correlation to the perceived phantom source width in prior listening test results.

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Autorzy i Afiliacje

Franz Zotter
Matthias Frank

Abstrakt

The Gaussian mixture model (GMM) method is popular and efficient for voice conversion (VC), but it is often subject to overfitting. In this paper, the principal component regression (PCR) method is adopted for the spectral mapping between source speech and target speech, and the numbers of principal components are adjusted properly to prevent the overfitting. Then, in order to better model the nonlinear relationships between the source speech and target speech, the kernel principal component regression (KPCR) method is also proposed. Moreover, a KPCR combined with GMM method is further proposed to improve the accuracy of conversion. In addition, the discontinuity and oversmoothing problems of the traditional GMM method are also addressed. On the one hand, in order to solve the discontinuity problem, the adaptive median filter is adopted to smooth the posterior probabilities. On the other hand, the two mixture components with higher posterior probabilities for each frame are chosen for VC to reduce the oversmoothing problem. Finally, the objective and subjective experiments are carried out, and the results demonstrate that the proposed approach shows greatly better performance than the GMM method. In the objective tests, the proposed method shows lower cepstral distances and higher identification rates than the GMM method. While in the subjective tests, the proposed method obtains higher scores of preference and perceptual quality.

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Autorzy i Afiliacje

Peng Song
Li Zhao
Yongqiang Bao

Abstrakt

Reverberant responses are widely used to characterize acoustic properties of rooms, such as the early decay time (EDT) and the reverberation times T20 and T30. However, in real conditions a sound decay is often deformed by background noise, thus a precise evaluation of decay times from noisy room responses is the main problem. In this paper this issue is examined by means of numerical method where the decay times are estimated from the decay function that has been determined by nonlinear polynomial regression from a pressure envelope obtained via the discrete Hilbert transform. In numerical experiment the room responses were obtained from simulations of a sound decay for two-room coupled system. Calculation results have shown that background noise slightly affects the evaluation of reverberation times T20 and T30 as long as the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is not smaller than about 25 and 35 dB, respectively. However, when the SNR is close to about 20 and 30 dB, high overestimation of these times may occur as a result of bending up of the decay curve during the late decay.

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Autorzy i Afiliacje

Mirosław Meissner

Abstrakt

There are an increasing number of binaural systems embedded with head-related transfer functions (HRTFs), so listeners can experience virtual environments via conventional stereo loudspeakers or head- phones. As HRTFs vary from person to person, it is difficult to select appropriated HRTFs from already existing databases for users. Once the HRTFs in a binaural audio device hardly match the real ones of the users, poor localization happens especially on the cone of confusion. The most accurate way to obtain personalized HRTFs might be doing practical measurements. It is, however, expensive and time consuming. Modifying non-individualized HRTFs may be an effort-saving way, though the modifications are always accompanied by undesired audio distortion. This paper proposes a flexible HRTF adjustment system for users to define their own HRTFs. Also, the system can keep sounds from suffering intolerable distortion based on an objective measurement tool for evaluating the quality of processed audio.
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Autorzy i Afiliacje

Shu-Nung Yao
Li Jen Chen

Abstrakt

Filled pauses (FPs) have proved to be more than valuable cues to speech production processes and important units in discourse analysis. Some aspects of their form and occurrence patterns have been shown to be speaker- and language-specific. In the present study, basic acoustic properties of FPs in Polish task-oriented dialogues are explored. A set of FPs was extracted from a corpus of twenty task- oriented dialogues on the basis of available annotations. After initial scrutiny and selection, a subset of the signals underwent a series of pitch, formant frequency and voice quality analyses. A significant amount of variation found in the realisations of FPs justifies their potential application in speaker recognition systems. Regular monosegmental FPs were confirmed to show relatively stable basic acoustic parameters, which allows for their easy identification and measurements but it may result in less significant differences among the speakers.
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Autorzy i Afiliacje

Maciej Karpiński

Abstrakt

Two violins were investigated. The only intentionally introduced difference between them was the type of varnish. One of the instruments was covered with a spirit varnish, the other was oil varnished. Experimental modal analysis was done for unvarnished/varnished violins and a questionnaire inquiry on the instrument’s sound quality was performed. The aim of both examinations was to find differences and similarities between the two instruments in the objective (modal parameters) and subjective domain (subjective evaluation of sound quality). In the modal analysis, three strongly radiating signature modes were taken into account. Varnishing did not change the sequence of mode shapes. Modal frequencies A0 and B(1+) were not changed by oil varnishing compared to the unvarnished condition. For the oil varnished instrument, the frequency of mode B(1+) was lower than that of the same mode of the spirit varnished instrument. Our two violins were not excellent instruments, but before varnishing they were practically identical. However, after varnishing it appeared that the oil-varnished violin was better than the spirit-varnished instrument. Therefore, it can be assumed with a fairly high probability that also in general, the oil-varnished violins sound somewhat better than initially identical spirit-varnished ones.
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Autorzy i Afiliacje

Ewa B. Skrodzka
Bogumił B.J. Linde
Antoni Krupa

Abstrakt

This paper presents a new model that describes the physical phenomena occurring in an individual Outer Hair Cell (OHC) in the human hearing organ (Cochlea). The new model employs the concept of parametric amplification and piezoelectricity. As a consequence, the proposed model may explain in a natural way many as yet unresolved problems about the mechanisms of: 1) power amplification, 2) non- linearity, 3) fine tuning, or 4) high sensitivity that take place in the human hearing organ. Mathematical analysis of the model is performed. The equivalent electrical circuits of an individual OHC are established. The high selectivity of the OHC parametric amplifier is analyzed by solving the resulting Mathieu and Ince differential equations. An analytical formula for the power gain in the OHC’s parametric amplifier has been developed. The proposed model has direct physical interpretation and all its elements have their physical counterparts in the actual structure of the cochlea. The numerical values of the individual elements of the electrical equivalent circuits are consistent with the experimental physiological data. It is anticipated that the proposed new model may contribute in future improvements of human cochlear implants as well as in development of new digital audio standards.
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Autorzy i Afiliacje

Piotr Kiełczyński

Abstrakt

The temperature dependence of the particle size distribution (PSD) of the magnetic fluid with an additional biocompatible dextran layer was studied using a ultrasonic method. The measurements of the ultrasound velocity and attenuation were carried out as a function of the volume concentration of magnetite particles at temperatures ranging from 15°C to 40°C. In order to extract the PSD from ultrasonic measurements, the theoretical model of Vinogradov-Isakovich was used. The extraction of PSD from the ultrasonic data requires also the measurements the density and viscosity of the ferrofluid samples. The calculated PSD of the magnetic fluid with an additional biocompatible layer shows a greater thermal stability than that of a magnetic fluid with a single surfactant layer.
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Autorzy i Afiliacje

Leszek Dąbek
Tomasz Hornowski
Arkadiusz Józefczak
Andrzej Skumiel

Abstrakt

he paper contains results of a in situ research main task of which was to detect objects buried, partially or completely, in the sea bottom. Object detecting technologies employing acoustic wave sources based on nonlinear interaction of elastic waves require application of parametric sound sources. Detection of objects buried in the sea bottom with the use of classic hydroacoustic devices such as the sidescan sonar or multibeam echosounder proves ineffective. Wave frequencies used in such devices are generally larger than tens of kHz. This results in the fact that almost the whole acoustic energy is reflected from the bottom. On the other hand, parametric echosounders radiate waves with low frequency and narrow beam patterns which ensure high spatial resolution and allows to penetrate the sea bottom to depths of the order of tens of meters. This allows to detect objects that can be interesting, among other things, from archaeological or military point of view.
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Autorzy i Afiliacje

Eugeniusz Kozaczka
Grażyna Grelowska
Sławomir Kozaczka
Wojciech Szymczak

Abstrakt

Passive source localization in shallow water has always been an important and challenging problem. Implementing scientific research, surveying, and monitoring using a short, less than ten meter long, horizontal linear array has received considerable attention in the recent years. The short array can be conveniently placed on autonomous underwater vehicles and deployed for adaptive spatial sampling. However, it is usually difficult to obtain a sufficient spatial gain for localizing long-range sources due to its limited physical size. To address this problem, a localization approach is proposed which is based on matched-field processing of the likelihood of the passive source localization in shallow water, as well as inter-position processing for the improved localization performance and the enhanced stability of the estimation process. The ability of the proposed approach is examined through the two-dimensional synthetic test cases which involves ocean environmental mismatch and position errors of the short array. The presented results illustrate the localization performance for various source locations at different signal- to-noise ratios and demonstrate the build up over time of the positional parameters of the estimated source as the short array moves at a low speed along a straight line at a certain depth.
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Autorzy i Afiliacje

Dexin Zhao
Zhiping Huang
Shaojing Su
Ting Li

Abstrakt

The paper presents an extensive review investigating the practical aspects related to the use of single- number ratings used in describing the sound insulation performance of partition wall panels and practical complications encountered in precise measurements in extensive frequency range from 50 Hz to 5 kHz. SWOT analysis of various single number ratings is described. A laboratory investigation on a double wall partition panel combination revealed the significant dependence of STC rating on transmission loss at 125 Hz attributed to 8 dB rule. An investigation conducted on devising alternative spectrums of aircraft noise, traffic noise, vehicular horn noise and elevated metro train noise as an extension to ISO 717-1 Ctr for ascertaining the sound insulation properties of materials exclusively towards these noise sources revealed that the single-number rating Rw + Ctr calculated using ISO 717-1 Ctr gives the minimum sound insulation, when compared with Rw + Cx calculated using the alternative spectrums of aircraft noise, traffic noise, etc., which means that material provides a higher sound insulation to the other noise sources. It is also observed that spectrum adaptation term Cx calculated using the spectrum of noise sources having high sound pressure levels in lower frequencies decreases as compared to ISO 717-1 Ctr owing to significant dependence of Ctr at lower frequencies.
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Autorzy i Afiliacje

Naveen Garg
Anil Kumar
Sagar Maji

Abstrakt

This paper presents a solution that utilises ultrasonic technology to allow monitoring snow layer thickness or water level based on measurement from air. It describes the principle of operation of a measurement device using three methods of compensating for changing external factors affecting appliance’s precision. Block diagram of the device is also provided. In order to verify the proposed solutions, the research team tested the device in laboratory and operating conditions. The results obtained this way make it possible to select a configuration of device operation depending on the required measurement precision and limitations associated with installing the system for actual operation.
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Autorzy i Afiliacje

Tadeusz Gudra
Dariusz Banasiak
Krzysztof Herman
Krzysztof Opieliński

Instrukcja dla autorów

Author Guidelines
• Manuscripts intended for publication in Archives of Acoustics should be submitted in pdf format by an on-line procedure.
• Manuscript should be original, and should not be submitted either previously or simultaneously elsewhere, neither in whole, nor in part.
• Submitted papers must be written in good English and proofread by a native speaker.
• Basically, the papers should not exceed 40 000 typographic signs.
• Postal addresses, affiliations and email addresses for each author are required.
• Detailed information see Article Requirements.
• Manuscript should be accompanied by a cover letter containing the information:
o why the paper is submitted to ARCHIVES OF ACOUSTICS,
o suggestion on the field of acoustics related to the topic of the submitted paper,
o the statement that the manuscript is original, the submission has not been previously published, nor was sent to another journal for consideration,
o 3–5 names of suggested reviewers together with their affiliations, full postal and e-mail addresses; at least 3 suggested reviewers should be affiliated with other scientific institutions than the affiliations of the authors,
o author’s suggestion to classification of the paper as the research paper, review paper or technical note.

Article Requirements
1. At submission time only a PDF file is required. After acceptance, authors must submit all source material (see information about Figures). Authors can use their preferred manuscript-preparation software. The journal itself is produced in LaTeX, so accepted articles will be converted to LaTeX at production time.
2. The title of the paper should be as short as possible.
3. Full names and surnames should be given.
4. The full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name should be provided. Affiliations should contain the full postal address, as well as an e-mail address of one author designated as corresponding author.
5. The text should be preceded by a concise abstract (less than 200 words).
6. Keywords should be given.
7. The formulae to be numbered are those referred to in the paper, as well as the final formulae.
8. All notations should be written very distinctly.
9. References in the text (author(s) and year of publication) are to be cited between parentheses.
Items appearing in the reference list should be complete, including surname and the initials of the first name of the author, the full title of the paper/book in English followed by the information on the original paper language. In case of a book, the publisher's name, the place and year of publication should be given. In case of a periodical, the full title of the periodical, consecutive volume number, current issue number, pages, and year of publication should be given. All references in the bibliography should be cited in the text, and arranged in alphabetical order by authors' last name.
For more information on references see http://acoustics.ippt.gov.pl/public/Instructions.pdf.
10. Figures must be of publication quality. Each figure should be saved in separate file and captioned and numbered so that it can float. After acceptance, Authors will need to submit the original source files for all photos, diagrams and graphs in manuscript.
For diagrams and graphs vector EPS or vector PDF files are the most useful. Make sure that what you're saving is vector graphics and not a bitmap. Please also include the original data for any plots. This is particularly important if you are unable to save Excel-generated plots in vector format. Saving them as bitmaps is not useful; please send the Excel (.xls) spreadsheets instead.
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Pack all figure files into a single archive (zip, tar, rar or other format) and then upload on the magazine web site.

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