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Number of results: 16
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Abstract

The most challenging in speech enhancement technique is tracking non-stationary noises for long speech segments and low Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR). Different speech enhancement techniques have been proposed but, those techniques were inaccurate in tracking highly non-stationary noises. As a result, Empirical Mode Decomposition and Hurst-based (EMDH) approach is proposed to enhance the signals corrupted by non-stationary acoustic noises. Hurst exponent statistics was adopted for identifying and selecting the set of Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMF) that are most affected by the noise components. Moreover, the speech signal was reconstructed by considering the least corrupted IMF. Though it increases SNR, the time and resource consumption were high. Also, it requires a significant improvement under nonstationary noise scenario. Hence, in this article, EMDH approach is enhanced by using Sliding Window (SW) technique. In this SWEMDH approach, the computation of EMD is performed based on the small and sliding window along with the time axis. The sliding window depends on the signal frequency band. The possible discontinuities in IMF between windows are prevented by the total number of modes and the number of sifting iterations that should be set a priori. For each module, the number of sifting iterations is determined by decomposition of many signal windows by standard algorithm and calculating the average number of sifting steps for each module. Based on this approach, the time complexity is reduced significantly with suitable quality of decomposition. Finally, the experimental results show the considerable improvements in speech enhancement under non-stationary noise environments.

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Authors and Affiliations

Selvaraj Poovarasan
Eswaran Chandra
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Abstract

The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between tinnitus pitch and maximum hearing loss, frequency range of hearing loss, and the edge frequency of the audiogram, as well as, to analyze tinnitus loudness at tinnitus frequency and normal hearing frequency.

The study included 212 patients, aged between 21 to 75 years (mean age of 54.4 ± 13.5 years) with chronic subjective tinnitus and sensorineural hearing loss. For the statistical data analysis we used Chisquare test and Fisher’s exact test with level of significance p < 0:05.

Tinnitus pitch corresponding to the frequency range of hearing loss, maximum hearing loss and the edge frequency was found in 70.8%, 37.3%, and 16.5% of the patients, respectively. The majority of patients had tinnitus pitch from 3000 to 8000 Hz corresponding to the range of hearing loss (p < 0:001). The mean tinnitus pitch was 3545 Hz ± 2482. The majority (66%) of patients had tinnitus loudness 4–7 dB SL. The mean sensation level at tinnitus frequency was 4.9 dB SL ± 1.9, and 13 dB SL ± 2.9 at normal hearing frequency.

Tinnitus pitch corresponded to the frequency range of hearing loss in majority of patients. There was no relationship between tinnitus pitch and the edge frequency of the audiogram. Loudness matching outside the tinnitus frequency showed higher sensation level than loudness matching at tinnitus frequency.

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Authors and Affiliations

Lidija Ristovska
Zora Jachova
Vase Stojcheska
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Abstract

The effects of friction were observed in electric guitar strings passing over an electric guitar saddle. The effects of changing the ratio of the diameter of the winding to the diameter of the core of the string, the angle through which the string is bent, and the length on either side of the saddle were measured. Relative tensions were deduced by plucking and measuring the frequencies of vibration of the two portions of string. Coefficients of friction consistent with the capstan equation were calculated and were found to be lower than 0.26 for wound strings (nickel plated steel windings on steel cores) and lower than 0.17 for unwound (tin plated steel) strings. The largest values of friction were associated with strings of narrower windings and wider cores and this may be due to the uneven nature of the contact between the string and saddle for wound strings or due the surface of the windings deforming more, encouraging fresh (and therefore higher friction) metal to metal contact. It is advised to apply lubrication under the saddle to string contact point after first bringing the string up to pitch rather than before in order to prevent this fresh metal to metal contact.

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Authors and Affiliations

Tom Groves
Jonathan A. Kemp
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Abstract

The paper presents the key-finding algorithm based on the music signature concept. The proposed music signature is a set of 2-D vectors which can be treated as a compressed form of representation of a musical content in the 2-D space. Each vector represents different pitch class. Its direction is determined by the position of the corresponding major key in the circle of fifths. The length of each vector reflects the multiplicity (i.e. number of occurrences) of the pitch class in a musical piece or its fragment. The paper presents the theoretical background, examples explaining the essence of the idea and the results of the conducted tests which confirm the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm for finding the key based on the analysis of the music signature. The developed method was compared with the key-finding algorithms using Krumhansl-Kessler, Temperley and Albrecht-Shanahan profiles. The experiments were performed on the set of Bach preludes, Bach fugues and Chopin preludes.

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Authors and Affiliations

Dariusz Kania
Paulina Kania
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Abstract

Choral singers are among intensive voice users whose excessive vocal effort puts them at risk of developing voice disorders. The aim of the work was to assess voice quality for choral singers in the choir at the Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology. This evaluation was carried out using the acoustic parameters from the COVAREP (A Collaborative Voice Analysis Repository For Speech Technologies) repository. A prototype of a mobile application was also prepared to allow the calculation of these parameters.

The study group comprised 6 male and 19 female choir singers. The control group consisted of healthy non-singing individuals, 50 men and 39 women. Auditory perceptual assessment (using the RBH scale) as well as acoustic analysis were used to test the voice quality of all the participants. The voice quality of the female choir singers proved to be normal in comparison with the control group.

The male choir singers were found to have tense voice in comparison with the controls. The parameters which proved most effective for voice evaluation were Peak Slope and Normalized Amplitude Quotient.

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Authors and Affiliations

Krzysztof Szklanny
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Abstract

One of the most effective designs to control the road traffic noise is the T-shaped barrier. The aim of this study was to examine the performance of T-shape noise barriers covered with oblique diffusers using boundary element method. A 2D simulation technique based on the boundary element method (BEM) was used to compute the insertion loss at the center frequency of each one-third octave band. In designed barriers, the top surface of the T-shaped noise barriers was covered with oblique diffusers. The width and height of the barrier stem and the width of its cap were 0.3, 2.7, and 1 m, respectively. Angles of he oblique diffusers were 15, 30, and 45 degrees. The oblique diffusers were placed on the top surface with two designs including same oblique diffusers (SOD) and quadratic residue oblique diffusers (QROD). Barriers considered were made of concrete, an acoustically rigid material. The barrier with characteristics of QROD, forward direction, and sequence of angles (15, 30, and 45 degrees) had the greatest value of the overall A-weighted insertion loss equal to 18.3 to 21.8 dBA at a distance of 20 m with various heights of 0 to 6 m.

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Authors and Affiliations

Mohammad Reza Monazzam
Milad Abbasi
Saeid Yazdanirad
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Abstract

This article shows acoustic measurements from Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic, located in the Arctic Ocean. The aim of the research was to show the Svalbard soundscape as well as to record and analyse the spatial-temporal dynamics of the acoustic environment, the human impact on the soundscape and to collect baseline data for future comparative research. Svalbard is interesting for many science disciplines because it has an arctic climate and, at the same time, it is relatively easily accessible. Climatologists, geologists, glaciologists, biologists and even anthropologists could find interesting themes to investigate here. Additionally, the soundscape of Spitsbergen is worthy of detailed examination. This paper presents comparative analysis of the soundscape of various spots near Longyearbyen in Management Area 10. The soundscape analysis of selected valleys shows the strong influence of human activity on the soundscape as well as the variability and characteristic features of the natural Arctic soundscape.

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Authors and Affiliations

Dorota Czopek
Paweł Małecki
Janusz Piechowicz
Jerzy Wiciak
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Abstract

An isogeometric boundary element method is applied to simulate wave scattering problems governed by the Helmholtz equation. The NURBS (non-uniform rational B-splines) widely used in the CAD (computer aided design) field is applied to represent the geometric model and approximate physical field variables. The Burton-Miller formulation is used to overcome the fictitious frequency problem when using a single Helmholtz boundary integral equation for exterior boundary-value problems. The singular integrals existing in Burton-Miller formulation are evaluated directly and accurately using Hadamard’s finite part integration. Fast multipole method is applied to accelerate the solution of the system of equations. It is demonstrated that the isogeometric boundary element method based on NURBS performs better than the conventional approach based on Lagrange basis functions in terms of accuracy, and the use of the fast multipole method both retains the accuracy for isogeometric boundary element method and reduces the computational cost.

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Authors and Affiliations

Leilei Chen
Wenchang Zhao
Cheng Liu
Haibo Chen
Steffen Marburg
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Abstract

The airflow in the mouth of an open and closed flue organ pipe of corresponding geometrical proportions is studied. The phase locked particle image velocimetry with subsequent analysis by the biorthogonal decomposition is employed in order to compare the flow mechanisms and related features. The most significant differences lie in the mean velocity distribution and rapidity of the jet lateral motion. Remarks on the pressure estimation from PIV data and its importance for the aeroacoustic source terms are made and a specific example is discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

Viktor Hruška
Pavel Dlask
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Abstract

The condition monitoring techniques like acoustic emission, vibration analysis, and infrared thermography, used for the failure diagnosis of bearings, require longer processing time, as they have to perform acoustical measurement followed by signal processing and further analysis using special software. However, for any bearing, its period of usage can be easily determined within an hour, by measuring the bearing sound, using sound level meter (SLM). In this paper the acoustical analysis of the spindle bearing of a radial drilling machine was performed using SLM, by measuring the sound pressure level of the bearing in decibels, for different frequencies, while muting all the other noises. Then using an experimental set up, two database readings were taken, one for new bearing and the other for completely damaged bearing, both are SKF6207, which itself is the spindle bearing. From these three sets of sound pressure level readings, the period of usage of the spindle bearing, was calculated using an interpolation equation, by substituting the life of the bearing from the manufacturer’s catalogue. Therefore, for any machine with a SKF6207 bearing, its usage time can be estimated using the database readings and one measurement on that machine, all with the same speed.

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Authors and Affiliations

S. Charles
Joslin D. Vijaya
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Abstract

In the paper, the results of investigations on the properties of acoustic emission signals generated in a tested pressure vessel are presented. The investigations were performed by repeating several times the following procedure: an increase in pressure, maintaining a given pressure level, a further increase in pressure, and then maintaining the pressure at new determined level. During the tests the acoustic emission signals were recorded by the measuring system 8AE-PD with piezoelectric sensors D9241A. The used eight-channel measuring system 8AE-PD enables the monitoring, recording and then basic and advanced analysis of signals.

The results of basic analysis carried out in domain of time and the results of advanced analysis carried out in the discrimination threshold domain of the recorded acoustic emission signals are presented in the paper.

In the framework of the advanced analysis, results are described by the defined by the author descriptors with acronyms ADC, ADP and ADNC. Such description is based on identifying the properties of amplitude distributions of acoustic emission signals by assigning them the level of advancement. It is shown that for signals including continoues AE or single burst AE signals descriptions of such registered signals by means of ADC, ADP and ADNC descriptors and by Upp and Urms descriptors provide identical ordering of registered acoustic emission signals. For complex signals, the description using ADC, ADP and ADNC descriptors based on the analysis of amplitude distributions of recorded signals gives the order of signals with more accurate connection with deformational processes being sources of acoustic emission signals.

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Authors and Affiliations

Franciszek Witos
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Abstract

The paper presents the initial results of investigation concerning the abrasion resistance of cast iron with nodular, vermicular, or flake graphite. The nodular and vermicular cast iron specimens were cut out of test coupons of the IIb type with the wall thickness equal to 25 mm, while the specimens made of grey cast iron containing flake graphite were cut out either of special casts with 20 mm thick walls or of the original brake disk. The abrasion tests were carried out by means of the T-01M tribological unit working in the pin-on-disk configuration. The counterface specimens (i.e. the disks) were made of the JT6500 brand name friction material. Each specimen was abraded over a distance of 4000 m. The mass losses, both of the specimens and of the counterface disks, were determined by weighting. It was found that the least wear among the examined materials was exhibited by the nodular cast iron. In turn, the smallest abrasion resistance was found in vermicular cast iron and in cast iron containing flake graphite coming from the brake disk. However, while the three types of specimens (those taken from the nodular cast iron and from grey cast iron coming either from the special casts or from the brake disk) have almost purely pearlitic matrix (P95/Fe05), the vermicular cast iron matrix was composed of pearlite and ferrite occurring in the amounts of about 50% each (P50/Fe50). Additionally, it was found that the highest temperature at the cast iron/counterface disk contact point was reached during the tests held for the nodular cast iron, while the lowest one occurred for the case of specially cast grey iron.

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Authors and Affiliations

A. Jakubus
ORCID: ORCID
M.S. Soiński
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Abstract

Ablation casting is a technological process in which the increased cooling rate causes microstructure refinement, resulting in improved mechanical properties of the final product. This technology is particularly suitable for the manufacture of castings with intricate shapes and thin walls. Currently, the ablation casting process is not used in the Polish industry. This article presents the results of strength tests carried out on moulding sands based on hydrated sodium silicate hardened in the Floster S technology, intended for ablation casting of the AlSi7Mg (AK7) aluminium alloy. When testing the bending and tensile strengths of sands, parameters such as binder and hardener content were taken into account. The sand mixtures were tested after 24h hardening at room temperature. The next stage of the study describes the course of the ablation casting process, starting with the manufacture of foundry mould from the selected moulding mixture and ending in tests carried out on the ready casting to check the surface quality, structure and mechanical properties. The results were compared with the parallel results obtained on a casting gravity poured into the sand mould and solidifying in a traditional way at ambient temperature.

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Authors and Affiliations

J. Kamińska
ORCID: ORCID
M. Angrecki
ORCID: ORCID
S. Puzio
ORCID: ORCID
M. Hosadyna-Kondracka
ORCID: ORCID
K. Major-Gabryś
ORCID: ORCID
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Abstract

The mathematical model and numerical simulations of the solidification of a cylindrical shaped casting, which take into account the process of filling the mould cavity by liquid metal and feeding the casting through the riser during its solidification, are presented in the paper. Mutual dependence of thermal and flow phenomena were taken into account because have an essential influence on solidification process. The effect of the riser shape on the effectiveness of feeding of the solidifying casting was determined. In order to obtain the casting without shrinkage defects, an appropriate selection of riser shape was made, which is important for foundry practice. Numerical calculations of the solidification process of system consisting of the casting and the conical or cylindrical riser were carried out. The velocity fields have been obtained from the solution of momentum equations and continuity equation, while temperature fields from solving the equation of heat conductivity containing the convection term. Changes in thermo-physical parameters as a function of temperature were considered. The finite element method (FEM) was used to solve the problem.

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Authors and Affiliations

L. Sowa
ORCID: ORCID
T. Skrzypczak
ORCID: ORCID
P. Kwiatoń
ORCID: ORCID
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Abstract

Investment casting combined with the additive manufacturing technology enables production of the thin-walled elements, that are geometrically complex, precise and can be easy commercialized. This paper presents design of aluminium alloy honeycombs, which are characterized with light structure, internal parallel oriented channels and suitable stiffness. Based on 3D printed pattern the mould was prepared from standard ceramic material subjected subsequently to appropriate heat treatment. Into created mould cavity with intricate and susceptible structure molten AC 44200 aluminium alloy was poured under low pressure. Properly designed gating system and selected process parameters enabled to limit the shrinkage voids, porosities and misruns. Compression examination performed in two directions showed different mechanisms of cell deformation. Characteristic plateau region of stress-strain curves allowed to determine absorbed energy per unit volume, which was 485 or 402 J/mm3 depending on load direction. Elaborated technology will be applied for the production of honeycomb based elements designated for energy absorption capability.

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Authors and Affiliations

K. Naplocha
ORCID: ORCID
A. Dmitruk
ORCID: ORCID
P. Mayer
J.W. Kaczmar
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Abstract

The intercalation into interlayer spaces of montmorillonite (MMT), obtained from natural calcium bentonite, was investigated. Modification of MMT was performed by the poly(acrylic acid-co-maleic acid) sodium salt (co-MA/AA). Efficiency of modification of MMT by sodium salt co-MA/AA was assessed by the infrared spectroscopic methods (FTIR), X-ray diffraction method (XRD) and spectrophotometry UV-Vis. It was found, that MMT can be relatively simply modified with omitting the preliminary organofilisation – by introducing hydrogel chains of maleic acid-acrylic acid copolymer in a form of sodium salt into interlayer galleries. A successful intercalation by sodium salt of the above mentioned copolymer was confirmed by the powder X-ray diffraction (shifting the reflex(001) originated from the montmorillonite phase indicating an increase of interlayer distances) as well as by the infrared spectroscopy (occurring of vibrations characteristic for the introduced organic macromolecules). The performed modification causes an increase of the ion exchange ability which allows to assume that the developed hybrid composite: MMT-/maleic acid-acrylic acid copolymer (MMT-co- MA/AA) can find the application as a binding material in the moulding sands technology. In addition, modified montmorillonites indicate an increased ability for ion exchanges at higher temperatures (TG-DTG, UV-Vis). MMT modified by sodium salt of maleic acid-acrylic acid copolymer indicates a significant shifting of the loss of the ion exchange ability in the direction of the higher temperature range (500–700°C).

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Authors and Affiliations

B. Grabowska
S. Cukrowicz
Ż. Kurleto-Kozioł
K. Kaczmarska
D. Drożyński
M. Sitarz
A. Bobrowski

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