Characterizing singing voice fundamental frequency trajectories

This paper evaluates the utility of the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) for characterizing singing voice fundamental frequency (F₀) trajectories. Specifically, it focuses on the use of the 1^st and 2^nd DCT coefficients as approximations of slope and curvature. It also considers the impact of vocal vibrato on the DCT calculations, including the influence of segmentation on the consistency of the reported DCT coefficient values. These characterizations are useful for describing similarities in the evolution of the fundamental frequency in different notes. Such descriptors can be applied in the areas of performance analysis and singing synthesis.