Spectral shape analysis in the central auditory system

Author

Wang, Kuansan ; Shamma, Shihab A.

Author_Institution

AT&T Bell Labs., Murray Hill, NJ, USA

Volume

3

Issue

5

fYear

1995

fDate

9/1/1995 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

382

Lastpage

395

Abstract

A model of spectral shape analysis in the central auditory system is developed based on neurophysiological mappings in the primary auditory cortex and on results from psychoacoustical experiments in human subjects. The model suggests that the auditory system analyzes an input spectral pattern along three independent dimensions: a logarithmic frequency axis, a local symmetry axis, and a local spectral bandwidth axis. It is shown that this representation is equivalent to performing an affine wavelet transform of the spectral pattern and preserving both the magnitude (a measure of the scale or local bandwidth of the spectrum) and phase (a measure of the local symmetry of the spectrum). Such an analysis is in the spirit of the cepstral analysis commonly used in speech recognition systems, the major difference being that the double Fourier-like transformation that the auditory system employs is carried out in a local fashion. Examples of such a representation for various speech and synthetic signals are discussed, together with its potential significance and applications for speech and audio processing

Keywords

Fourier transforms; audio signals; cepstral analysis; hearing; medical signal processing; neurophysiology; signal representation; speech processing; affine wavelet transform; audio processing; central auditory system; double Fourier-like transformation; local spectral bandwidth axis; local symmetry axis; logarithmic frequency axis; magnitude; neurophysiological mappings; phase; primary auditory cortex; psychoacoustical experiments; representation; spectral pattern; spectral shape analysis; speech signals; synthetic signals; Auditory system; Bandwidth; Brain modeling; Cepstral analysis; Phase measurement; Psychoacoustic models; Psychology; Spectral analysis; Spectral shape; Speech processing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Speech and Audio Processing, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1063-6676

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/89.466657

Filename

466657