A study on the principles of human whistling and its analysis by using the parameters of speech production models

Abstract

In this paper, the production principles of human whistling and its analysis were carried out utilizing the parameters of the speech production models. The speech production models have used in this paper are the vocal tract model and the source synthesis filter model. In order to ensure the validity of this study, the musical scales are utilized as the experimental data since it can be predicted its results. In this paper, four types of musical scale data were used for the purpose of comparison and analysis. The first is an artificial musical scale composed of sinusoidal signals, the second is a musical scale created by human whistle, the third is generated by human voice, and the last is a musical scale created by real piano. Here, the data by human whistling, voice, and piano are those of noisy environment. It is shown that the fundamental frequency of human whistling has almost the same properties as that of the Helmholtz resonator. The results of the analysis of the vocal tract speech production model, composed of tubes with non-uniform cross-sectional areas, suggested the possibility of this model as a production model of human whistling. The formant frequency of the speech signal is described by using this modelling. The relationship among the fundamental frequency of human whistling, the formant frequency of the human speech and the resonant frequency of the Helmholtz resonator is explained. The source synthesis filter model, which modeled the speech production with impulse and random signals, and the linear Prediction Coding (LPC) equations which are the solutions of this model have been studied. Using the four types of data aforementioned, we performed computer simulation for these models. In this paper, the applications using not only the Helmholtz resonator but also the properties of the fundamental frequency of human whistling are presented. © International Research Publication House.