The Puzzle Project is an interactive software system that solves jigsaw puzzles. The voice interface includes speech synthesis and word recognition. The attributes of the puzzle pieces are determined using image processing techniques and wavelet decomposition. Two algorithms are used to solve the puzzles: an expert system and fuzzy logic. This paper describes the steps required to find the solu...

Automatic detection of neurological disordered subjects voice mostly relies on parameters extracted from time-domain processing. The calculation of these parameters often requires prior pitch period estimation; which in turn depends heavily on the robustness of pitch detection algorithm. In the present work cepstraldomain processing technique which does not require pitch estimation has been ado...

In human adults, voices are processed in specialized brain regions in superior temporal cortices. We examined the development of this cortical organization during infancy by using near-infrared spectroscopy. In experiment 1, 7-month-olds but not 4-month-olds showed increased responses in left and right superior temporal cortex to the human voice when compared to nonvocal sounds, suggesting that...

Processing the vocalizations of conspecifics is critical for adaptive social interaction. A species-specific voice-selective region has been identified in the right STS that responds more strongly to human vocal sounds compared with a variety of nonvocal sounds. However, the STS also activates in response to a wide range of signals used in communication, such as eye gaze, biological motion, and...

The current review focuses on the perception of voice identity in clinical and non-clinical voice hearers. Identity perception in auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) is grounded in the mechanisms of human (i.e., real, external) voice perception, and shapes the emotional (distress) and behavioral (help-seeking) response to the experience. Yet, the phenomenological assessment of voice identity i...

Recent neuroimaging studies have provided evidence for localized perceptual speci®city in the processing of human voice stimuli, paralleling the speci®city for human faces. This study attempted to delineate the perceptual features of human voices yielding selective processing, and to characterize its time-course. Electrophysiological recordings revealed a positive potential peaking at 320 ms po...

Although the voice-sensitive neural system emerges very early in development, it has yet to be demonstrated whether the neonatal brain is sensitive to voice perception. We measured the EEG mismatch response (MMR) elicited by emotionally spoken syllables "dada" along with correspondingly synthesized nonvocal sounds, whose fundamental frequency contours were matched, in 98 full-term newborns aged...

Software-Defined Cognitive Radios, which utilize voice as a primary input/output modality, are expected to have substantial computational resources that will be capable of supporting advanced speech and audio processing applications. Yet, there has been little published research regarding how to leverage these capabilities to enhance military mission capability by building on services such as s...

Voice source analysis and modelling has played a key role in important speech applications such as speech recognition, speech synthesis and speaker recognition. This work presents a robust algorithm for glottal closure detection and a novel set of voice source features for speaker recognition. In the rst part of the dissertation the DYPSA algorithm is developed for detecting glottal closure ins...

In this issue of Neuron, Grossmann et al. provide the first evidence of voice-sensitive regions in the brain of 7-month-old, but not 4-month-old, infants. We discuss the implications of these findings for our understanding of cerebral voice processing in the first months of life.