A new control model based on rising and falling fundamental frequency

The fundamental frequency (F0) control in speech production has not yet been understood completely. There exists a rich variety of F0 patterns depending on a speech production style (i.e., emotional influence, dialects, speaker’s intentions and habits, and so forth). These F0 patterns are controlled by the laryngeal mechanism. Part of this mechanism, the contraction of the cricothyroid muscle (CT) makes F0 rise, and the sternohyoid muscle (SH) movement causes F0 to fall. Up to now, few studies were made on F0 falling, but, in order to generate variousF 0 patterns, it is believed that it is necessary to control both the rise and fall of F0. Therefore a newF 0 control model is proposed which has two parameters. The first parameter, Tau1, represents F0 rising, and the second parameter, Tau2, represents F0 falling. In addition, some primary results on controlling F0 by using the proposed model are included in this report. Currently, progressive studies on F0 patterns of the Osaka dialect are being made. TheF ...