Vowel Formant Structure Predicts Metric Position in Hip-hop Lyrics

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 480-487
Author(s):  
Paolo Ammirante ◽  
Fran Copelli
Keyword(s):  
Hip Hop ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Rap Music ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Population Estimates ◽  
Frequency Of Occurrence ◽  
Vowel Formant ◽  
Singer's Formant ◽  
Second Formant ◽  
Opera Singers

In order to be heard over the low-frequency energy of a loud orchestra, opera singers adjust their vocal tracts to increase high-frequency energy around 3,000 Hz (known as a “singer's formant”). In rap music, rhymes often coincide with the beat and thus may be masked by loud, low-frequency percussion events. How do emcees (i.e., rappers) avoid masking of on-beat rhymes? If emcees exploit formant structure, this may be reflected in the distribution of on- and off-beat vowels. To test this prediction, we used a sample of words from the MCFlow rap lyric corpus (Condit-Schultz, 2016). Frequency of occurrence of on- and off-beat words was compared. Each word contained one of eight vowel nuclei; population estimates of each vowel's first and second formant (F1 and F2) frequencies were obtained from an existing source. A bias was observed: vowels with higher F2, which are less likely to be masked by percussion, were favored for on-beat words. Words with lower F2 vowels, which may be masked, were more likely to deviate from the beat. Bias was most evident among rhyming words but persisted for nonrhyming words. These findings imply that emcees use formant structure to implicitly or explicitly target the intelligibility of salient lyric events.

Search Time as a Function of Context Letter Frequency

Perception ◽  
1972 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
C R Latimer
Keyword(s):  
Pattern Recognition ◽  
Reaction Time ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Relative Frequency ◽  
Search Time ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Frequency Of Occurrence ◽  
Template Model ◽  
Letter Frequency ◽  
Feature Frequency

Neisser (1967) posits the operation of purely feature analytic processes in the scanning of context letters in search lists. This contention was tested by varying the relative frequency of occurrence in English of the context letters in alphanumeric search lists, while holding their feature content constant. It was hypothesized that faster search time on lists of high-frequency context letters would indicate letter-level processing. Equality of search time would indicate the purely feature-level processing required by Neisser's theory. Context letters were segregated into high- and low-frequency sets and their features defined and held constant according to two feature analyses. This yielded a 2 × 2 design with 22 subjects per condition. Attention was given to the control of feature frequency, size of the context-letter set, and approximation of English at the level of bigram, trigram, and word. Results supported a letter level or template model of processing but were shown also to be explainable in terms of some feature-testing models of pattern recognition. Apparatus which allowed for the removal of reaction time in search lists is described.

Disynaptic Pyramidal Excitation in Forelimb Motoneurons Mediated Via C3–C4 Propriospinal Neurons in theMacaca fuscata

1999 ◽  
Vol 82 (6) ◽  
pp. 3580-3585 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Alstermark ◽  
T. Isa ◽  
Y. Ohki ◽  
Y. Saito
Keyword(s):  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Macaca Fuscata ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Macaque Monkey ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Frequency Of Occurrence ◽  
Macaque Monkeys ◽  
Monosynaptic Connection ◽  
Propriospinal Neurons

In contrast to findings in the cat, it recently has been shown that disynaptic pyramidal EPSPs only rarely are observed in forelimb motoneurons of the macaque monkey in the intact spinal cord or after a corticospinal transection in C5. This finding has been taken to indicate that the disynaptic pyramidal excitatory pathway via C3–C4 propriospinal neurons (PNs) is weakened through phylogeny when the monosynaptic cortico-motoneuronal connection has been strengthened. We reinvestigate this issue with special focus on the possibility that the inhibitory control of the C3–C4 PNs may be stronger in the macaque monkey than in the cat. The effect in forelimb motoneurons of electrical stimulation in the contralateral pyramid was investigated in anesthetized macaque monkeys ( Macaca fuscata). We confirmed the low frequency of disynaptic pyramidal EPSPs in forelimb motoneurons. However, after intravenous injection of strychnine, disynaptic EPSPs could be evoked in 39 of 41 forelimb motoneurons recorded after lesion of the corticospinal fibers in C5. After a corresponding lesion in C2, disynaptic pyramidal EPSPs were observed in 2 of 25 motoneurons. In contrast to previous reports, we conclude that C3–C4 PNs can mediate disynaptic pyramidal excitation in high frequency of occurrence to forelimb motoneurons in the C6–C8 segments and that this transmission is under a stronger inhibitory control than in the cat. Thus, the hypothesis that the disynaptic excitatory cortico-motoneuronal pathway via the C3–C4 PNs is weakened in parallel with the strengthened monosynaptic connection through phylogeny is not supported by the present findings.

Frequency of Pairs of Items and Associative Probability in Learning

1971 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-133
Author(s):  
Charles S. Berdiansky
Keyword(s):  
Associative Learning ◽  
Word Pair ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Paired Associate ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Similar Rate ◽  
Frequency Of Occurrence ◽  
Control Pair ◽  
Zero Frequency

The study was designed to compare Underwood and Schulz's associative probability hypothesis and the paired frequency of two words in performance on a paired-associate task. After being presented a list, 16 Ss matched responses with their stimuli. Each list contained a word pair or item, of (a) high frequency of occurrence, (b) low frequency, (c) zero frequency plus a mediator, and (d) zero frequency (the control pair). While the high-frequency items were learned more rapidly than the low-frequency items, the mediator did not affect the zero-frequency items which were learned at a similar rate to that for the control. This result was interpreted as showing the superiority of paired frequency in associative learning.

Frequency of Occurrence and Identification of Ambiguous Perceptual Forms

1964 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-129
Author(s):  
James H. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Test Stimulus ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Training Session ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Stimulus Presentation ◽  
Test Session ◽  
Frequency Of Occurrence ◽  
Knowledge Of Results ◽  
Test Task ◽  
Nonsense Form

Differential frequency of stimulus presentation was manipulated in a training session during which 144 Ss identified nonsense form prototypes. Knowledge of results was given. In a test session Ss attempted to identify variations of the eight prototypes seen during training. The test task was to decide as to which of two prototypes a given variation was most similar, under some conditions a neither response being allowed. The results showed that the manipulation of differential frequency during a training session can lead to low-frequency responding to one type of test stimulus and high-frequency responding to another. These results were interpreted as supporting a perceptual set rather than a response bias explanation of the influence of frequency of stimulus occurrence.

Some Determinants of Word-Frequency Estimates

1975 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 923-929 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret W. Matlin ◽  
David J. Stang
Keyword(s):  
Word Frequency ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Frequency Of Occurrence ◽  
True Frequency

Subjects saw Turkish nonsense words and estimated their frequency of occurrence (72 subjects, 12 words, Exp. I; 33 subjects, 16 words, Exp. II). Results indicated that: (a) low-frequency stimuli were overestimated while high-frequency stimuli were underestimated; (b) stimuli were judged more frequent when they were positively evaluated than when they were negatively evaluated; (c) stimuli were judged more frequent in a distributed presentation than in a massed presentation; (d) stimuli were judged more frequent when they were rated after a 2-wk. delay than when they were rated immediately; (e) a 2-wk. delay enhanced the interaction between true frequency and judged frequency; (f) stimuli were judged more frequent when they appeared at the beginning or end of the presentation period rather than in the middle.

scholarly journals Acoustic analysis of vowel formant frequencies in genetically-related and non-genetically related speakers with implications for forensic speaker comparison

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. e0246645
Author(s):  
Julio Cesar Cavalcanti ◽  
Anders Eriksson ◽  
Plinio A. Barbosa
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Identical Twin ◽  
Vowel Quality ◽  
Male Adult ◽  
Formant Frequencies ◽  
Phonetic Similarity ◽  
Vowel Formant ◽  
Speaker Discrimination

The purpose of this study was to explore the speaker-discriminatory potential of vowel formant mean frequencies in comparisons of identical twin pairs and non-genetically related speakers. The influences of lexical stress and the vowels’ acoustic distances on the discriminatory patterns of formant frequencies were also assessed. Acoustic extraction and analysis of the first four speech formants F1-F4 were carried out using spontaneous speech materials. The recordings comprise telephone conversations between identical twin pairs while being directly recorded through high-quality microphones. The subjects were 20 male adult speakers of Brazilian Portuguese (BP), aged between 19 and 35. As for comparisons, stressed and unstressed oral vowels of BP were segmented and transcribed manually in the Praat software. F1-F4 formant estimates were automatically extracted from the middle points of each labeled vowel. Formant values were represented in both Hertz and Bark. Comparisons within identical twin pairs using the Bark scale were performed to verify whether the measured differences would be potentially significant when following a psychoacoustic criterion. The results revealed consistent patterns regarding the comparison of low-frequency and high-frequency formants in twin pairs and non-genetically related speakers, with high-frequency formants displaying a greater speaker-discriminatory power compared to low-frequency formants. Among all formants, F4 seemed to display the highest discriminatory potential within identical twin pairs, followed by F3. As for non-genetically related speakers, both F3 and F4 displayed a similar high discriminatory potential. Regarding vowel quality, the central vowel /a/ was found to be the most speaker-discriminatory segment, followed by front vowels. Moreover, stressed vowels displayed a higher inter-speaker discrimination than unstressed vowels in both groups; however, the combination of stressed and unstressed vowels was found even more explanatory in terms of the observed differences. Although identical twins displayed a higher phonetic similarity, they were not found phonetically identical.

Tachistoscopic Word Recognition as a Function of Word Abstractness/Concreteness, Word Frequency, and IQ

1976 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 471-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judi Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Word Frequency ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Frequency Of Occurrence ◽  
Low Iq ◽  
Abstract Words ◽  
Concrete Words

Tachistoscopic word-recognition thresholds for abstract and concrete words of high and low frequency of occurrence were measured for 15 college subjects of high and 15 of low IQ to determine if word abstractness/concreteness is a significant one among these variables. Results refuted previous investigations with thresholds for abstract words being greater than thresholds for concrete words. Also, thresholds for high frequency of occurrence words were lower than for words of low frequency. Subjects with high and low IQs did not have different recognition thresholds. Frequency and word abstractness/concreteness interacted. Possible explanations for these findings are outlined.

Simulations of high-resolution images of amorphous silicon films

1986 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 544-545
Author(s):  
G. Y. Fan ◽  
J. M. Cowley
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscope ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Fourier Transformation ◽  
Amorphous Materials ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Chromatic Aberration ◽  
Structure Information ◽  
Frequency Components ◽  
High Resolution Images ◽  
Spatial Frequency Spectrum

It is well known that the structure information on the specimen is not always faithfully transferred through the electron microscope. Firstly, the spatial frequency spectrum is modulated by the transfer function (TF) at the focal plane. Secondly, the spectrum suffers high frequency cut-off by the aperture (or effectively damping terms such as chromatic aberration). While these do not have essential effect on imaging crystal periodicity as long as the low order Bragg spots are inside the aperture, although the contrast may be reversed, they may change the appearance of images of amorphous materials completely. Because the spectrum of amorphous materials is continuous, modulation of it emphasizes some components while weakening others. Especially the cut-off of high frequency components, which contribute to amorphous image just as strongly as low frequency components can have a fundamental effect. This can be illustrated through computer simulation. Imaging of a whitenoise object with an electron microscope without TF limitation gives Fig. 1a, which is obtained by Fourier transformation of a constant amplitude combined with random phases generated by computer.

SEM image sharpness analysis

1996 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
pp. 142-143
Author(s):  
M. T. Postek ◽  
A. E. Vladar
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Quantitative Information ◽  
Primary Electron ◽  
Image Sharpness ◽  
Critical Dimensions ◽  
Sem Image ◽  
Frequency Changes ◽  
Electron Microscopes ◽  
Scanning Electron

Fully automated or semi-automated scanning electron microscopes (SEM) are now commonly used in semiconductor production and other forms of manufacturing. The industry requires that an automated instrument must be routinely capable of 5 nm resolution (or better) at 1.0 kV accelerating voltage for the measurement of nominal 0.25-0.35 micrometer semiconductor critical dimensions. Testing and proving that the instrument is performing at this level on a day-by-day basis is an industry need and concern which has been the object of a study at NIST and the fundamentals and results are discussed in this paper.In scanning electron microscopy, two of the most important instrument parameters are the size and shape of the primary electron beam and any image taken in a scanning electron microscope is the result of the sample and electron probe interaction. The low frequency changes in the video signal, collected from the sample, contains information about the larger features and the high frequency changes carry information of finer details. The sharper the image, the larger the number of high frequency components making up that image. Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) analysis of an SEM image can be employed to provide qualitiative and ultimately quantitative information regarding the SEM image quality.

Real Ear Sound Pressure Levels Developed by Three Portable Stereo System Earphones

1992 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 52-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gail L. MacLean ◽  
Andrew Stuart ◽  
Robert Stenstrom
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Sound Pressure ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Test System ◽  
Output Frequency ◽  
Frequency Effects ◽  
Adult Men ◽  
Frequency Responses ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Sound Pressure Levels

Differences in real ear sound pressure levels (SPLs) with three portable stereo system (PSS) earphones (supraaural [Sony Model MDR-44], semiaural [Sony Model MDR-A15L], and insert [Sony Model MDR-E225]) were investigated. Twelve adult men served as subjects. Frequency response, high frequency average (HFA) output, peak output, peak output frequency, and overall RMS output for each PSS earphone were obtained with a probe tube microphone system (Fonix 6500 Hearing Aid Test System). Results indicated a significant difference in mean RMS outputs with nonsignificant differences in mean HFA outputs, peak outputs, and peak output frequencies among PSS earphones. Differences in mean overall RMS outputs were attributed to differences in low-frequency effects that were observed among the frequency responses of the three PSS earphones. It is suggested that one cannot assume equivalent real ear SPLs, with equivalent inputs, among different styles of PSS earphones.

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