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Effect of bandwidth modifications on the quality of speech imitated by Alexandrine and Indian Ringneck parrots

International Journal of Speech Technology volume 20, pages 659–672 (2017)Cite this article

Abstract

Alexandrine and Indian Ringneck parrots are known for imitating the voice of other animals. The objective of this paper is to estimate the spectral limits of the imitated sounds produced by parrots and quantify the quality. The investigations showed that 500–3000 Hz spectral band is adequate for retaining the important perceptual information in the phrases uttered by human speakers and imitated by parrots. Investigations confirmed that the Indian Ringneck parrots are capable of following the formant structure and pitch contour of the phrases uttered by the human subjects. The dynamic range of the pitch of Indian Ringneck parrots was observed as higher than that of the human subjects. A rise of about 1000 Hz in the formant F1 of the parrots was observed, indicating the tongue height small and beak opening, relatively large, as compared to that of human subjects. The quality of some of the synthesized and processed phrases was found slightly better as compared to that of the original phrases because of the inherent enhancement capability of the Harmonic plus noise model (HNM). The average Mean opinion score (MOS) score of the Indian Ringnech parrots for the original, synthesized, and processed phrases was observed as 2.65, 2.59, and 2.77, respectively. The investigations may be beneficial for studying the behavior of endangered birds, defense related activities, safeguarding the crashes with aero planes, and safeguard of the birds from wind power generator etc.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to I. K. Gujral Punjab Technical University, Kapurthala, Punjab, for providing the guidance and the platform for the completion of this research work and also thankful to Sri Sai College of Engineering and Technology, Badhani, Beant College of Engineering and Technology, Gurdaspur, and DSP Lab, University of Jammu for providing resources for the research work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. I. K. Gujral Punjab Technical University, Kapurthala, Punjab, India

    Randhir Singh

  2. Beant College of Engineering and Technology, Gurdaspur, Affiliated to I. K. Gujral Punjab Technical University, Kapurthala, Punjab, India

    Ajay Kumar

  3. Department of Electronics, University of Jammu, Jammu, India

    Parveen Kumar Lehana

Authors
  1. Randhir Singh
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  2. Ajay Kumar
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  3. Parveen Kumar Lehana
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Correspondence to Randhir Singh.

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Singh, R., Kumar, A. & Lehana, P.K. Effect of bandwidth modifications on the quality of speech imitated by Alexandrine and Indian Ringneck parrots. Int J Speech Technol 20, 659–672 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10772-017-9437-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10772-017-9437-x

Keywords

  • Background noise
  • HNM
  • MOS
  • Perceptual evaluation of speech quality (PESQ)
  • Speech enhancement