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Table Of Contents
Chapter 14 EVOC 20 PolySynth 165
Unvoiced/Voiced (U/V) Detection
Human speech consists of a series of voiced sounds (tonal sounds) and unvoiced
sounds (noisy sounds). The main distinction between voiced and unvoiced sounds is
that voiced sounds are produced by an oscillation of the vocal cords, while unvoiced
sounds are produced by blocking and restricting the air flow with lips, tongue, palate,
throat, and larynx.
Should speech containing voiced and unvoiced sounds be used as a vocoders analysis
signal, but the synthesis engine doesn’t differentiate between voiced and unvoiced
sounds, the result will sound rather toothless. To avoid this, the synthesis section of the
vocoder must produce different sounds for the voiced and unvoiced parts of the signal.
For that reason, the EVOC 20 PolySynth includes an Unvoiced/Voiced detector. This unit
detects the unvoiced portions of the sound in the analysis signal and then substitutes
the corresponding portions in the synthesis signal with Noise, a mixture of Noise +
Synth, or with the original signal (Blend). If the U/V Detector detects voiced parts, it
passes this information to the Synthesis section, which uses the normal synthesis signal
for these portions.
Tip: Speech intelligibility is highly dependent on high frequency content, as human
hearing is reliant on these high frequencies to determine syllables within words. Bear
this fact in mind when using the EVOC 20 PolySynth, and take care with filter frequency
settings in the Synthesis and Formant Filter sections. To aid intelligibility, it may be
worthwhile using equalization to boost particular frequencies in the mid to high
frequency range, before processing the signal with the EVOC 20 PolySynth. Please see
the “Tips for Better Speech Intelligibility on page 169 for further information.