Simulation of speech production by concentrated mass model

Larynx cancer or pulmonary problems cause the initial symptoms such as hoarse voice. There is a possibility of diagnoses of the affected area by analyzing these changes of voice. In this study, our purpose is to enable diagnoses of larynx cancer or pulmonary problems by an acoustic analysis model inside of the vocal tract. As a first step, we aimed to establish an acoustic analysis method in the vocal tract, and identification method of vocal tract shapes and vocal sound source waveforms. In this paper, we modeled the air in the vocal tract as a concentrated mass model that consists of masses, connecting linear springs, connecting dampers, and base support dampers. And we make an acoustic analysis model in the vocal tract. Then we identified the vocal tract shapes by using the Levenberg-Marquardt method, and analyzed vocal sound source waveforms by using the transfer matrix method from the measured voice wave. And we simulated a speech production by the analyzed sound source. The identified vocal tract shapes are valid and the analyzed vocal sound source waveforms are similar to the Rosenberg wave. The speech production results are clear voices. Then, we conclude our proposed methods are valid.