TOHOKU UNIVERSITY

Research Institute of Electrical Communication
Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira
Sendai, 980 Japan
 
 
CONTENTS:

HISTORY OF THE ORGANIZATION

SPECTRUM SYNTHESIS (19  -19  )

TERMINAL ANALOG SYNTHESIS (19  -19  )

SYNTHESIS FROM NEUROMOTOR COMMAND (1968-1978)

SYNTHESIS OF CHINESE TONE (1970-1974)

SYNTHESIS OF PATHOLOGICAL VOICES (1972-1983)

BIOGRAPHIES


------------------------------------------------------------- Top
HISTORY OF THE ORGANIZATION



------------------------------------------------------------- Top
PROJECTS: SPECTRUM SYNTHESIS (19   - 19   )


A spectrum synthesizer operated from a finger keyboard. (See
Voder in SSSHP USA Bell Telephone Laboratories file)


1954 Oizumi, J., and Kubo, E., "Synthesis of speech", J. Acoust.
     Soc. Japan 10, 155-158, 1954.  (F)

     TAPE ?


------------------------------------------------------------- Top
PROJECT: TERMINAL ANALOG SYNTHESIS (19   - 19   )


Computer-controlled terminal analog synthesizer. Phonemic symbol
input.


1967 Oizumi, J., S. Hiki, and Y. Kanamori, "Continuous speech
     synthesis from phonemic symbol input", Rept. of Res. Inst.
     of Elect. Comm., Tohoku Univ., Sendai, Japan, 19, 241-245
     (1967).  (I)


1967 Hiki,S., Oizumi,J.: Controlling rules of prosodic features
     for continuous speech synthesis. Proc. Conf. on Speech Comm.
     and Proc., A.F. Cambridge Res. Labs. and IEEE Audio and
     Elect. Group, Cambridge, Mass., November 1967.  (I)

     TAPE:       (Japanese "                                   ")


------------------------------------------------------------- Top
PROJECT: SYNTHESIS FROM NEUROMOTOR COMMAND (1968 - 1978)


"Simulation of the speech production process was based on
physiological observations at various levels and on models of the
anatomical structure of the vocal tract and larynx. The models
are controlled by neurophysiological parameters which specify the
degree of contraction of each muscle included in the models. In
order to obtain the neurophysiological parameters,
electromyographic data of these speech muscles are used." (S.H.)


1969 Hiki, S., and R. Harshman, "Speech synthesis by rules with
     physiological parameters," J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., 46, 1, 111
     (1969). (See SSSHP USA University of California)


1970 Hiki, S., "Control rule of the tongue movement for dynamic
     analog speech synthesis," J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., 47, 1, 85
     (A) (1970).  (I,K) See SSSHP USA University of California)


1974 Imaizumi, S., and S. Hiki, "Extraction of motor command from
     electromyographic data," Proc. Speech Comm. Seminar,
     Stockholm, Vol. 2, 15-21 (1974). Synthesis by a computer-
     programmed dynamic analog speech synthesizer. Control by
     motor commands extracted from the electromyogram by means of
     a pulse counting method. Tape was presented at the ASA-ASJ
     Joint Meeting held on 27 November-1 December, 1978, in
     Honolulu, Hawaii.

     SSSHP 86 Tape: TUm - Synthesis from Neuromotor Command, S.
          Hiki, 7/21/74.
          (Japanese: 10 vowel and semi-vowel words: "ie, eiei,
          uo, oi, o:i, o*:i, waei, ju:i, eiju:, ue", each
          repeated)
          7" reel, good quality


1976 Kakita, Y., and S. Hiki, "A study on laryngeal control for
     pitch change by use of anatomical structure model,"
     Conference Record, 1976 IEEE Int'l Conf. on Acoustics,
     Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP76), 43-46 (1976).


1978 Imaizumi, S., Y. Kakita, and S. Hiki, "Speech synthesis by
     rules from neurophysiological parameters," J. Acoust. Soc.
     Amer., 64, S1, S43 (1978).


------------------------------------------------------------- Top
PROJECT: SYNTHESIS OF CHINESE TONE (1970 - 1974)


"The purpose of this project on synthesis of Chinese tone is to
coordinate data of observations on perceptual roles and
physiological controls which underlie the acoustical properties
of changes in pitch contours in the utterances of the four tones
of standard colloquial Chinese.

Synthesizing was with a computer-programmed terminal analog
speech synthesizer.  Control parameters derived from the data of
acoustical analysis and perceptual test on the Chinese tone as
well as physiological observation of its laryngeal control.
Original version of this recording was demonstrated at the 83rd
Meeting of the ASA held on 18-21 April, 1972, in Buffalo, New
York." (S.H.)


1972 Chuang, C-K., and S. Hiki, "Acoustical features and
     perceptual cues of the four tones of Standard Colloquial
     Chinese," J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., 52, 1, 146 (1972).

     SSSHP 87 Tape: TUc - Synthesis of Chinese Tone, S. Hiki,
          3/31/72.
          (Chinese: "ji, a, o", four tones; "wuja, 16 tone var.;
          "a ji ai wo wo je ai a ji", repeated)
          7" reel. good quality


------------------------------------------------------------- Top
PROJECT: SYNTHESIS OF PATHOLOGICAL VOICES (1972 - 1983)


"Based on analysis of the relationship between both acoustical
and perceptual properties of pathological voices and the nature
of their causative diseases, scales for subjective judgement of
the pathological voice quality have been established utilizing
synthetic speech parallel with natural speech of patients. This
has been a part of activities of the working group on examination
of voice, Japan Society of Logopedics and Phiniatrics.

The recording has samples of synthetic vowels which indicate the
most extreme case of the four scales of pathological voice
quality, namely, rough, breathy, strained and atheniand. (Also
demonstrated are samples at the) boundaries between four level
rating on the four scales for pathological voice quality. The
four scales are currently used for subjective judgement by the
therapists in voice clinics in Japan. Original version of the
recording was demonstrated at the conference on Vocal Fold
Physiology held in Madison, Wisconsin, June 1-4, 1981." (S.H.)


1978 Imaizumi, S., and S. Hiki, "Scaling the perceptual quality
     of pathological voice by the use of synthetic speech," J.
     Acoust. Soc. Amer., 64, S1, S52 (1978)


1980 SSSHP 88 Tape: Synthesis of Pathological Voices, S. Hiki,
          3/16/80
          (Japanese vowel, various quality, repeated)
          7" reel, good quality, thump between latter samples


1983 Hiki, S., "Relationship between efficiency of phonation and
     the tonal quality of speech," in Vocal Fold Physiology, D.M.
     Bless and J.H. Abbs, Eds., College Hill Press, San Diego,
     333-343 (1983)


------------------------------------------------------------- Top
BIOGRAPHIES


R. HARSHMAN (See SSSHP USA Univ. of California)
  
SHIZUO HIKI

1958 B.S. in applied physics, School of Science and Engineering,
     Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
1960 M.S. in applied physics, Graduate School, Waseda University
1961 Research Member, Laboratory of Electrical Communication,
     Nippon Telephone and Telegraph Public Corporation (NTT),
     Tokyo, speech and picture signal transmission
1964 Research Associate, Research Institute of Electrical
     Communication (RIEC), Tohoku Univ., Sendai, speech analysis
     and synthesis
1968 D. Eng. in electrical communication, Tohoku Univ.
1986 Associate Professor, RIEC, Tohoku Univ., physiology of
     speech production, audio and visual information processing
1968-70 Exchange visitor, Dept. of Linguistics, Univ. of
     California at Los Angeles (UCLA), and Speech Communications
     Research Laboratory, Santa Barbara, U.S.A.
1981-86 Chairman, Committee on Speech Research, Acoust. Soc.
     Japan and Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers,
     Japan
1988 Professor, School of Human Sciences, Waseda University,
     Tokorozawa, Japan, biomechanics and rehabilitation
     engineering


SATOSHI IMAIZUMI

1970 B.S. in electrical engineering, Faculty of Engineering,
     Yamanashi Univ., Yamanashi, Japan
1972 M.A. in communication engineering, Faculty of Engineering,
     Tohoku Univ.
1976 D. Eng. in communication engineering, Graduate School,
     Tohoku Univ.
1976 Research associate, School of Medicine, Kinki Univ., Osaka,
     Japan, acoustical analysis of pathological voice, modeling
     of hearing impairment
1983-84 Guest researcher, Royal Institute of Technology,
     Stockholm, Sweden
1984 Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine, Univ. of Tokyo,
     physiology and acoustics of speech production
1990 Guest researcher, Royal Institute of Technology


YUKI KAKITA

1970 B.S. in electronic engineering, Faculty of Technology,
     Kanazawa Univ., Kanazawa
1972 M.S. in communication engineering, Graduate School, Tohoku
     Univ., Sendai
1975 D. Eng. in communication engineering, Graduate School,
1975 Research associate, Dept. of Otolaryngology, School of
     Medicine, Kurume Univ., Kurume, Japan
1976-78 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Linguistics and Speech
     Analysis Dept., Bell Laboratories, U.S.A.
1979 Assistant Professor, Dept. of Otolaryngology and Head and
     Neck Surgery, School of Medicine, Kurume Univ., Japan
1980 Consultant, Linguistics and Artificial Intelligence Dept.,
     Bell Laboratories, U.S.A.
1983 ditto
1984 M.D. in Otolaryngology, Kurume Univ., Japan
     Professor, Dept. of Electronics, Kanazawa Institute of
     Technology, Japan


CHIU-KUANG CHUANG

1967 B.S. in electrical engineering, Faculty of Engineering,
     Tohoku Univ.
1969 M.A. in communication engineering, Faculty of Engineering,
     Tohoku Univ.
1972 D. Eng. in communication engineering, Graduate School,
     Tohoku Univ.
1973 Assistant research linguist, Project on Linguistic Analysis,
     Univ. of California at Berkeley, U.S.A., modeling of pitch
     perceptual process
1978 Research associate, Speech Motor Control laboratories, Univ.
     of Wisconsin at Madison, U.S.A., physiology and acoustics of
     speech production
1981 Research member, GET Laboratories, Inc., Waltham,
     Massachusetts, U.S.A., automatic speech recognition


YOSHINARI KANAMORI


JURO OIZUMI


E. KUBO


------------------------------------------------------------- Top
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM:

Prof. Shizuo Hiki
School of Human Sciences
Waseda University
2-579-15 Mikajima,
Tokorozawa-shi, 359 JAPAN

(Material marked "S.H." is from a private communication from Prof.
Shizuo Hiki to H.D. Maxey, received September 27, 1990. See SSSHP
JAPAN Tohoku University file.)


------------------------------------------------------------- Top
REVIEW BY: