An Easy Approach for the Classification of Children’s Voices based on the Fundamental Frequency Estimation

Laura Verde, Giuseppe De Pietro, Giovanna Sannino

2016

Abstract

Voice disorders, also called dysphonia, are qualitative and quantitative alterations of the voice. These pathologies, unfortunately, affect from 6% to 38% of children in the world. Voice disorders may have a negative impact on communication effectiveness, social development and self-esteem. The first weapon against the diffusion and the worsening of these pathologies is prevention. Acoustic analysis is one of the most important tools to appraise the state of health of a voice. It provides information about the possible presence of voice disorders by evaluating specific parameters like the Fundamental Frequency. In this paper we present an easy approach based on a mobile application for voice screening in children. The app provides a robust methodology for the fundamental frequency estimation of the voice signal by analysing in real time a child’s signal. It consists of a continuous vocalization of the vowel /a/ of five seconds in length. The methodology is also able to evaluate undesired noise that can alter the Fundamental Frequency estimation and the correct classification of the evaluated voice signal as pathological or healthy.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Verde L., De Pietro G. and Sannino G. (2016). An Easy Approach for the Classification of Children’s Voices based on the Fundamental Frequency Estimation . In Proceedings of the 9th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies - Volume 5: SmartMedDev, (BIOSTEC 2016) ISBN 978-989-758-170-0, pages 570-577. DOI: 10.5220/0005849005700577

in Bibtex Style

@conference{smartmeddev16,
author={Laura Verde and Giuseppe De Pietro and Giovanna Sannino},
title={An Easy Approach for the Classification of Children’s Voices based on the Fundamental Frequency Estimation},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 9th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies - Volume 5: SmartMedDev, (BIOSTEC 2016)},
year={2016},
pages={570-577},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0005849005700577},
isbn={978-989-758-170-0},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - Proceedings of the 9th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies - Volume 5: SmartMedDev, (BIOSTEC 2016)
TI - An Easy Approach for the Classification of Children’s Voices based on the Fundamental Frequency Estimation
SN - 978-989-758-170-0
AU - Verde L.
AU - De Pietro G.
AU - Sannino G.
PY - 2016
SP - 570
EP - 577
DO - 10.5220/0005849005700577