Some Variables in Audio Spectrometry
Robert W. Benson, Ira J. Hirsh · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1953
Measurements of the long-time average spectrum of speech are reported with the purpose of pointing out the roles of several variables. Three different sampling times of three different types of speech material are analyzed with several band-width intervals. The speech of five young men and five young women contributes to the averaged results. No significant differences are found among the three types of speech material nor among the three different sampling times of 30, 60, and 90 seconds. Octave, half-octave and equal-mel intervals appear to yield the same results. The only important difference between male and female speech appears in the octave 75–150 cps. The shape of the long time spectrum remains fairly constant from person to person while the over-all level contributes most to interpersonal variability. A discussion of the meaning of “over-all level” in this and previous reports is given. A relatively simple system for obtaining these measurements is described.