Study of Vocal Tract Shape Estimation Techniques for Children

Accurate depiction of the vocal tract shape is essential for development of speech training aids for hearing impaired. Speech therapists have concluded from their research that if speech disorders are detected at an early stage then the rectification of those becomes faster and to a great accuracy. In case of adults, the vocal tract shape estimation can be performed by using techniques like X-Ray, MRI or using articulatory analysis by synthesis. Due to certain difficulties present in the methods mentioned like radiation effect and loud sound impulses produced by rapid switching of magnetic field are not considered suitable for children. Thus there is lack of availability of vocal tract shape data for children due to inability to use direct estimation methods for children. So it becomes necessary to carry out comparative study of vocal tract shape estimation techniques of children using indirect vocal tract shape estimation techniques. This paper aims to make available a considerable amount of data to researchers for study towards children's vocal tract shape using implemented techniques.The final objective of research work is to perform a detailed study on techniques available for vocal tract shape estimation, to implement and further compare the covariance and lattice methods for children using MATLAB software. Currently, the vocal tract shape estimation based on autocorrelation method is implemented and the results obtained are presented.