Learning about the human vocal mechanism - A Talking Robot

Main Category: Ear, Nose and Throat
Article Date: 13 Apr 2005 - 0:00 PDT

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In efforts to learn more about the human vocal mechanism and how it creates speech, researchers at Waseda University in Tokyo have created an "anthropomorphic talking robot" called WT-4 (Waseda Talker No. 4).

WT-4 contains robotic parts for lungs, vocal cords, tongue, lips, teeth, nasal cavity and soft palate.

The talking robot can produce vowel and consonant sounds by mimicking vibrations of the vocal cords. Kotaro Fukui (kotaro@toki.waseda.jp) will show that mimicking speech control is effective in producing fluent continuous speech by the talking robot. (4aSC1; see additional information and video at takanishi.mech.waseda.ac.jp/research/voice) Eiji Shintaku at Waseda University (kotaro@toki.waseda.jp) will present a more sophisticated vocal cord design for the next version of the robot, WT-5 (4aSC13).

Edgar Flores and Sidney Fels of the University of British Columbia (ssfels@ece.ubc.ca) will present a robotic jaw capable of producing the complex set of motions of a human jaw during speech (4aSC8).


Do students change their accents shortly after they enroll in college? How can ultrasound trigger healing in bone fractures that are otherwise very stubborn to mend? Could airplane noise lower a student's test scores?

These and other questions will be addressed at the joint meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) and the Canadian Acoustical Association (CAA), to be held May 16-20, 2005 at the Hyatt Regency Vancouver Hotel (655 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 2R7, Canada, 604-639-4820). Over 1050 papers will be presented, making it one of the largest acoustics meetings to date. ASA (http://asa.aip.org) is the largest scientific organization in the United States devoted to acoustics. CAA (http://www.caa-aca.ca) is a professional, interdisciplinary organization devoted to acoustics in Canada.

WORLD WIDE PRESS ROOM

We encourage you to visit ASA's "World Wide Press Room" (located at http://www.acoustics.org/press) before and during the meeting. By the week of May 2, the site will contain lay-language versions of selected meeting papers. These papers will enable you to cover the meeting, even if you can't leave your desk.

MEDIA INQUIRIES

Reporters covering the meeting can receive a complimentary press badge to attend all sessions. Please fill out the reply form if you are interested in attending the meeting. Ben Stein (bstein@aip.org, 301-209-3091) and Martha Heil (mheil@aip.org; 626-354-5613) of the American Institute of Physics will be available both remotely and on-site to facilitate your requests, from contacting speakers at the meeting to obtaining background material on meeting topics.

VIEWING MEETING ABSTRACTS

Full abstracts of the papers mentioned in this news release can be viewed at the Meeting Abstracts Database (http://asa.aip.org/asasearch.html) by typing in the last name of the author or the appropriate paper code. Entire sessions can be viewed by simply typing in the session code followed by a star (e.g., 1aBB*). In addition, typing a general subject (such as "guitar") or a particular university or city (such as "Toronto") may provide other results of interest.

Contact: Ben Stein
bstein@aip.org
301-209-3091
American Institute of Physics
http://www.aip.org

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