Acústica de las iglesias jesuíticas como parte del patrimonio integral en Córdoba y San Ignacio Miní

En esta investigación se aborda el tema del comportamiento acústico de las Iglesias Jesuíticas de la ciudad de Córdoba (Argentina) y San Ignacio Mini ubicada en la localidad de San Ignacio, provincia de Misiones (Argentina), construidas hace dos siglos atrás y declaradas Patrimonio de la Humanidad, con el objetivo de evaluar los parámetros que determinan la comprensión de la palabra y la aptitud de cada una de las iglesias para el canto y la música religiosa. En una primera etapa la investigación se orientó a profundizar en las características constructivas interiores de cada templo y a proponer una metodología de análisis para comparar los resultados de las mediciones objetivas, realizadas mediante la implementación de mediciones in situ, con los resultados de las apreciaciones subjetivas resultantes de la elaboración de encuestas, a los fines de caracterizar acústicamente cada espacio sonoro. Se seleccionaron, para la caracterización objetiva de cada templo, aquellos parámetros que permiten sintetizar las propiedades acústicas relacionadas con la música y la palabra, y aquellos que posibilitan medir la proporción efectiva de las primeras reflexiones, consideradas como índices subjetivos de la capacidad de distinción del sonido por parte del oyente. Se comparan los valores alcanzados con las preferencias subjetivas obtenidas en las encuestas de opinión. Se relevaron tiempos de reverberación altos en todas iglesias, fuera de los considerados óptimos para cada recinto. Se analizaron los índices de calidad y se comprobó cómo influyen los diferentes materiales en el comportamiento acústico de cada recinto. Para la evaluación subjetiva se implementó una encuesta ya validada en la que se privilegió la fácil asociación entre parámetros acústicos y psicoacústicos, esto posibilitó encontrar aquellos parámetros objetivos, simulados con público, que estuviesen fuertemente relacionados con el juicio subjetivo, así como aquellos con menor correlación. La búsqueda y relevamiento de material grafico, fotográfico y otros documentos históricos posibilitó la reconstrucción de cada iglesia para su modelización y la evaluación del comportamiento de todos los templos con la presencia de feligreses, no habiéndose podido realizar mediciones bajo esta condición. El interés por obtener datos acústicos más precisos de la Iglesia San Ignacio Mini, que actualmente se encuentra en ruinas, llevó a utilizar herramientas más poderosas de cálculo como el método de las fuentes de imagen “Ray Tracing Impact” por medio del cual se logró la auralización. Para ello se trabajó con un archivo de audio que representó la voz masculina de un sacerdote en el idioma jesuítico-guaraní, recuperando así el patrimonio cultural intangible. ABSTRACT This research addresses the acoustic behavior of the Jesuit Churches in Cordoba City (Argentina) and San Ignacio Mini (located in the town of San Ignacio, Misiones, Argentina), built two centuries ago and declared World Heritage Sites, with the objective to evaluate the parameters that determine the speech comprehension and the ability of each of the churches for singing of religious music. The first step of the work was aimed to further investigate the internal structural characteristics of each temple and to propose an analysis methodology to compare the objective results of in situ measurements with the subjective results of surveys, in order to characterize acoustically each sound-space. For the subjective characterization of each temple, those parameters that allow synthesizing the acoustic properties related to music & speech and measuring the subjective indices for the recognition of sounds, were selected. Also, the values were compared with the ones obtained from the surveys. High reverberation times were found in all churches, which is not considered optimal for the enclosed areas of the temples. The quality indices were analyzed and it was found how the different materials influence in the acoustic behavior of each enclosure. For subjective evaluation, a survey was implemented (that was previously validated) where the association between acoustic and psychoacoustic parameters was privileged; this allowed to find those objective parameters who were strongly related to the subjective ones, as well as those with lower correlation. Photographic and graphic material and other historical documents allowed the reconstruction of each church for its modeling, and also the evaluation of the performance of all the temples in the presence of their congregation. The interest in obtaining more accurate acoustic data of the San Ignacio Mini Church, which is now in ruins, led to the use of most powerful methods, as for example the image-sources "Ray Tracing Impact" method. For this, an audio archive was used, representing a male voice of a priest in the Jesuit-Guaraní language; recovering in this way intangible cultural heritage.

The Voice in the Whirlwind: Lessons for Job -- Randomness and Natural Evil

The innocent Job suffers, friends are no help, and then Job screams at Yahweh, demanding justice. The first surprise is that Yehweh responds to Job, does not criticize him but tells him he is ignorant, and then gives him a science lesson. The content of that lesson is the second surprise.

Potential Benefit of Singing for People with Parkinson’s Disease : A Systematic Review

Acknowledgements including sources of support This study was not supported by any particular grant or funding source. The senior author MSB, an epidemiologist with research experience in PD, wishes to thank clinician authors JB, RAA and SMB for their invaluable contributions. JB is a retired health professional with long-standing experience in community health. RAA and SMB are qualified and practising speech and language therapists and RAA specialises in adult neurological disorders. Additionally, we thank Dr Katherine Deane of the University of East Anglia for expert input regarding the Threats to Validity quality tool, on which she was the lead developer.

Song selectivity and sensorimotor signals in vocal learning and production

Bird song, like human speech, is a learned vocal behavior that requires auditory feedback. Both as juveniles, while they learn to sing, and as adults, songbirds use auditory feedback to compare their own vocalizations with an internal model of a target song. Here we describe experiments that explore a role for the songbird anterior forebrain pathway (AFP), a basal ganglia-forebrain circuit, in evaluating song feedback and modifying vocal output. First, neural recordings in anesthetized, juvenile birds show that single AFP neurons are specialized to process the song stimuli that are compared during sensorimotor learning. AFP neurons are tuned to both the bird's own song and the tutor song, even when these stimuli are manipulated to be very different from each other. Second, behavioral experiments in adult birds demonstrate that lesions to the AFP block the deterioration of song that normally follows deafening. This observation suggests that deafening results in an instructive signal, indicating a mismatch between feedback and the internal song model, and that the AFP is involved in generating or transmitting this instructive signal. Finally, neural recordings from behaving birds reveal robust singing-related activity in the AFP. This activity is likely to originate from premotor areas and could be modulated by auditory feedback of the bird's own voice. One possibility is that this activity represents an efference copy, predicting the sensory consequences of motor commands. Overall, these studies illustrate that sensory and motor processes are highly interrelated in this circuit devoted to vocal learning, as is true for brain areas involved in speech.

Scientific bases of human-machine communication by voice.

The scientific bases for human-machine communication by voice are in the fields of psychology, linguistics, acoustics, signal processing, computer science, and integrated circuit technology. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the basic scientific and technological issues in human-machine communication by voice and to point out areas of future research opportunity. The discussion is organized around the following major issues in implementing human-machine voice communication systems: (i) hardware/software implementation of the system, (ii) speech synthesis for voice output, (iii) speech recognition and understanding for voice input, and (iv) usability factors related to how humans interact with machines.

The role of voice input for human-machine communication.

Optimism is growing that the near future will witness rapid growth in human-computer interaction using voice. System prototypes have recently been built that demonstrate speaker-independent real-time speech recognition, and understanding of naturally spoken utterances with vocabularies of 1000 to 2000 words, and larger. Already, computer manufacturers are building speech recognition subsystems into their new product lines. However, before this technology can be broadly useful, a substantial knowledge base is needed about human spoken language and performance during computer-based spoken interaction. This paper reviews application areas in which spoken interaction can play a significant role, assesses potential benefits of spoken interaction with machines, and compares voice with other modalities of human-computer interaction. It also discusses information that will be needed to build a firm empirical foundation for the design of future spoken and multimodal interfaces. Finally, it argues for a more systematic and scientific approach to investigating spoken input and performance with future language technology.

A perspective on early commercial applications of voice-processing technology for telecommunications and aids for the handicapped.

The Colloquium on Human-Machine Communication by Voice highlighted the global technical community's focus on the problems and promise of voice-processing technology, particularly, speech recognition and speech synthesis. Clearly, there are many areas in both the research and development of these technologies that can be advanced significantly. However, it is also true that there are many applications of these technologies that are capable of commercialization now. Early successful commercialization of new technology is vital to ensure continuing interest in its development. This paper addresses efforts to commercialize speech technologies in two markets: telecommunications and aids for the handicapped.

Voice-processing technologies--their application in telecommunications.

As the telecommunications industry evolves over the next decade to provide the products and services that people will desire, several key technologies will become commonplace. Two of these, automatic speech recognition and text-to-speech synthesis, will provide users with more freedom on when, where, and how they access information. While these technologies are currently in their infancy, their capabilities are rapidly increasing and their deployment in today's telephone network is expanding. The economic impact of just one application, the automation of operator services, is well over $100 million per year. Yet there still are many technical challenges that must be resolved before these technologies can be deployed ubiquitously in products and services throughout the worldwide telephone network. These challenges include: (i) High level of accuracy. The technology must be perceived by the user as highly accurate, robust, and reliable. (ii) Easy to use. Speech is only one of several possible input/output modalities for conveying information between a human and a machine, much like a computer terminal or Touch-Tone pad on a telephone. It is not the final product. Therefore, speech technologies must be hidden from the user. That is, the burden of using the technology must be on the technology itself. (iii) Quick prototyping and development of new products and services. The technology must support the creation of new products and services based on speech in an efficient and timely fashion. In this paper I present a vision of the voice-processing industry with a focus on the areas with the broadest base of user penetration: speech recognition, text-to-speech synthesis, natural language processing, and speaker recognition technologies. The current and future applications of these technologies in the telecommunications industry will be examined in terms of their strengths, limitations, and the degree to which user needs have been or have yet to be met. Although noteworthy gains have been made in areas with potentially small user bases and in the more mature speech-coding technologies, these subjects are outside the scope of this paper.

Military and government applications of human-machine communication by voice.

This paper describes a range of opportunities for military and government applications of human-machine communication by voice, based on visits and contacts with numerous user organizations in the United States. The applications include some that appear to be feasible by careful integration of current state-of-the-art technology and others that will require a varying mix of advances in speech technology and in integration of the technology into applications environments. Applications that are described include (1) speech recognition and synthesis for mobile command and control; (2) speech processing for a portable multifunction soldier's computer; (3) speech- and language-based technology for naval combat team tactical training; (4) speech technology for command and control on a carrier flight deck; (5) control of auxiliary systems, and alert and warning generation, in fighter aircraft and helicopters; and (6) voice check-in, report entry, and communication for law enforcement agents or special forces. A phased approach for transfer of the technology into applications is advocated, where integration of applications systems is pursued in parallel with advanced research to meet future needs.

What does voice-processing technology support today?

This paper describes the state of the art in applications of voice-processing technologies. In the first part, technologies concerning the implementation of speech recognition and synthesis algorithms are described. Hardware technologies such as microprocessors and DSPs (digital signal processors) are discussed. Software development environment, which is a key technology in developing applications software, ranging from DSP software to support software also is described. In the second part, the state of the art of algorithms from the standpoint of applications is discussed. Several issues concerning evaluation of speech recognition/synthesis algorithms are covered, as well as issues concerning the robustness of algorithms in adverse conditions.

User interfaces for voice applications.

This paper discusses some of the aspects of task requirements, user expectations, and technological capabilities that influence the design of a voice interface and then identifies several components of user interfaces that are particularly critical in successful voice applications. Examples from several applications are provided to demonstrate how these components are used to produce effective voice interfaces.

The future of voice-processing technology in the world of computers and communications.

This talk, which was the keynote address of the NAS Colloquium on Human-Machine Communication by Voice, discusses the past, present, and future of human-machine communications, especially speech recognition and speech synthesis. Progress in these technologies is reviewed in the context of the general progress in computer and communications technologies.