Cage & Partch with Luke Fitzpatrick Adapted Viola, Intoning Voice and Violin December 2, 2016

Concert Program

Shaping the future of learning using the student voice: we’re listening but are we hearing clearly?

Student voice data is a key factor as Manchester Metropolitan University strives to continually improve institutional technology enhanced learning (TEL) infrastructure. A bi-annual Institutional Student Survey enables students to communicate their experience of learning, teaching and assessment on programmes and specific units studied. Each cycle of the survey contains approximately 40–50,000 free text comments from students pertaining to what they appreciate and what they would like to see improved. A detailed thematic analysis of this data has identified 18 themes, arranged into six categories relating to the ‘Best’ aspects of courses, and 25 themes, arranged in seven categories in relation to aspects of courses considered to be ‘in need of improvement’. This student data was then used as a basis for semi-structured interviews with staff. Anecdotally, evidence suggested that student expectations and staff expectations around TEL and the virtual learning environment (VLE) differed. On-going evaluation of this work has highlighted a disconnect. In significant instances, academic colleagues seemingly misinterpret the student voice analysis and consequently struggle to respond effectively. In response to the analysis, the learning technologist's role has been to re-interpret the analysis and redevelop TEL staff development and training activities. The changes implemented have focused on: contextualising resources in VLE; making lectures more interactive; enriching the curriculum with audio–visual resources; and setting expectations around communications.

Voice conversion with pre-trained representations for audio anonymization

The recording and processing of voice data raises increasing privacy concerns for users and service providers. One way to address these issues is to move processing on the edge device closer to the recording so that potentially identifiable information is not transmitted over the internet. However, this is often not possible due to hardware limitations. An interesting alternative is the development of voice anonymization techniques that remove individual speakers characteristics while preserving linguistic and acoustic information in the data. In this work, a state-of-the-art approach to sequence-to-sequence speech conversion, ini- tially based on x-vectors and bottleneck features for automatic speech recognition, is explored to disentangle the two acoustic information using different pre-trained speech and speakers representation. Furthermore, different strategies for selecting target speech representations are analyzed. Results on public datasets in terms of equal error rate and word error rate show that good privacy is achieved with limited impact on converted speech quality relative to the original method.

Anatomical Study Of Minor Alterations In Neonate Vocal Folds.

Minor structural alterations of the vocal fold cover are frequent causes of voice abnormalities. They may be difficult to diagnose, and are expressed in different manners. Cases of intracordal cysts, sulcus vocalis, mucosal bridge, and laryngeal micro-diaphragm form the group of minor structural alterations of the vocal fold cover investigated in the present study. The etiopathogenesis and epidemiology of these alterations are poorly known. To evaluate the existence and anatomical characterization of minor structural alterations in the vocal folds of newborns. 56 larynxes excised from neonates of both genders were studied. They were examined fresh, or defrosted after conservation via freezing, under a microscope at magnifications of 25× and 40×. The vocal folds were inspected and palpated by two examiners, with the aim of finding minor structural alterations similar to those described classically, and other undetermined minor structural alterations. Larynges presenting abnormalities were submitted to histological examination. Six cases of abnormalities were found in different larynges: one (1.79%) compatible with a sulcus vocalis and five (8.93%) compatible with a laryngeal micro-diaphragm. No cases of cysts or mucosal bridges were found. The observed abnormalities had characteristics similar to those described in other age groups. Abnormalities similar to sulcus vocalis or micro-diaphragm may be present at birth.

As vozes da sociedade: letramento, consciência e poder

The dialectic tension between the phenomenon of illiteracy and the remedial efforts of the literate to provide a voice for those who don t have one, reflects at the same time the difficulties that the emerging discourses have to struggle with, and highlights the importance of this struggle as one that belongs to the opressed, not the well-meaning educators and political activists. It also informs the latter s efforts on behalf of the uneducated. Naturally these issues have attracted a good deal of attention of some specialists in South America. There is now a movement afoot there that aims at placing illiterate discourse inside the societal discourse proper without letting the latter manipulate the former for its own ends. I will address the typical exigencies and limitations inherent in such efforts, but at the same time point to new ways of understanding and handling the problem of literacy in a developing country.

Bem-vinda à escola : o ingresso da criança no primeiro ano do ensino fundamental sob o olhar docente e a perspectiva do brincar

Universidade Estadual de Campinas . Faculdade de Educação Física

O corpo que dança : os jovens e suas tribos urbanas

Universidade Estadual de Campinas . Faculdade de Educação Física

Elementos musicais a serem abordados na formação profissional em educação fisica

Universidade Estadual de Campinas . Faculdade de Educação Física

Sintomas vocais e sensações laríngeas em trabalhadores de uma usina de álcool e açúcar expostos a riscos ocupacionais

OBJETIVO: Investigar os sintomas vocais e sensações laríngeas dos trabalhadores de uma usina de álcool e açúcar expostos a ruído e/ou substâncias químicas. MÉTODOS: Participaram 289 trabalhadores de uma usina de álcool e açúcar distribuídos em cinco grupos expostos (I- ruído; II- ruído, óleo, graxa, derivação de petróleo; III- ruído, ácidos, sulfatos, cloretos, nitratos; IV- ruído, poeiras respiráveis e sílica livre cristalizada; V- óleo, graxa, derivação de petróleo) e um grupo controle que responderam o questionário Condições de Produção Vocal - Professor adaptado à categoria profissional. Os grupos foram comparados em relação aos sintomas vocais, sensações laríngeas, tabagismo e riscos físicos e químicos. Esta comparação foi realizada por meio de análise estatística. RESULTADOS: O sintoma vocal e a sensação laríngea mais relatados pelos trabalhadores foram voz grave e tosse com catarro, respectivamente. Considerando o risco físico no ambiente de trabalho, os grupos I e IV foram os que mais citaram presença de ruído. Devido à sua exposição, os mesmos aumentavam a intensidade da voz (Efeito de Lombard-Tarneaud) e, assim, mencionaram sintomas vocais. Em relação aos riscos químicos no ambiente ocupacional, o grupo IV foi o que mais referiu presença de poeira e fumaça, e estas eram compostas por poeiras respiráveis e sílica. Tais exposições ocasionam sintomas vocais e sensações laríngeas e, consequentemente, alterações vocais. CONCLUSÃO: Sintomas vocais e sensações laríngeas podem estar relacionados a atividade profissional em que haja exposição a riscos físicos e/ou químicos.

Influence of anabolic steroid treatment associated to physical exercise in the ultrasonic vocalization of rats

Unlike humans, who communicate in frequency bands between 250 Hz and 6 kHz, rats can communicate in frequencies above 18 kHz. Their vocalization types depend on the context and are normally associated to subjective or emotional states. It was reported significant vocal changes due to administration of replacement testosterone in a trained tenor singer with hypogonadism. Speech-Language Pathology clinical practices are being sought by singers who sporadically use anabolic steroids associated with physical exercise. They report difficulties in reaching and keeping high notes, ""breakage"" in the passage of musical notes and post singing vocal fatigue. Those abnormalities could be raised by the association of anabolic steroids and physical exercise. Thus, in order to verify if this association could promote vocal changes, maximum, minimum and fundamental frequencies and call duration in rats treated with anabolic steroids and physically trained (10 weeks duration) were evaluated. The vocalizations were obtained by handling the animals. At the end of that period, rats treated and trained showed significant decrease in call duration, but not in other parameters. The decrease in call duration could be associated to functional alterations in the vocal folds of treated and trained animals due to a synergism between anabolic steroids and physical training. (C) 2010 Acoustical Society of America. [DOI: 10.1121/1.3488350]

A hybrid system for upper limb movement restoration in quadriplegics

Generally, quadriplegic individuals have difficulties performing object manipulation. Toward satisfactory manipulation, reach and grasp movements must be performed with voluntary control, and for that, grasp force feedback is essential. A hybrid system aiming at partial upper limb sensory-motor restoration for quadriplegics was built. Such device is composed of an elbow dynamic orthosis that provides elbow flexion/extension (range was approximately from 20 degrees to 120 degrees, and average angular speed was approximately 15 degrees/s) with forearm support, a wrist static orthosis and neuromuscular electrical stimulation for grasping generation, and a glove with force sensors that allows grasping force feedback. The glove presents two user interface modes: visual by light emitting diodes or audio emitted by buzzer. Voice control of the entire system (elbow dynamic orthosis and electrical stimulator) is performed by the patient. The movements provided by the hybrid system, combined with the scapular and shoulder movements performed by the patient, can aid quadriplegic individuals in tasks that involve reach and grasp movements.

Noise reduction in biomedical speech signal processing based on time and frequency Kalman filtering combined with spectral subtraction

The goal of this paper is to study and propose a new technique for noise reduction used during the reconstruction of speech signals, particularly for biomedical applications. The proposed method is based on Kalman filtering in the time domain combined with spectral subtraction. Comparison with discrete Kalman filter in the frequency domain shows better performance of the proposed technique. The performance is evaluated by using the segmental signal-to-noise ratio and the Itakura-Saito`s distance. Results have shown that Kalman`s filter in time combined with spectral subtraction is more robust and efficient, improving the Itakura-Saito`s distance by up to four times. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Urban upgrading interventions and engaging residents in fuzzy management: Case studies from Novos Alagados, Salvador, Brazil

International theory and practice have promoted state-assisted upgrading of `informal` urban areas worldwide since the late 1970s, with various forms of monitoring and assessment of impact. Two independent studies of how residents perceive and evaluate such interventions have recently been undertaken for neighbouring parts of the upgraded area of Novos Alagados on the Itapagipe peninsula in the northwestern part of Salvador, Brazil`s third largest city. These studies start from different premises and have been implemented in very different ways, but both have the objective of permitting the `voice` of the residents to be heard concerning the upgrading process. Comparing them helps highlight the essential `fuzzy` nature of values concerning urban interventions of this nature and leaves us with thought-provoking questions concerning the role of local society in relation to the state in urban development, and the potential this has for on-going forms of urban management in cities which are emerging globally. Crown Copyright (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Lingual kinematic strategies used to increase speech rate: Comparisons between younger and older adults

The primary objective of this study was to assess the lingual kinematic strategies used by younger and older adults to increase rate of speech. It was hypothesised that the strategies used by the older adults would differ from the young adults either as a direct result of, or in response to a need to compensate for, age-related changes in the tongue. Electromagnetic articulography was used to examine the tongue movements of eight young (M526.7 years) and eight older (M567.1 years) females during repetitions of /ta/ and /ka/ at a controlled moderate rate and then as fast as possible. The younger and older adults were found to significantly reduce consonant durations and increase syllable repetition rate by similar proportions. To achieve these reduced durations both groups appeared to use the same strategy, that of reducing the distances travelled by the tongue. Further comparisons at each rate, however, suggested a speed-accuracy trade-off and increased speech monitoring in the older adults. The results may assist in differentiating articulatory changes associated with normal aging from pathological changes found in disorders that affect the older population.

Speech recognition in noise for cochlear implant listeners: Benefits of residual hearing

The purpose of this study was to explore the potential advantages, both theoretical and applied, of preserving low-frequency acoustic hearing in cochlear implant patients. Several hypotheses are presented that predict that residual low-frequency acoustic hearing along with electric stimulation for high frequencies will provide an advantage over traditional long-electrode cochlear implants for the recognition of speech in competing backgrounds. A simulation experiment in normal-hearing subjects demonstrated a clear advantage for preserving low-frequency residual acoustic hearing for speech recognition in a background of other talkers, but not in steady noise. Three subjects with an implanted "short-electrode" cochlear implant and preserved low-frequency acoustic hearing were also tested on speech recognition in the same competing backgrounds and compared to a larger group of traditional cochlear implant users. Each of the three short-electrode subjects performed better than any of the traditional long-electrode implant subjects for speech recognition in a background of other talkers, but not in steady noise, in general agreement with the simulation studies. When compared to a subgroup of traditional implant users matched according to speech recognition ability in quiet, the short-electrode patients showed a 9-dB advantage in the multitalker background. These experiments provide strong preliminary support for retaining residual low-frequency acoustic hearing in cochlear implant patients. The results are consistent with the idea that better perception of voice pitch, which can aid in separating voices in a background of other talkers, was responsible for this advantage.