Synthesis of a Vocal Sound from the 3,000 year old Mummy, Nesyamun ‘True of Voice’
David M. Howard, J. Edward Schofield, Janet Fletcher, KI Baxter, Gareth Iball, Stephen Buckley
Abstract
The sound of a 3,000 year old mummified individual has been accurately reproduced as a vowel-like sound based on measurements of the precise dimensions of his extant vocal tract following Computed Tomography (CT) scanning, enabling the creation of a 3-D printed vocal tract. By using the Vocal Tract Organ, which provides a user-controllable artificial larynx sound source, a vowel sound is synthesised which compares favourably with vowels of modern individuals.
Topics & Concepts
Vocal tractSound (geography)Extant taxonVowelLarynxAcousticsSpeech recognitionComputer scienceComputed tomographyPhonationAudiologyAnatomyMedicineBiologyPhysicsRadiologyEvolutionary biologyMusic and Audio ProcessingArchaeology and Rock Art StudiesImage Processing and 3D Reconstruction