Investigations on the perception of dynamic directivity of human voice

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Christoph Pörschmann
• Subject Area: Acoustics
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 529603294

The directional properties of human voice radiation have been studied scientifically for more than 200 years showing that the influence of human voice directivity is relevant for speech communication. The changes in the directional characteristics of voice directivity caused by phoneme-dependencies also play an essential role and have been investigated and analyzed in numerous scientific studies. However, time-varying properties of human voice directivity, hereafter referred to as dynamic voice directivity, and especially the influence of dynamic voice directivity on virtual acoustic environments has been barely investigated in scientific investigations so far. The proposed project investigates the physical properties of dynamic voice directivity and determines perceptual thresholds for the temporal resolution. Thereby, the project distinguishes between scenarios with 3DoF (3 Degrees of Freedom) and 6DoF (6 Degrees of Freedom) since significantly different thresholds are expected to be found between both scenarios. Investigating these interconnected, scientifically relevant questions serves to gain knowledge about the properties of human voice directivity and its perceptual significance. Furthermore, the investigations allow determining relevant features for the auralization of dynamic voice directivity in virtual acoustic environments. The application-related findings are especially relevant for future implementations of human speakers in virtual acoustic environments since human voice directivity with high temporal resolution goes along with a high effort, both for the measurements and the auralization. Thus, systematically investigating the trade-off between appropriate temporal resolution and the required effort is highly relevant.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants