Modelling the voice production process using a nonparametric approach

E. Cataldo (1) , R. Sampaio (2) , Christian Soize (3) , J. Lucero (4)

1 Departamento de Matematica Aplicada
2 PUC Rio - Department of Mechanical Engineering
3 MSME - Laboratoire de Modélisation et Simulation Multi Echelle
4 Mathematics Department

The aim of this work is to discuss model uncertainties, in the case of the biomechanics of phonation. A number of mechanical models of voice production have been proposed in past years; but, in general, they have a deterministic nature. In previous works, data uncertainties were incorporated to a two-mass model of the vocal folds to perform a probabilistic analysis of the fundamental frequency of the oscillation. The present work is intended as a follow-up, to explore the effect of model uncertainties, using a non-parametric probabilistic approach based on the use of a probabilistic model for symmetric positive-definite real random matrices applying the Maximum Entropy Principle. The theory is discussed and numerical examples are presented to show that the predictability of the model may be improved when model uncertainties are taken into account. It is shown that some realizations of the output radiated pressure obtained are similar with samples of voice signals obtained from people with some pathologies, as nodulus and papilomas, in their vocal folds.

Mots clés: uncertainty quantification; biomechanics; voice production; nonparametric probabilistic approach

Domaines: Mécanique [physics.med-ph]; Probabilités [math.PR]; Statistiques [math.ST]; Biomécanique [physics.med-ph]

E. Cataldo, R. Sampaio, Christian Soize, J. Lucero. Modelling the voice production process using a nonparametric approach. COMPDYN 2009, ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Computational Methods in Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Jun 2009, Rhodes, Greece, Greece. pp.1-12. ⟨hal-00692800⟩