Automated prediction of children's age from voice acoustics

Kód výsledku v IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F68407700%3A21230%2F23%3A00362904" target="_blank" >RIV/68407700:21230/23:00362904 - isvavai.cz</a>

Výsledek na webu

<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bspc.2022.104490" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bspc.2022.104490</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bspc.2022.104490" target="_blank" >10.1016/j.bspc.2022.104490</a>

Jazyk výsledku

angličtina

Název v původním jazyce

Automated prediction of children's age from voice acoustics

Popis výsledku v původním jazyce

The emergence of a variety of applications aimed at video gaming, parental control, education, specific language impairment, child development assessment, and speech therapy create demands for age-targeted approaches. Yet, there is a lack of methods providing robust and easily interpretable age estimation of speakers from early childhood to post-pubertal stage. This study aims to provide a fully-automated approach for children's age prediction based on voice acoustics. Sustained phonation of vowels /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/ recorded from 255 speakers (132 girls and 123 boys) ranging between 4 and 15 years of age were analysed. The first three formant frequencies and fundamental frequency across each vowel were automatically evaluated and used as features for linear and nonlinear regressors to estimate the prediction model. We demonstrate rapid, accurate age estimation with reasonable accuracy of an average 1.3-year difference from actual children's chronological age. The lower age prediction error of 1.2 years was achieved for boys compared to 1.5 years for girls. The early childhood age from 4 to 5 years was less accurate for prediction. No effect of utterance duration on estimated results was observed. Our results present a robust technology with clinically interpretable outcomes insusceptible to overfitting that enables to predict children's age in a wide range of ages. Better prediction accuracy for boys than girls appears to reflect the faster vocal tract growth for men. The lower prediction accuracy in early childhood can be attributed to rapid nonlinear development and greater variability in the level of motor control maturation.

Název v anglickém jazyce

Automated prediction of children's age from voice acoustics

Popis výsledku anglicky

The emergence of a variety of applications aimed at video gaming, parental control, education, specific language impairment, child development assessment, and speech therapy create demands for age-targeted approaches. Yet, there is a lack of methods providing robust and easily interpretable age estimation of speakers from early childhood to post-pubertal stage. This study aims to provide a fully-automated approach for children's age prediction based on voice acoustics. Sustained phonation of vowels /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/ recorded from 255 speakers (132 girls and 123 boys) ranging between 4 and 15 years of age were analysed. The first three formant frequencies and fundamental frequency across each vowel were automatically evaluated and used as features for linear and nonlinear regressors to estimate the prediction model. We demonstrate rapid, accurate age estimation with reasonable accuracy of an average 1.3-year difference from actual children's chronological age. The lower age prediction error of 1.2 years was achieved for boys compared to 1.5 years for girls. The early childhood age from 4 to 5 years was less accurate for prediction. No effect of utterance duration on estimated results was observed. Our results present a robust technology with clinically interpretable outcomes insusceptible to overfitting that enables to predict children's age in a wide range of ages. Better prediction accuracy for boys than girls appears to reflect the faster vocal tract growth for men. The lower prediction accuracy in early childhood can be attributed to rapid nonlinear development and greater variability in the level of motor control maturation.

Druh

J_imp - Článek v periodiku v databázi Web of Science

CEP obor

—

OECD FORD obor

30206 - Otorhinolaryngology

Projekt

<a href="/cs/project/GA19-20887S" target="_blank" >GA19-20887S: Populační normy akusticko-fonetických charakteristik dětské řeči</a><br>

Návaznosti

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Rok uplatnění

2023

Kód důvěrnosti údajů

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Název periodika

Biomedical Signal Processing and Control

ISSN

1746-8094

e-ISSN

1746-8108

Svazek periodika

81

Číslo periodika v rámci svazku

March

Stát vydavatele periodika

NL - Nizozemsko

Počet stran výsledku

10

Strana od-do

1-10

Kód UT WoS článku

000908924100001

EID výsledku v databázi Scopus

2-s2.0-85145648792