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Master-Presentation: Characterization of Pickup Systems for Body-Conducted Speech
Pattaratorn Santivarakom
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
01:00 PM
IKS 4G | zoom
Body-conducted speech refers to vibrations resulting from speech production that are transmitted through the body. Its use presents a promising possibility to improve speech enhancement performance in noisy environments due to its greater robustness against environmental noise compared to air-conducted speech. Hearable devices such as earbuds and headphones, often used in such conditions (e.g, on public transport or in a café), could benefit from utilizing body-conducted speech. However, the questions of how and where body-conducted speech can be optimally recorded for hearable devices have been rarely investigated. In this thesis, five promising pickup locations for body-conducted speech around the ear are investigated, and their potential is evaluated for subsequent signal processing. We observed a strong low-pass characteristic in the recorded body-conducted speech and similar sensitivity towards environmental noise at the tested pickup locations. Applying pressure on the skin results in more vibration being recorded. In practice, a hearable device can affect the frequency characteristic of the recorded speech due to its physical properties. Among the tested pickup locations, body-conducted speech is most effectively recorded at condyle. A consistent frequency characteristic can be achieved by restricting the fit of the hearable device.
