Category CS P05 How do Pitch and Speed Affect Voice Recognition?

Abstract The purpose of this experiment was to find out how much the speed and

pitch of a voice would have to be changed until the voice could no longer

be recognized by computer speech recognition software. The voice was

recorded speaking a command for the computer using Audacity digital

audio editor. Windows speech recognition was used; it is a program

where you can speak into a microphone and it interprets your voice and

carries out the computer command your voice is speaking. The voice was

then sped up and slowed down and tested for accuracy in carrying out

the command at different percents above and below the normal speed.

The voice was also raised and lowered in pitch and tested. The variables

of pitch and speed were then both changed at the same time and tested.

The data for the combination of variables was plotted on a success/failure

graph. The results showed that the voice was recognizable up to 17%

increased speed, 21% decreased speed, 27% raised pitch, or 20%

lowered pitch. When the variables were combined, as the pitch was

raised, the speed needed to be lowered for the voice to be recognized

and vice versa. From this we can conclude that speed has a greater

impact on the recognition of a voice than pitch and that speed and pitch of

a voice are inversely related.

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<http://audacity.sourceforge.net/onlinehelp-1.2/menu_effect.htm>.

2. "Audacity: About Audacity." Audacity: Free Audio Editor and

Recorder. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2010.

<http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about/>.

3. "How To Use Speech Recognition in Windows XP." Microsoft

Support. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2010.

<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306901>.

4. "Resample (audio resampling)." WebVideoZone: Featuring The Web

Video Player, Web Video Hosting, Flash 8 FLV Converter. N.p., n.d. Web.

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