Current automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems cannot recognize whisper speech with
high accuracy. ASR systems are trained with neutral speech, which have significant acoustic …

The best actors, particularly classic Shakespearian actors, are experts at vocal expression.
With prosodic inflection, change of voice quality, and non-textual utterances, they …

While the challenge of non-neutral speech is attracting more research attention in recent
years, the specific speaking style of “whisper” is of particular interest in both speech …

Actors and other vocal performers vary their speech across the continuum of vocal effort to
express ideas, emphasize thoughts, communicate emotions, and create drama. They are …

What do people hear in expressive, unprompted speech? And how can their descriptions be
transformed into a representative set of dimensions of vocal expression? This paper …

This dissertation explored perception and modeling of human vocal expression, and began
by asking what people heard in expressive speech. To address this fundamental question …