This study investigates the possible errors related to Mandarin tone perception and production by German speakers. In a preliminary test, 23 German listeners should identify the tones of 186 monosyllables. Results show that exposure to Mandarin Chinese can help to discriminate lexical tones as highly expected. In the main experiment, 17 German subjects were asked to take part in a perception and production test. Stimulus of perception involves 48 monosyllables uttered by a standard professional Chinese speaker; acoustic measures were conducted to analyze the production of 72 monosyllables for each subject. It is found that German speakers have much smaller f0 range than Chinese native speakers. Findings can provide implications for cross language studies and teaching practices.

This work addresses the problem of difficulties in classical interpretation of combination tones as non- linear distortions. One of the basic problems of such an interpretation is to point out the sources of these distortions. Besides, these kinds of distortions have numerous “anomalies” which are difficult to explain on the grounds of physics or physiology. The aim of the model presented in this paper is to show that combination tones phenomenon can be explained as an effect of central mechanisms. Most of existing theories of pitch perception focus mainly on virtual pitch perception and do not take into account combination tones as an element of the same mechanism. The proposed model of central auditory processing for pitch perception allows one to interpret in a coherent way both virtual pitches and combination tones phenomena. This model is of a demonstrative nature and gives an introduction to more advanced model. It belongs to the class of spectral models and it will be shown that such a model can be in a simple way extended to spectral - time model which is partially consistent with autocorrelation models.

The most important feature of bells is their sound. Their clarity and beauty depend, first of all, on the bell’s geometry - particularly the shape of its profile and the mechanical properties of alloy. Bells are the castings that work by emitting sound in as-cast state. Therefore all features that are created during melting, pouring, solidification and cooling processes will influence the bell's sound. The mechanical properties of bronze depend on the quality of alloy and microstructure which is created during solidification and depend on its kinetics. Hence, if the solidification parameters influence the alloy’s properties, how could they influence the frequencies of bell`s tone? Taking into account alterable thickness of bell's wall and differences in microstructure, the alloy's properties in bell could be important. In the article authors present the investigations conducted to determine the influence of cooling kinetics on microstructure of bronze with 20 weight % tin contents.

The most important feature of bells is their sound. Its clarity and beauty depend, first of all, on the bell’s geometry - particularly the shape

of its profile, but also on the quality of alloy used to its cast. Hence, if the melting and pouring parameters could influence the alloy’s

properties, what influence they would have on the frequencies of bell’s tone. In the article authors present their own approaches to find

answers on that and more questions.

Hereby there is given the speaker identification basic system. There is discussed application and usage of the voice interfaces, in particular, speaker voice identification upon robot and human being communication. There is given description of the information system for speaker automatic identification according to the voice to apply to robotic-verbal systems. There is carried out review of algorithms and computer-aided learning libraries and selected the most appropriate, according to the necessary criteria, ALGLIB. There is conducted the research of identification model operation performance assessment at different set of the fundamental voice tone. As the criterion of accuracy there has been used the percentage of improperly classified cases of a speaker identification.

Pure-tone audiometry (PTA) and transient-evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) were determined in 57 classical orchestral musicians along with a questionnaire inquiry using a modified Amsterdam Inventory for Auditory Disability and Handicap ((m)AIADH). Data on musicians' working experience and sound pressure levels produced by various groups of instruments were also collected. Measured hearing threshold levels (HTLs) were compared with the theoretical predictions calculated according to ISO 1999:1990. High frequency notched audiograms typical for noise-induced hearing loss were found in 28% of the subjects. PTA and TEOAE consistently showed a tendency toward better hearing in females vs. males, younger vs. older subjects, and lower- vs. higher-exposed to orchestral noise subjects. Audiometric HTLs were better than theoretical predictions in the frequency range of 2000-4000 Hz. The (m)AIADH scores indicated some hearing difficulties in relation to intelligibility in noisy environment in 26% of the players. Our results indicated a need to implement a hearing conservation program for this professional group.

The Multi-Tone (MT) signal with uniform amplitudes can be used for DAC testing. This paper shows an easier way to generate a MT signal using several impulse signals. The article also analyzes qualities of methods for testing the dynamic parameters of Digital to Analog Converters using an impulse signal. The MT, Damped Sine Wave (DSW) and Sinx/x (SINC) signals will be used as the source for these tests. The Effective Number of Bits (ENOB) and Signal to noise and distortion (SINAD) are evaluated in the frequency domain and they are modified using the Crest Factor (CF) correction and compared with the standard results of the Sine Wave FFT test. The first advantage of the test using an impulse signal is that you need fewer input parameters to create the band signal for testing the DAC. The second one is to reduce the testing time using a band signal in comparison with multiple tests using a single sine wave.

This paper presents results of evolutionary minimisation of peak-to-peak value of a multi-tone signal. The signal is the sum of multiple tones (channels) with constant amplitudes and frequencies combined with variable phases. An exemplary application is emergency broadcasting using widely used analogue broadcasting techniques: citizens band (CB) or VHF FM commercial broadcasting. The work presented illustrates a relatively simple problem, which, however, is characterised by large combinatorial complexity, so direct (exhaustive) search becomes completely impractical. The process of minimisation is based on genetic algorithm (GA), which proves its usability for given problem. The final result is a significant reduction of peak-to-peak level of given multi-tone signal, demonstrated by three real-life examples.