Re: Respiratory Sounds database

[Linda Seltzer <lseltzer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Dear list,
>
> For a Ph.D. project by one of my students working on analysis-based
> synthesis of lung sounds,

That could be a daunting task.  Respiratory sounds are delicate.  With
respect to vocal sounds rather than lung sounds, when I composed Autumn
Cove, Spring Night a long time ago I wanted to achieve the effect of
sounds floating in air.  At first I tried linear prediction of speech plus
time stretching with the phase vocoder (that was before the popularity of
algorithms like PSOLA).  The vocal chords are so powerful that the result
sounded like a jet engine.  I had to use the Chinese erhu (bowed strong
instrument) as the basis for analysis.  I used elliptic filters with 30+
dB of ripple, on the verge of instability.  That worked out well. Some
filter design packages will let you design such filters and some will not.
 I think I used the old IEEE filter design package in Fortran. This was
practical musique concrète composition rather than a theoretical analysis
of the lungs.

L. Seltzer, ?A Confluence of Computer Music and Ancient Chinese
Aesthetics,? International Conference on Computer Music, Waseda
University, Tokyo, Japan, September 1993.

Linda Seltzer
lseltzer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx