Perceptual evaluation of several pitch detection algorithms

Recently an objective performance evaluation of seven pitch detection algorithms was made by Rabiner et al. [IEEE Trans. Acoust. Speech Signal Process., Oct. (1976)]. Each of the seven algorithms was compared on the basis of its performance with respect to five different types of errors. The standard of comparison was a semiautomatically determined pitch contour of each utterance. To complement this investigation we describe the results of a subjective evaluation of the synthetic speech quality of LPC analyzed and synthesized speech. The pitch contour used in the synthesis was either one of the seven pitch contours or the result of the semiautomatic analysis. Using a computer controlled sort board, an experiment was run in which each of eight listeners was asked to rank the nine versions of each utterance (the natural version was included to provide a stable anchor point). Results are presented on the over‐all preference for each pitch detector. In addition, subject preference as a function of the pitch r...