Short description

The electro-larynx (EL) is a hand-held, battery-driven device. It is one possibility to regain speech for people who had to undergo an operation, where the larynx and the containing vocal folds were removed (typically due to larynx cancer). The device is held against the throat and its vibrations are transmitted through the neck. Then the patient can create speech by modulating the energy in the vocal tract.

We are in the process of designing a new speaking aid that improves significantly on the current state-of-the-art. To do this we emphasize a close cooperation with potential users. Currently we have a notebook with the demo system running in Matlab. To be more flexible and maybe even share a demonstrator with a few users, we implemented the system on a Raspberry Pi with Python. While the system works in principle, more features should be added.

Your Tasks

• Review of used algorithms
• Implementation of algorithms in Python and/or Julia/C/C++
• Evaluation
• Documentation

Your Profile/Prerequisites

• Motivation and interest in the topic
• Background in Speech Signal Processing
  (e.g. completed Speech Communication 1)
• Experience with either Matlab, Python or Julia
• Only in teams of 2-4 students

Contact:

Martin Hagmüller (hagmueller@tugraz.at or 0316/873 4377)