So there is a lot to learn from listening to voices. And I believe this has to start with understanding that we have more than one voice. So, I'm going to talk about three voices that most of us posses, in a model of what I call the mask. So when you look at the mask, what you see is a projection of a character. Let's call that your outward voice. 所以通过听声音,我们可以获得很多信息。我相信,我们首先得知道我们不仅仅是只有一种声音。所以,我接下来要说说三种大多数人都有的声音,以一种我称之为面具模型的方式。当你看着这个面具,你看到的是一个人物的投影。让我们称之为外在的声音。
This is also the most classic way to think about the voice, it's a way of projecting yourself in the world. The mechanism for this projection is well understood. 这也是最常见的看待声音的方式,这是反映你自己的一种方式。这种反映方式的原理也是很好理解的。
Your lungs contract your diaphragm and that creates a self-sustained vibration of your vocal fold, that creates a sound. And then the way you open and close the cavities in you mouth, your vocal tract is going to transform the sound. 你的肺会压缩你的膈从而让声带产生自供的震动,来发出声音。你在打开和关闭口腔的时候,声道就会传递声音。
So everyone has the same mechanism. But voices are quite unique. It's because very subtle differences in size, physiology, in hormone levels are going to make very subtle differences in your outward voice. 所以每个人的发声原理都是一样的。但是声音是独一无二的。这是因为在尺寸,生理和激素方面的微小差异会使你外在的声音产生细微的不同。
And your brain is very good at picking up those subtle differences from other people's outward voices. In our lab, we are working on teaching machines to understand those subtle differences. 你的大脑能够很好的察觉到那些来自于他人声音中的微小差异。在实验室,我们研究教学机器来了解那些微小的差异。