Skip to main content
EURASIP Journal on Audio, Speech, and Music Processing
EURASIP Journal on Audio, Speech, and Music Processing Cover Image
Download PDF

Practical Gammatone-Like Filters for Auditory Processing

EURASIP Journal on Audio, Speech, and Music Processing volume 2007, Article number: 063685 (2007) Cite this article

Abstract

This paper deals with continuous-time filter transfer functions that resemble tuning curves at particular set of places on the basilar membrane of the biological cochlea and that are suitable for practical VLSI implementations. The resulting filters can be used in a filterbank architecture to realize cochlea implants or auditory processors of increased biorealism. To put the reader into context, the paper starts with a short review on the gammatone filter and then exposes two of its variants, namely, the differentiated all-pole gammatone filter (DAPGF) and one-zero gammatone filter (OZGF), filter responses that provide a robust foundation for modeling cochlea transfer functions. The DAPGF and OZGF responses are attractive because they exhibit certain characteristics suitable for modeling a variety of auditory data: level-dependent gain, linear tail for frequencies well below the center frequency, asymmetry, and so forth. In addition, their form suggests their implementation by means of cascades of N identical two-pole systems which render them as excellent candidates for efficient analog or digital VLSI realizations. We provide results that shed light on their characteristics and attributes and which can also serve as "design curves" for fitting these responses to frequency-domain physiological data. The DAPGF and OZGF responses are essentially a "missing link" between physiological, electrical, and mechanical models for auditory filtering.

[12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849]

References

  1. 1.

    Mead C: Neuromorphic electronic systems. Proceedings of the IEEE 1990,78(10):1629-1636. 10.1109/5.58356

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. 2.

    Lyon RF, Mead CA: A CMOS VLSI cochlea. Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP '88), April 1988, New York, NY, USA 2172-2175.

    Google Scholar 

  3. 3.

    Sarpeshkar R, Lyon RF, Mead CA: An analog VLSI cochlea with new transconductance amplifiers and nonlinear gain control. Proceedings of IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS '96), May 1996, Atlanta, Ga, USA 3: 292-295.

    Google Scholar 

  4. 4.

    Watts L, Kerns DA, Lyon RF, Mead CA: Improved implementation of the silicon cochlea. IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits 1992,27(5):692-700. 10.1109/4.133156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. 5.

    Georgiou J, Toumazou C: A 126-μW cochlear chip for a totally implantable system. IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits 2005,40(2):430-443.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. 6.

    Kuraishi Y, Nakayama K, Miyadera K, Okamura T: A single-chip 20-channel speech spectrum analyzer using a multiplexed switched-capacitor filter bank. IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits 1984,19(6):964-970. 10.1109/JSSC.1984.1052252

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. 7.

    Lyon RF: Cost, power, and parallelism in speech signal processing. Proceedings of the IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference (CICC '93), May 1993, San Diego, Calif, USA 1-10.

    Google Scholar 

  8. 8.

    Sarpeshkar R: Brain power: borrowing from biology makes for low-power computing. IEEE Spectrum 2006,43(5):24-29. 10.1109/MSPEC.2006.1628504

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. 9.

    Lin L, Ambikairajah E, Holmes WH: Log-magnitude modelling of auditory tuning curves. Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP '01), May 2001, Salt Lake, Utah, USA 5: 3293-3296.

    Google Scholar 

  10. 10.

    Drakakis EM, Payne AJ: On the exact realization of LC ladder finite transmission zeros in log-domain: a theoretical study. Proceedings of IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS '00), May 2000, Geneva, Switzerland 1: 188-191.

    Google Scholar 

  11. 11.

    Gold T: Hearing. II. The physical basis of the action of the cochlea. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B 1948,135(881):492-498. 10.1098/rspb.1948.0025

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. 12.

    Gold T, Pumphrey RJ: Hearing. I. The cochlea as a frequency analyzer. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B 1948,135(881):462-491. 10.1098/rspb.1948.0024

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. 13.

    Helmholtz H: On the Sensations of Tone as a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music. Longmans, London, UK; 1885.

    Google Scholar 

  14. 14.

    von Békésy G: Experiments in Hearing. McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, USA; 1960.

    Google Scholar 

  15. 15.

    Kemp DT: Evidence of mechanical nonlinearity and frequency selective wave amplification in the cochlea. European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology 1979,224(1-2):37-45. 10.1007/BF00455222

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. 16.

    Steinberg JC, Gardner MB: The dependence of hearing impairment on sound intensity. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 1937,9(1):11-23. 10.1121/1.1915905

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. 17.

    Rhode WS: Observations of the vibration of the basilar membrane in squirrel monkeys using the Mössbauer technique. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 1971,49(4):1218-1231. 10.1121/1.1912485

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. 18.

    Rhode WS, Recio A: Study of mechanical motions in the basal region of the chinchilla cochlea. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2000,107(6):3317-3332. 10.1121/1.429404

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. 19.

    Ruggero MA, Narayan SS, Temchin AN, Recio A: Mechanical bases of frequency tuning and neural excitation at the base of the cochlea: comparison of basilar-membrane vibrations and auditory-nerve-fiber responses in chinchilla. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2000,97(22):11744-11750. 10.1073/pnas.97.22.11744

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. 20.

    Rhode WS: Some observations on cochlear mechanics. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 1978,64(1):158-176. 10.1121/1.381981

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. 21.

    Allen J: Nonlinear cochlear signal processing. In Physiology of the Ear. 2nd edition. Singular Thompson, San Diego, Calif, USA; 2001:393-442.

    Google Scholar 

  22. 22.

    Narayan SS, Ruggero MA: Basilar-membrane mechanics at the hook region of the chinchilla cochlea. Mechanics of Hearing 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  23. 23.

    Ruggero MA, Rich NC, Recio A, Narayan SS, Robles L: Basilar-membrane responses to tones at the base of the chinchilla cochlea. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 1997,101(4):2151-2163. 10.1121/1.418265

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. 24.

    Allen JB: Magnitude and phase-frequency response to single tones in the auditory nerve. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 1983,73(6):2071-2092. 10.1121/1.389575

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. 25.

    Johannesma PIM: The pre-response stimulus ensemble of neuron in the cochlear nucleus. Proceedings of the Symposium of Hearing Theory, 1972, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Google Scholar 

  26. 26.

    Carney LH, Yin TCT: Temporal coding of resonances by low-frequency auditory nerve fibers: single-fiber responses and a population model. Journal of Neurophysiology 1988,60(5):1653-1677.

    Google Scholar 

  27. 27.

    de Boer E, de Jongh HR: On cochlear encoding: potentialities and limitations of the reverse-correlation technique. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 1978,63(1):115-135. 10.1121/1.381704

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. 28.

    Flanagan JL: Models for approximating basilar membrane displacement. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 1960,32(7):937.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. 29.

    Aertsen AMHJ, Johannesma PIM: Spectro-temporal receptive fields of auditory neurons in the grassfrog—I: characterization of tonal and natural stimuli. Biological Cybernetics 1980,38(4):223-234. 10.1007/BF00337015

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. 30.

    Flanagan JL: Models for approximating basilar membrane displacement—II: effects of middle-ear transmission. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 1960,32(11):1494-1495.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. 31.

    Patterson RD: The sound of a sinusoid: spectral models. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 1994,96(3):1409-1418. 10.1121/1.410285

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. 32.

    Assmann PF, Summerfield Q: Modeling the perception of concurrent vowels: vowels with the same fundamental frequency. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 1989,85(1):327-338. 10.1121/1.397684

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. 33.

    Meddis R, Hewitt MJ: Virtual pitch and phase sensitivity of a computer model of the auditory periphery. I: pitch identification. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 1991,89(6):2866-2882. 10.1121/1.400725

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. 34.

    Holmes M, Cole JD: Pseudoresonance in the cochlea. In Mechanics of Hearing. Edited by: deBoer E, Viergever MA. Martinus Nijhoff, Hague, The Netherlands; 1983.

    Google Scholar 

  35. 35.

    Lyon RF: The all-pole gammatone filter and auditory models. Acustica 1996, 82: S90.

    Google Scholar 

  36. 36.

    Slaney M: An efficient implementation of the Patterson-Holdsworth auditory filter bank. In Tech. Rep. #35. Apple Computer, Cupertino, Calif, USA; 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  37. 37.

    Recio A, Rich NC, Narayan SS, Ruggero MA: Basilar-membrane responses to clicks at the base of the chinchilla cochlea. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 1998,103(4):1972-1989. 10.1121/1.421377

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. 38.

    Ruggero MA, Rich NC: Timing of spike initiation in cochlear afferents: dependence on site of innervation. Journal of Neurophysiology 1987,58(2):379-403.

    Google Scholar 

  39. 39.

    Brugge JF, Anderson DJ, Hind JE, Rose JE: Time structure of discharges in single auditory nerve fibers of the squirrel monkey in response to complex periodic sounds. Journal of Neurophysiology 1969,32(3):386-401.

    Google Scholar 

  40. 40.

    Ruggero MA, Robles L, Rich NC: Basilar membrane mechanics at the base of the chinchilla cochlea—II: response to low-frequency tones and relationship to microphonics and spike initiation in the VIII nerve. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 1986,80(5):1375-1383. 10.1121/1.394390

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. 41.

    Patterson RD, Nimmo-Smith I, Holdsworth J, Rice P: Spiral VOS final report—part A: the auditory filterbank. In Internal Report 2341. MRC Applied Psychology Unit, Cambridge, UK; 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  42. 42.

    Patterson RD, Nimmo-Smith I: Off-frequency listening and auditory-filter asymmetry. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 1980,67(1):229-245. 10.1121/1.383732

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. 43.

    Lopez-Poveda EA: A human nonlinear cochlear filterbank. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2001,110(6):3107-3118. 10.1121/1.1416197

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. 44.

    van Immerseel L, Peeters S: Digital implementation of linear gammatone filters: comparison of design methods. Acoustic Research Letters Online 2003, 4: 59-64. 10.1121/1.1573131

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. 45.

    Dorrell PR, Denbigh PN: Spectrograms of overlapping speech based upon instantaneous frequency. Proceedings of International Symposium on Speech, Image Processing and Neural Networks (ISSIPNN '94), April 1994, Hong Kong 607-610.

    Google Scholar 

  46. 46.

    Lin L, Holmes WH, Ambikairajah E: Auditory filter bank inversion. Proceedings of IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS '01), May 2001, Sydney, Australia 2: 537-540.

    Google Scholar 

  47. 47.

    Robles L, Ruggero MA: Mechanics of the mammalian cochlea. Physiological Reviews 2001,81(3):1305-1352.

    Google Scholar 

  48. 48.

    Rosen S, Baker RJ, Darling A: Auditory filter nonlinearity at 2 kHz in normal hearing listeners. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 1998,103(5 I):2539-2550.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. 49.

    Katsiamis AG, Drakakis E, Lyon RF: Introducing the differentiated all-pole and one-zero gammatone filter responses and their analogue VLSI log-domain implementation. Proceedings of the 49th International Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems (MWSCAS '06), August 2006, San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA 561-565.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Department of Bioengineering, The Sir Leon Bagrit Centre, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, SW7 2AZ, UK

    AG Katsiamis & EM Drakakis

  2. Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA, 94043, USA

    RF Lyon

Authors
  1. AG Katsiamis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. EM Drakakis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. RF Lyon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to AG Katsiamis.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Katsiamis, A., Drakakis, E. & Lyon, R. Practical Gammatone-Like Filters for Auditory Processing. J AUDIO SPEECH MUSIC PROC. 2007, 063685 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1155/2007/63685

Download citation

Keywords

  • Acoustics
  • Basilar Membrane
  • Tuning Curve
  • Auditory Data
  • VLSI Implementation