Amplitude modulation (AM) of a source signal divides the signal's spectrum into two copies, with one copy shifted towards higher frequency and the other copy shifted towards lower frequency; refer to AM Mathematics for a complete treatment of basic AM. The shifted and dual spectrum makes an interesting special effect when applied to a musical instrument or the human voice, creating the sensation of two different people speaking the identical phrase, for example.
If one of these spectral images could somehow be cancelled out, AM seems to be a feasible way to implement a pitch shifter, a device or algorithm that shifts the source spectrum higher or lower in frequency. When this special effect is applied in real time, you can speak into a microphone and sound just like one of "Alvin and the Chipmunks."
As an example of what you will be able accomplish by applying the techniques presented in this module, listen to this original speech clip speech.wav and its pitch-shifted version speech_shifted.wav (speech clip courtesy of the Open Speech Repository, www.voiptroubleshooter.com/open_speech; the sentences are two of the many phonetically balanced Harvard Sentences, an important standard for the speech processing community).







AM Mathematics




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