Synthesis of a Vocal Sound from the 3,000 year old Mummy, Nesyamun 'True of Voice'

D M Howard; J Schofield; J Fletcher; K Baxter; G R Iball; S A Buckley

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-56316-y

Synthesis of a Vocal Sound from the 3,000 year old Mummy, Nesyamun 'True of Voice'

Sci Rep. 2020 Jan 23;10(1):45000. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-56316-y.

Authors

D M Howard¹, J Schofield², J Fletcher³, K Baxter⁴, G R Iball⁵, S A Buckley^{3

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Electronic Engineering, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey, United Kingdom. david.howard@rhul.ac.uk.
² Department of Archaeology, University of York, The King's Manor, York, United Kingdom. john.schofield@york.ac.uk.
³ Department of Archaeology, University of York, The King's Manor, York, United Kingdom.
⁴ Leeds Museums and Galleries, Leeds, United Kingdom.
⁵ Medical Physics Department, Old Medical School, Leeds General Infirmary, Leeds, United Kingdom.
⁶ Institute for Prehistory, Early History and Medieval Archeology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.

Abstract

The sound of a 3,000 year old mummified individual has been accurately reproduced as a vowel-like sound based on measurements of the precise dimensions of his extant vocal tract following Computed Tomography (CT) scanning, enabling the creation of a 3-D printed vocal tract. By using the Vocal Tract Organ, which provides a user-controllable artificial larynx sound source, a vowel sound is synthesised which compares favourably with vowels of modern individuals.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't