Rate/Pitch modification of speech using the constant-Q transform

Abstract

Modification of the rate of occurrence of acoustic events without altering frequency content, and modification of pitch without changing time scale are presented as equivalent problems. While the short-time Fourier transform has been used to solve the rate modification problem, it is not a natural tool. It lacks the scaling property of the Fourier transform. The constant-Q transform, on the other hand, exhibits this property. A more natural rate/pitch modification system using the constant-Q transform is presented which performs well with rate/pitch changes by factors of between one-third and three.