I'm looking for help with my PhD thesis

[Kaetie]

Hi all,

My thesis is called "DSP techniques for application in the analysis of pathological voice and normophonic singing voice".

A few of the chapters could do with an external/unbiased review. The review I have had from my university department/professor was resoundingly good; however, I feel like there could be massive holes in my work and I would really appreciate some serious critical feedback before I present - as the panel will be made up of external professors (wolves?).

If anyone's interested please drop me a line. Chapters I hope to get reviewed are the following:

Singing Voice = this chapter explains the functioning of the vocal mechanism, the science of sound production and voice signals

DSP Technology = an overview of digital signal processing/filtering towards extracting the voice signal

Modelling the Voice = discussing the various voice models that have been used to extract vocal signals

Experiments = clearly the most important chapter, experiments have been done on a group of voice subjects, some presenting early pathology and a group of singing voice subjects, all normophonic. Parameterisation of the voice signals is undertaken and, in the case of the pathological group, a statistical study is done in the hope that normal/abnormal subjects can be split successfully. The singing voice subjects are giving musical scales and the experiment looks to see what can be said about the biomechanical properties of the vocal folds during increasing pitch over time.

Well, if anyone wishes to help me out that would be fantastic. Failing that, a point in the right direction as to how I might get some feedback on my work would be welcomed indeed.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Katie

 

[DefaultName]

I know a professor who is perfect for that field, however he's an EE. He knows an awful amount of that stuff.

 

[mathwonk]

pick someone at your uni, not some well intentioned moron online like us.

 

[jtbell]

the panel will be made up of external professors

External to the department or external to the university? And which university (or at least which country) are you in?

When I defended my PhD thesis at the U of Michigan almost 25 years ago, the panel consisted of my dissertation committee, all of whom were chosen by me when I became a PhD candidate. All were from the physics department, except one (mathematics). As I recall, the committee had to contain at least one theorist, at least one experimentalist, and one person from outside the physics department. There were either four or five members; my copy of my thesis is at the office so I can't check it now to refresh my memory.

Is this sort of arrangement still common in the USA, or have things changed since I was a graduate student?

 

[wildman]

I would be worthless as a reviewer since I don't even have a masters (yet), but the subject sounds fascinating. I have an interest in both linguistics and DSP and it is interesting to hear of others who have the same interest. Is your background more from the Mathematical side or from the social science side (Linguistics)? How sophisticated is the DSP techniques that you are using? Wavelets? Power Spectrum estimation? What department are you in? Thanks!

 

[Kaetie]

thanks for the replies

Hi there,

To answer some questions, I'm at UPM in Madrid, Spain. I'm off site too, about 400km's away, so I meet my professor very rarely. I suppose my request is a "backside covering" exercise, because they tell me I did a really good job on the first draft, and I'm not sure I believe it and want to feel confident at the presentation.

My background was originally in the arts, performance arts where I majored in musical (including electronic) composition. 10 years later I returned to uni and did an MSc in computer science where I got second top of the class (Belfast) and was offered a PhD in Madrid. It's been a huge learning curve for me because the mathematics is very advanced. But it's been great too, I've loved every minute. So the thesis is an attempt to join the arts and sciences as we hope to involve professional singers in the work at some point in the future.

It's nearly impossible for me to pick someone at uni to help because of the language barriers and the fact that my work is heading off into singing voice, harmonic theory, and considerations outside the department's field.

Also, I would like an "unbiased and critical" review, which was not clouded by "political" issues, of which there are far too many in the uni. The department includes a great many electrical engineers, and at least 2 of my chapters would welcome a review from that angle.

I'm certainly able to pick someone to come and be on the panel, I just don't know anyone in the field well enough!

So, thanks for your replies guys, if you can help out, please email me directly, although I will come and look again on this site.

Can I put my email here? I'll try. kmmurphy (at) gmail (dot) com

 

[mathwonk]

reading an commenting on a phd thesis is a huge job, even for theses directly in my area, and i consider myself one of the relatively few people who even tries to do it responsibly for students whose committees i serve on.

moral: you are unlikely to get competent such assistance online. try a professor for a friend of yours at some other uni. or try another phd student in a related area, the smartest one you can find, but a sympathetic one, as envy and backstabbing does occur.

of course someone here competent may volunteer, as there do exist such extremely generous people. but you are asking a lot.